I'M BACK!

Oh hey Finals.

So what’s the best way to cap off an amazing weekend on the Italian coast? Studying for finals, of course! Honestly, I loved my Strategic Intelligence class, but I spent a very large portion of my time in Verona reading for it. However, on Tuesday night before my history exam, I had an epiphany: I’m only going to be in VERONA, ITALY for two and half more days, and instead of being holed up in the Residence, I should enjoy it. So I did. Granted, it was hard to convince people to do things with me, but I spent the last days before finals in or around the main area of the town– thank god it got me out of the Residence, which, while nice, could be kind of a depressing place. I guess what I’m saying is in 5 years, what am I going to remember more – being holed up studying in the Residence or sitting in an Italian café eating pizza on a summer night in Verona? I choose the latter. But aaaaanyway.


Piazza Erbe, the main square... I miss it.


A restaurant that I studied outside of... cool.

So with finals over, our time in Verona had come to an end. It was hard to believe that four weeks had passed so quickly… but before we even had time to think about it, we were on a bus on our way to our next destination. Our first stop was Florence, which is about a four-hour bus ride from Verona. As it turns out, our hotel was in a really good location, right next to the train station, which is just a stone’s throw from the major street market, the Duomo, and a few other old and cool buildings. We could even see part of the Duomo from our balcony… incredible. After we got settled in and unpacked, Martin took us on a short walking tour of the area surrounding the train station, just kind of showing us how to get to all of the major parts of Florence that were close by… on his bum leg and all. After that, a group of us decided that we had to go to the Academia museum, which most famously houses Michelangelo’s David – it wasn’t going to be on any of our tours, and about 7 or 8 of us didn’t want to miss it before it was too late. The entry fee was a little bit steep, but believe you me, it was worth it. The sheer magnitude of the David is incredible… Jackie and I walked in together to the room where he stands, and both of our jaws dropped. No pictures I’ve ever seen do it justice, and even in the gift shop afterwards looking at the postcards, nothing can capture it quite like seeing it in person. The detail involved is almost inconceivable… I now understand why Mikey (what our Italian history teacher called him) is considered a master. Apologies for not having pictures, but they didn’t allow them any pictures in the museum. Plus, if you care that much, just google it. Duh. Also, unrelated, but sorry for my excessive use of adjective in descriptions… Apparently the only descriptive words I know are “amazing,” “awesome,” and “so cool.” I’ll break out a thesaurus soon, I swear.


The view from our hotel in Florence.


Il duomo.

That night, we went out to eat at a little place on the other side of the train station that I found on the interwebz, and it turns out I made a good choice. There were about 18 of us, and we took up the entire front room of the restaurant. It was a family owned place (I believe it is called Trattoria Il Due G, if you’re visiting Florence anytime soon), and the food was amazing. I got artichoke stuffed lamb, and it was really really good… and surprisingly reasonably priced. Our waiter even pointed out his mom in the back who was making desserts, and I think that his dad and uncle were around too… a really cool, authentic experience that we all pretty much loved. And then bedtime.


One of our two tables in the restaurant... clearly we chose the right study abroad, at least in terms of food.

The next two days after that were a complete whirlwind. The first place we walked to was the Uffizi palace, which was built in the late 1500s by Vasari (there’s no shame in having to look him up) for the Medici family, the biggest family of rulers from the Renaissance era of Florence. Thanks Italian Renaissance and Reformation! We got to see an overwhelming amount of famous artwork, including Michelangelo’s only known painting, a bunch of Da Vincis (Annunciation, etc) and Giambalogna’s ‘Rape of the Sabine Women,’ a really cool sculpture that you should look up if you’ve never heard of it. According to Tony, our Renaissance professor, it’s more of a “tame rape,” as opposed to the later, more “active rape” statues. Because apparently some rapes are tamer than others? Silly me, I always thought rape was generally an active process… Shows what I know.


Yeah she's getting raped, but it's pretty tame, so it's ok.


A really cool street artist, recreating Michelangelo's only known painting. I'm impressed with him... but then again, I'm easily impressed.

