BLOG UPDATED!!!

I'm sorry for the delay! But here are a few snippets from the past month! It's not complete but when I have more time to work on it I will refine the blog more! Thanks for sticking with me!

Day 85 May 20th 2009 Rome, Italy

Early morning wake up call to jump on the shuttle to the airport. Cara, mom and I all met Andrew as he walked through the arrivals gate then I said goodbye to the family and jumped a train back to the Holiday Inn to hang for awhile before Katie headed off to Fiumicino and back to United States of D’Americas for reinstating to regular existence. For yours truly, I would stay in the fantasy world burning funds and eating montecarlo pizzas for a bit while longer. I showed Andrew the famous eatery on little via Savelli lane and he agreed on the time-tested fact that montecarlo is bomb food for piddles prices. Dinner adjourned we met up with Peter “Goofy Pete” Edwards who so happened to be in Rome for Penn State’s architecture program and was living over piazza Navona. We wandered over to Abbey Theatre for a round of Irish luck or two. Then we parted ways with Mr. Goof and Andrew and I made our way back to the Chianti hostel near Termini to take on some bunk-bed sleepin’.

Day 84 May 19th 2009 En route to Rome, Italy

Arose to clean up and pack up the rest of the apartment by the sea. Pina, the caretaker arrived at 10 to check everything out and we were off at 10:30. But we didn’t make it very far. 100 meters down the road a stop to grab a load of painted pottery. Another 100m and a stop for group picture. And so on it went. Finally we were traveling up and and through the mountain towards Sorrento because we had decided it might be cool to stop in Pompeii to see the ruins. But this was not to be as we took a democratic vote and wanted to spend a bit more time in Rome so we bypassed Pompeii and shot straight up on the A1 autostrada back to Rome. Dropped the car back at Avis with a big thanks to Guida who we couldn’t have made it without. Got into our room at the hotel Holiday Inn then proceeded to take one sweaty train, one double-sweaty metro and one triple-sweaty bus over towards piazza Navona. After getting out of the sweaty mass that is Rome public transportation during summer, we made it to the elongated piazza of fountains and artists. We sat down for an overpriced dinner, but hey it’s a nice location right?, then the girls went strolling around for some art shopping. A quick cab back to the Holiday ended the evening.

Day 83 May 18th 2009 Capri, Italy

We set off on a ferry from Positano to Capri today! B-e-a-utiful day out today and the perfect weather to go explore the fabled island. Upon landing my mom was immediately harassed by a man trying to take us for a private tour of the island on his slooper of a boat. We finally shook him only to run into another guy offering the same services for more than what we had bargained the other guy. I told him of the lowball offer and he shut up and left us alone after that. We grabbed tickets for a big tour ferry of the island which stopped at the blue grotto. I had been into the blue grotto before in 2004 with the Rice high school Europe trip but it still is great fun to go into it. But two things I didn’t notice before when I was here was the road access now and the money-taking boat to get into the grotto. I do hope the island government of Capri is running that boat because if some private company somehow got monopoly access to the grotto I would be pissed. The thing is a national treasure and it just is a bit too commercial right now. After taking our tour of the blue grotto our tour boat set off for the round-the-island tour of different fascinations and the like. We saw the green grotto, the lovers arch, Giorgio Armani’s rockside house Sophia Loren’s huge rock mansion overlooking little marina. I had not taken the around the island tour when I was here with the high school Europe trip so it was a new look for me at an island I had been on before. The island tour over Team Mom, Cara, Katie and I took the cable car up to the main town of Capri and Katie set off to check out the sandal place she had heard about. We then jumped on a rickety bus down to small marina where the water was crystal blue and the beaches hard stones. But we didn’t care because it was so hot we all jumped in the water to take a very refreshing and welcome swim in the mid Tyrrhenian Sea. A quick bus ride back up to the town and cable car down to the big marina where we burned some time and had sub-par fried calamari again. Ferry took us back to Positano and our trusty wheel-woman mother guided us back safely in the dark along the razors edge of the cliff to Praiano. Packed up a bit and let the salty sea breeze bring sleep.

Day 82 May 17th 2009 Praiano, Italy

Made it an earlier morning as we set off for Ravello, a town set more inland behind Amalfi. We checked out the church and almost went into the Villa of the emperor but decided against it and scurried off back down to the apartment. This evening we drove to the neighboring Positano for dinner on the beach at L’Incanto. The food was ok, nothing special but eating right down at the beach was a real treat. I just keep getting fried calamari and still no one has bested the batch I ate in Santa Margherita Ligure on the Cinque Terre coast. We drove the windy roads back in the dark which actually helps somewhat because you can see the headlights coming around the hairpin turns so we knew a car was around the bend and could slow down and move to the right to avoid it.

Day 81 May 16th 2009 Praiano, Italy

Everyone slept in this morning after our stressful day of traveling and driving yesterday. The weather was partly cloudy but we went down the 240 steps to the rocks below to check out the water. Everyone laid out in the sun for awhile and I napped on the rocks. We went into Amalfi to walk around and browse for a bit. Took the drive back to the apartment and just relaxed at the apartment until bedtime.

Day 80 May 15th 2009 En route to Praiano, Italy

Arose and packed up my remaining items. Gathered up a bunch of the food in the fridge and brought it out to one of the resident homeless people and dogs that live around the corner, doing a good deed. Met up with mother and Cara once more to head to Fiumicino to pick up the rental car. Haha our car is a Fiat Qubo, but we nicknamed it the “Blue Marshmallow” because its big and vibrant blue! Thinking ahead I also leased a GPS unit from AVIS to make sure we didn’t end up totally lost on the Amalfi coast. Man did this thing save our trip at some points. We nicknamed her “Guida” which is actually quite humorous considering the word guida is the third person conjugation of the verb guidare, to drive; so guida also stands for “It drives.” We jumped on the A1 autostrada and off we went for an adventure south. Things started to get very interesting when we got to the part of the trip where the road starts winding along the hillsides of Amalfi and the other coastal towns. The drivers are crazier than Rome! Obviously there are less intersections and all that city driving stuff but these Italians drive at 50mph along a 1 1/2 lane road still talking on the cell phone while eating and putting on makeup! It was all my mother could do to keep us from sideswiping the tourists walking on the right and the cars blazing by on the left! We finally found the entrance gate to the apartment and descended a steep San Francisco-like turny driveway down to our new residence. The charming little apartment with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths is an excellent fit for our party of 4, but what