Other than that, I think we just walked around Florence, got lunch, poked around some more, and then went back for a short nap. The whole city is pretty walkable, which was incredibly nice… we learned that with Rome, that’s not nearly as much of an option. Pretty much everything was within a 30 minute walk from the hotel, so if you got tired at all, it wasn’t too hard to go back for a nap. That afternoon, there were four of us that wanted to go to the Catholic service (in English) at the Duomo, which Martin told us would be at 6 o clock… so we show up at 6 o clock all dressed up, only to find that that tricksey Martin had misinformed us – Mass was at 5. As we walked back to hotel, sad and dejected, we came across a flier informing us of a very good happy hour deal at a bar not far from the hotel. Clearly divine intervention. So, being good Irish Catholics, we took advantage of it. A good time was had by all.


Ponte Vecchio... It's a really old bridge, and it was important a long time ago. That's about all you need to know.

The next day we had a walking tour with the same guide that had led us through the Uffizi palace the night before. Our group definitely got the better guide, I think. Plus, we were all more interested in the history and the tour than the other group was… they tended to always look pretty disengaged. Call me a nerd, but if I’m getting a personalized tour of a city as cool as Florence, I’m going to take advantage of it. Duh. There were a lot of really cool stories, many of which I had never heard before – like that Florence floods completely every once in a while. What? Since when? Apparently since forever, and it’s really destructive and happened in the 1970’s. Clearly it’s not THAT significant if it happened before 1989, but still pretty interesting (and sad).


A cool street in Florence. Neat.


I really, really wish I could remember the story to this tower... I'm pretty sure it's the oldest tower in Florence. Also, there was a story about some lady who had to marry some guy who she didn't want to marry so she was seeing this other guy but then she got sick and they buried her alive but she got out so she somehow got unburied and people thought she was a ghost but then her lover realized she wasn't so everything worked out in the end? Yeah, we'll go with that.

The rest of the day was similar… touring, shopping, gorging ourselves on food, etc. We went to a restaurant that someone had found out about, and I believe I got a pesto dish of some sort. I’m predictable, if nothing else.

The next morning, time for Rome! And a new blog… so prepare yourself. I know I’m behind, and have been back in the states for a while now, so sorry I’m so far behind… but hopefully in my down time I’ll be able to finish this out!

All These Things That I've Done: The Killers and Cinque Terre

So with midterms over, everybody was looking for a way to let loose on a school night – it happened a lot less often than you’d expect, believe you me. But anyways, I’d heard that the Killers were coming before I left for the trip, and by the time we were here for a few days everyone was pretty pumped for it. Even some of the people who didn’t initially buy tickets bought them once they were outside of the arena. One of these people (cough Kaitlin cough) somehow managed to get a VIP pass to the Killers’ tour bus, and got to meet the lead singer Brandon Flowers. WHAT?! None of us are sure how it happened, but we were all jealous. Anyways, the concert was incredible… we were surrounded by people who didn’t actually speak English, so it was fun being the only ones who could sing along AND who knew what the words meant. The coolest part, though, was just watching a concert in an arena that is thousands of years old. No big deal.


Chelsie, Erin and I enjoying the Killers.


The packed arena. Ridiculous.

So anyways, the rest of the week was fairly uneventful…. Classes were fine, no big tests… I wish I had more ‘everyday life’ stuff to tell you guys, but a) it’s not nearly as much fun to talk about, and b) it involves mostly reading for class, sleeping, eating, and hanging out with friends – all of which are good, but inside jokes and study habits does not a good blog make.


This is a part of my everyday life. And an example of why I don't need to recap it.

Thus, to Thursday. There was a smaller group of us going on our trip to Cinque Terre, but there were a lot of other people from the program that were going to be there at the same time. The original plans included camping at this place that was about 25 minutes from the southernmost town of Cinque Terre, which… could have been fun. But we talked to our friends Ashley and Erin that were on the train with us, and decided to try giving their hostel a call, and luckily there was availability! What are the chances? So instead of being 25 minutes away, we were in the middle of the northernmost – and in my opinion, the nicest – town of Monterosso. There ended up being about 12 people from our program at this hostel (Hotel Souvenir), but mainly 4 of us in a 4-person room (Jackie, Jeremy, Kaitlin, and me). There was a nice view off of the balcony, and the other people from our program that we knew were on the hall with us. Fun.


The view from the balcony. Also, your jealousy is unbecoming.


A path by the hostel... secret garden-esque, no?

The only word to describe the entire weekend is breathtaking. Every turn you make, there’s another incredible view of cliffs, beaches, and crystal blue water. Our first day we hiked from our town to the next one (Vernazza), which is apparently the hardest hike of all 4 hikes. A lot of it is straight uphill, and there are bunches of steps… we were sweating after a few minutes. But once we got to the town, we made sure to get some gelato (my mouth is watering just thinking about it) and swim in the ocean for a while.


Stunning.


Apparently places like this exist.



Then we took a train back to our town (if you thought we were hiking back, you crazy), and got ready for dinner. We ended up going to this seafood place in our town where apparently everyone else from our program decided to go… it’s weird how that works out. Because Cinque Terre is known for seafood, I of course had to get the largest amount possible and gorge myself on it. My friend Erin and I ended up splitting the giant seafood urn thing… honestly, they bring out a giant urn, a giant bowl, and empty the contents of the giant urn into the giant bowl, and then you feast. There’s a whole octopus, a lobster, mussels, clams, everything. It’s a silly amount of food, and I felt like it was my task on the Amazing Race to finish everything in an allotted amount of time. I’m not a competitive person, I swear. Here are some pictures of food porn to get your mouth watering:


Erin and I with our bowl of fish products.


Nom nom nom.

The next day we did more hiking from the bottom up… the walks were much, much easier, and we felt pretty hardcore for already having tackled the hardest on the first day. We had heard rumors of a nude beach in the middle town, which would have by far been the most exciting thing about that miserable place, but alas, no luck. We did end up finding a pretty cool rocky beach that we hung out at for a long time, and where Jeremy and I donned our European swimsuits. Needless to say, we were asked no less than 12 times how long we’d been modeling… someone even referred to Jeremy as Hansel. If you don’t get the reference, don’t worry about it. Just look at the pictures and you’ll understand.


Suck it, 384 steps to Corniglia.


That Hansel is so hot right now.

That night was pretty cool too, for a couple of reasons. Reason #1 – Pesto Pizza. Duh. Reason #2 – There was a giant celebration in the town in which we were staying, and it was pretty cool to have all of the banners and decorations up. Apparently the old soccer coach for the town was leaving, and a new one was coming in – a big deal, apparently. But the coolest part about it was the fireworks show that they put on once it got dark. I mean, it’s no illuminations, but let’s be honest – how cool. It really did feel unreal, sitting on the edge of the Mediterranean watching the fireworks – I’m still not convinced it actually happened. What a great way to end the weekend.


Oh hey Pesto. I see you on that pizza.


Why yes, that is a pizza covered in french fries. I would like to take this time to remind everyone to watch "Biggest Loser: Post Europe Vacation" on NBC, Wednesdays at 8:30. Jeremy and I are the Blue Team.

So everyone got back safely again (which I always consider a tiny miracle, to be honest), and the last free weekend of Verona was over. Up next: Finals, and then Florence and Rome!

I went to Interlaken... or Australia. I'm not sure which.

So let's head all the way back to June 4th, the second day of midterms. We were all pretty stressed and tired from studying all week, and in desperate need of a break. Granted, exams went better than I thought they were going to, so that was good - but still, a pretty rough week for everyone. Bleh.

So the fun part of this story starts at the Milan train station, where we were supposed to catch our train to a little place in Switzerland called Brig. That's all it says on the ticket, besides the time... Brig. So after looking at the board for a while, we find a train to a place called Genova Brig that was leaving at the same time. So clearly that was the same train, right? Oh wait, VERY INCORRECT. Even as the train was moving, we all were pretty sure we were going the right way... we were headed toward some hills, which, granted, didn't really look like the Alps, but still. A few hours later, we arrive in this so-called Genova Brig, and try to catch a train to what was supposed to be the next stop, called Spiez. Before we get on though, one of the girls notices that the train we almost boarded was called La Spezia... not totally different from Spiez, but enough to question. So she went and asked the conductor, who said "No! Wrong! This not Spiez. What is this Interlaken?" Well, clearly when the train conductor has never heard of the city we are supposed to be headed to, we are in the wrong place. So we talked to the ticket dude, who told us we had to go all the way back to Milan and catch another train from there... fantastic.


Erin fell asleep on the train, thus leaving herself vulnerable for me to take pictures of her looking like this. Some call it evil, I call it opportunistic. Also, this is part of a series I'm creating called "People sleeping while traveling," and it's looking like an award winning collection. Get excited.

So we finally get back to Milan around 10:00 PM... nobody has really had dinner, and there are definitely not any more trains headed out until the next morning at 7:20 AM. Needless to say, a few of the people that we were with were less than happy, but the rest of us just figured that we couldn't do anything about it, and we all enjoyed each other's company enough for it not to be a problem. We got some food at a restaurant outside of Milan, and just hung out before heading back into the train station to "sleep." Also, I would just like to send a shout-out to the Milan McDonald's for letting me use it's bathroom at whatever time in the late night I had to pee... my choices were my pants and that McDonald's, seeing as the train bathrooms had closed. So anyways, we were looking for a place to settle down for the night, and thought we found an awesome corner... until we all noticed the delightful smell of urine emanating from the homeless dude in the other corner that we hadn't seen at first. So then we moved up by the waiting room, before finally making one more move to the outside of the Train Police Station, where we felt the safest. That said, a few of us wanted to stay up the whole night to make sure that nothing happened to anyone, so... we did. I give props to Kaitlin for being the girl who lasted the longest, making it to around 5 before she started mumbling and drooling a little bit on herself (kidding... kind of). I felt like I was in the episode of Pete and Pete where they have the contest to see who can go without sleep the longest, and then it results in insanity and general mayhem, and everyone learns the importance of sleep. Anyways, Jeremy, Mike, and I stayed up for pretty much the whole night playing cards, telling riddles, and basically reenacting Scout Camp for 7 hours. And despite being stuck in a train station and losing a full night of sleep, I had a pretty good time. You always hear people say that "attitude is everything," and when you're in a bad mood the first response is generally "Suck it," but... you know what, it's true. Fancy that.


A few of us having positive attitudes in Milan, part deux.


Sleeping beauties that we protected with our ever-vigilant watchful eyes.

The other phrase I've learned the truth of (not that I ever doubted you, Mom), is that "Things work out." I've said it a lot this trip, even when I haven't believe it... and I've gotta say, it served me pretty well. We ended up getting on our train in the morning, We got to Interlaken around 10:45, so really not that much later than if we had slept in a little bit had we gotten there the night before. Our main objective was to book our extreme sports activities, and we ended up finding the place pretty quickly. We had heard from the group that took the right train that everything was booked up, but that ended up not being the case. The friendly Australians that worked at the Alpin Raft desk helped us book everything we wanted to, and because the weather was so much better than expected, we could actually do everything without delay. Literally an hour after booking, Jackie, Hillary, Jeremy and I were on a bus up a mountain on our way to PARAGLIDE. Because, you know, that's something that normal people do on a regular basis. My tandem person was named Stefan, and he wasn't as "cool" as some of the other guides, but he was very friendly... and gave me the video of me for free! Also, when we were in the air, he let me fly the paraglider for a little bit, which nobody else got to do (suckers). And I won't belabor the point, but paragliding was one of the best experiences of my life. To look down and see a helicopter flying BELOW me was ridiculous and incredible. Because weather conditions were perfect, I got to stay in the air for a full 30 minutes... double the amount of time promised. All of us that did it had an incredible time, as you can hopefully tell from the pictures.


Yeah, that's me and my bff Stefan just hanging out thousands of feet above sea level. No big.


The view. Holy crapola.


A random Asian that I though was Hilary, so I looked creepy whilst photographing her. Hey Asian!


Me in the air again!

The video wasn't working, but I'll try it again when I post more canyoning pictures.

After that, we had about an hour and a half break, all 8 of us headed over to the main Alpin Raft center and got ready for canyoning. We had to put on these wet suit deals that were probably the tightest pieces of clothing I've ever worn. I understand the purpose of them, and I was glad to have it on once I was in the water, but talk about difficult. Anyways, the eight of us got to be our own group without having to deal with anyone else, and it was another one of the best times in my life so far. With canyoning, you basically are put in a rocky river type place, and just go down it any way the guides tell you to, whether it is rappelling, climbing, ziplining, or just plain sliding. It was a really cool experience, and I'm pretty confident in my analysis that we all had a kickass time. Side note, everyone's helmet had a different name on it, and we got to choose. I, knowing that pictures would be taken and shown to family members and the other strangers who read my blog, chose the relatively tame but still awesome and relevant (thanks to Kanye West) name of Robocop. I cannot speak for some of the other members of our group, who you can form your own judgments about.


I was ready for this one.


Jeremy coming out of a waterfall. Funny choice of name, friend.


The group doing our "Interlaken" hand pose.

I'll try to post more once I rotate them in my computer...

That night, we went to Balmers, which is basically the only place that every young person in Interlaken goes to at night. It's also one of the most popular hostels to stay at, but for whatever reason we ended up booking a hostel that was about a 40 minute walk out of town. It really wasn't that bad though, and despite being in a 21 person room, there were only two other people that actually stayed there with us. They were two guys from LSU, and they were our age and really nice. We didn't hang out with them outside of being in the room, but they were cool to talk to for a little bit, and it's always nice to meet some other Americans (even though that isn't really an issue in Interlaken). But back to Balmers - we went there both nights, and it was a lot of fun. I left early the first night, which ended up being a mistake... all I'll say is, our hostel needs to better identify it's fire alarms that are located next to every door and look suspiciously like doorbells. Stupid hostel.

Anyways, the next day we had rafting at noon, and again, all eight of us were participating. It wasn't as cool as the other two activities I did, but I think that was just because I'd done it before. That said, it was still an amazing time. The weather was drizzly, but that wasn't a big deal... just going down that river being surrounded by the Alps was an amazing, amazing experience. Awesome.

After that, we split up again so that three of the others who didn't go paragliding could go Bungee Jumping. The rest of us hadn't had lunch yet, so we went to the one place that everyone told us we had to go... Hooters. Apparently it's the most famous restaurant in Interlaken? Interesting. That said, I did get an incredibly delicious hamburger, and got to watch the women's final of the French Open, and was severely disappointed with Safina's loss to Kuznetsova. Seriously? Kuznetsova blows. Just google image her. Here, if you're lazy, I did it for you: http://www.espn.go.com/photo/2007/0703/ten_a_kuznetsova_262.jpg
You see my point?

So that night, we went and picked up some food from the grocery store and headed back to Balmers. Unfortunately, the three bungee jumpers took too long at dinner and couldn't get into Balmers by the time they got there, so they didn't make it in. The rest of us got there early enough, and ended up hanging out with some other people from the Verona program that we hadn't really talked to up until then. So around midnight, a few of decided we were starving and needed food... and thus, my second trip to Hooters in the same day. I mixed it up and got a hot dog this time, and I will give Hooters credit - they know how to make American food pretty well. But anyways.


Hooters! Me, Helen, Kaitlin, and Erin underneath the sign.

So that next morning, we got up and walked around for a little bit, just looking in stores and whatnot. I got a Balmers t-shirt, even though I didn't stay there... I figured that being there two nights in a row and having friends who stayed there was enough to not look like a poser, right? Well, that's what I'll choose to believe. Moral of the story, we ended up catching the right train this time, and were on our way back home. I really enjoyed everyone that I was with (Kaitlin, Mike, Ryan, Jackie, Erin, Hilary, and Jeremy), and the activities and feel of the town was really cool too. Everyone there was just so friendly and welcoming, and on top of that, everybody spoke near perfect English... I appreciate the beauty of other languages, but it's wonderful to hear words that make sense in my head and am able to respond to.

Next time: Killers Concert in the Verona Arena, and Cinque Terre. If I were you, I'd be jealous of me right now too. Thanks for reading!

"You can't be serious. Mary, ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"

This was started last week, and finished today, so if it seems a bit disjointed, that's why.

So I'm still kind of in a state of shock, but I was lucky enough to go to Paris for the weekend. But unlike the spoiled brats from Kentucky that sat in front of me at one of the French Open matches ("Look at me, I played tennis at Brandeis, I'm so fancy") I like to think that I appreciated the experience a lot more than they did. But I'll start from the beginning.

The process of getting to Paris actually took a couple more steps than I thought it would when we started planning, but we ended up getting there safe and sound. We had to take a train to Milan, a bus from the Milan train station to the airport, and then the flight to Paris. We ended up taking Easyjet, which was a pretty nice airline, considering how cheap it was... and even better, it flew straight into Charles de Gaulle airport instead of some airport way out of the city. The negative thing, though, was that we got in kind of late and the train workers were on strike (Boo Socialism, in this one incident where I needed public transportation late at night), so we ended up having to take a taxi all the way to our hotel... kind of expensive, but it was either that or sleep at the airport... when we already paid for a hostel. At least the taxi driver was friendly, and knew almost where our hostel was.


Cheesin' it up before the flight to Paris.

Speaking of where the hostel was... kind of sketchy. As regal as "Les Chesonniers" sounds, it left a lot to be desired. The man at the front desk ended up being one of the only rude people that I encountered throughout my entire trip in Paris. Our room was... well, modest. The girls' room ended up being a little better, but only because it was made for 3 people instead of ours that was made for two. Also, the interesting thing to me was that there was a sink and a bidet in the room, but no toilet. I guess I just don't understand the point of a bidet if there's no toilet... I could explain further, but I think you get the picture. Blergh.


Les Chesonniers. How romantic.

But anyways, after our brief rest that night, we got up bright and early and left for the Cathedral of Notre Dame. It ended up not being that far from the hotel, and we got our first taste of how amazing the metro stations in Paris are. I wish we had something even somewhat similar to this in America... no matter where you are in the city, you can find a metro station that will take you wherever else you need to go in a reasonable amount of time, and for cheap. But anyways, Notre Dame was stunning... now that I actually now what Gothic architecture entails, I feel like I could appreciate it even more than I would have been able to a couple of months ago. The stained glass, the sculptures, the attention to detail, the sheer history of it... all of it just hits you in the face as you walk in, and reminds you of the incredible things that the humans, as a race, have been able to do in our short history. Not to get all philosophical about it, but I just think it's really cool.


Notre Dame!

So then after that we went to a little cafe next to Notre Dame, and ordered a traditional French breakfast. I got a banana crepe, and while not super filling, it was really, really good. Also, I got a Grand Chocolat, which is basically a hot chocolate, but French, and therefore better. I think everybody else enjoyed their meals too... they were pretty similar, and nobody seemed to have any complaints.

After that, EIFFEL TOWER! As much of a tourist as it makes me, I was really excited to go up in the tower. It's such a pretty structure, and the view from the second floor (the top floor was closed) was impressive, to say the least. Paris is just a really cool place, and I love the architecture of all of the buildings. After pushing a few small Asian ladies out of the way, I was able to take some really cool pictures of the city, which I'll post below.


The view from the Eiffel Tower... so amazing.

So then, the French Open. I bought this ticket off of ebay, so it was just me going to the matches on Friday. The compound was set up in a really cool way, but completely different than I expected it to be. I just wandered around for a little bit with my giant backpack on until I realized that there were a whole 'nother set of courts behind the first major stadium. Fancy that. And luckily, there were some bigger matches happening in these. First off, I got to see Serena practicing... I was literally 10 feet from her, maximum. And let me tell you, I knew she was a big girl, but she is THICK. I feel like her backside alone is the size of a novelty sized giant basketball, and that's putting it nicely. Still though, it was really cool to see her practicing. Then I watched a couple of doubles matches, which were cool... Seppi was probably the most famous guy in the matches I watched that morning. Then I just wandered around and watched various matches with people I had never or vaguely heard of, which was still pretty cool. Good tennis is good tennis. The coolest match, though, was when I got into the Serena and Venus doubles match... they ended up crushing these two poor European girls. There was literally no chance.


SO THICK!


Suck it, foreigners. America wins again. At least until next round, when they lost to some random ladies. Boo.

After the match, I got lost. Not even going to pretend that it was someone else's fault... I found the street I thought our hotel was on on the bus map, and because I am the gender that I am, refused to believe that I could be wrong and didn't actually ask anybody. So I took the metro to this street (which did at least have the same name as the one my actual hotel was on), and walked around the wrong part of Paris for about 2 hours by myself before realizing that I was in the completely wrong place. But to be fair, even the taxi drivers I asked told me I was in the right place. So anyways, I eventually made it back to the right hostel around 10 PM, where I found Jeremy... and we went to McDonald's to eat dinner - sadly, that was not the first and would not be the last time that I went to McDonald's in Paris. Don't judge me, it was a matter of convenience. And side note, McDonald's are way nicer in Paris than in America. Weird.

The next day, I had somebody to accompany me to the match - hooray for Jeremy! We saw some pretty cool matches... a good women's doubles match, and really good women's singles match (featuring Wozniak, a canuck! We cheered loudly for our friendly neighbor to the north), and a pretty decent men's singles match between Robredo and Maxim Gonzales... all of the matches were great, and we had literally front row seats the entire time. Granted, we do now have awesome farmers tans, but... totally worth every second. Also, I'm equally excited about the souvenirs that I bought... I can't wait to shove my pretentiousness in other people's faces when I get back home. Because I'm 'That Guy.'


The winner! Aka Robredo... he was awesome. Maximo Gonzales just lost focus... way to suck. Definitely not representing for the Americas.


BURNED. Literally. Sunburn. Ouch.

That night we tried to go out with one of my friend's older brother, but due to confusion, bathroom breaks for the ladies, and general disorientation, it didn't work out. Which in the end was fine, because we were all pretty tired anyways, and midterms were coming up. Long story short, no great loss.

Finally, the next morning we got up and went to McDonald's for the third time (jealous?), and then took the train to the airport to fly back. All in all, it was a great trip - I got to accomplish one of my life dreams, and had a great time with everyone that came.


Random picture of Chelsea and me eating our non-McDonald's breakfast... There was a local bakery right across the street that had all of these wonderful pastries. This was called a Chocolat Suisse, and if I never find one again, my life will not be complete. Because I have an unhealthy relationship with food.

Next report: Midterms and Interlaken! Get excited!

Playing Catch-Up

So as I've said before, I've been pretty slack on my updating... but I do plan on catching you up to speed. This post will be all about the first week in Verona (post Venice), and go up to Paris, which will have an entirely separate post. But enough prefacing.

The Sunday before classes started (aka the 24th of May, for those of you who don't always have a mental calendar handy... dumb dumbs), there was a big soccer game in the soccer arena in Verona. Twas the final match of the season, and one of the teams playing was a local team from a neighborhood called Chievo. They're one of three teams in Verona, and they surprised everyone this season by moving up into a higher ranked group of teams, and the outcome of this game decided whether they stayed at that level or were dropped back down to a lower level. To do this, they either had to win or tie... and great success! They ended up tying with the Barcelona team, and it was pretty cool - all of the Barcelona fans were excited for the Chievo team and fans, and vice-versa. It was a much better outcome than the ridiculous riots that you see at a lot of soccer matches... just good ol' fashioned sportsmanship. Also, not to keep talking about food, but I bought a hamburger from a stand outside of the arena, and believe you me, BEST BURGER EVER. It even put Clocked to shame. All of the ingredients were so fresh... the lettuce, the tomatoes, the meat, the condiments, even the bun! Plus, it was relatively cheap... a surprising thing to find anywhere outside of Turkey. Oh Lira, how I miss treating you like Monopoly money because of your excellent exchange rate. Alas.


Food Porn


Football, or soccer if you are an uncultured American.


Pretending to fit in...

So then, dun dun dun... classes. After spending over a week just doing cool stuff and hanging out, it was a harsh reality to hear Jeremy's alarm going off at 7 AM on Monday morning. Which, remember that time I talked about my ears getting raped? Similar situation. I mean, I guess I'm not complaining because I needed to wake up, but still... there has got to be a more soothing sound than what can be described as a siren brutally beating a screeching cat while a banshee and a harpy cheer them on. I joke, but seriously. Terrible sound.

My two classes are actually pretty good, though. I wish I could update you on all of the classes (because I have found out how many parents of people on this trip are reading this... creepers. I kid! I'm glad you enjoy it!), but all I really know is that one of them is taught by a prince. Like, an actual one. I don't think the title means much, but still... neat. My first class is all about the Renaissance and Reformation, which is really cool because I know literally nothing about it. It's great finding out about all of the artworks and things that I have seen/ will be seeing, because it makes me appreciate it so much more than when I didn't know anything. Duh. The teacher is super old and really kooky, but really nice... we all like Tony. He jumps around a lot, and our first midterm is tomorrow, but I feel like we've learned everything pretty well.

My other class is all about strategic intelligence in the CIA, and while difficult, is one of the most interesting classes I've ever taken. The teacher is intense, but I'm pretty sure that he is also Jack Bauer so it makes sense. I'm pretty sure that he was never a CIA covert operative, but he was definitely very, very high up - and possibly one of the most knowledgeable men on US intelligence in the country. He likes to talk about things like "When Clinton would call me into his office" or "This one time when I was hanging out with Dean Rusk, my biffle and former Secretary of State under JOHN F. KENNEDY..." And then we all sit in silence and awe at the ridiculous man standing before us. Loch Johnson: American hero. The only real problem is that the class has a lot of reading that can be kind of hard to keep up with, and we have our midterm on Thursday, which everyone is kind of freaking out about a little bit. I'm sure it will be fine, but we're all kind of ready for it to pass. Yuck.

Other than that, the rest of the week went pretty smoothly... it's all a learning process about the city at that point. I think I've finally got the bus route down, I know how to get to and from the grocery store (a feat, considering the fact that my internal compass was set by a blindfolded and handicapped baboon), and all of the basics. The biggest hassle in the city is that a lot of stores take a siesta that starts right before we get out of class and goes until about 3:30... which if you are out of something important like lunch meat or lunch food or water or everything, you have to wait until the stores reopen. I'm not really sure why the people here need siestas, because we've concluded that 80% of the townspeople do not have jobs, they just mill around the main square shopping and eating until bedtime. Hard life.


HA! Someone should tell them the English meaning of that, but then it wouldn't be nearly as funny. Oh, Boner store.

The last thing we did before everyone went on vacation for the weekend was go on a wine tasting about 45 minutes away from our apartment. It was a pretty cool place... I wish I could remember more of the specific details at this point, but it's one of the biggest wineries in Europe and is home to hundreds of different grows. We got to see all of the barrels and the aging process and how each kind of wine/ champagne is made, and it was all just really cool. It was kind of similar to the bourbon distillery we went to in Kentucky, but smelled different and didn't have my dad shoving his hand into giant fluid filled vats. Although that would have made it more fun, I think. But after the tour of the place, we got to have some food and taste a couple of their better wines - one red, one white, and a desert wine. The red and the white were really good... the red was pretty dry, which some people didn't like, so I helped them out. The desert wine, though, I could barely stomach. They gave us all full, large glasses and it was just so sweet and almost syrupy.... bleh. All the food was so good, I didn't need to fill my stomach with syrup on top of that. But anyways, all in all it was a pretty cool excursion and a nice break from studying.


Wine! So much wine!


My corny friends posing with a carriage that was inside the winery.


Some of the food that went with the wine... so grood. Great and good. Grood.

Then the next morning... to France! But again, that post is coming (hopefully today, but maybe in the next couple of days. I miss everyone a lot, and thanks for reading!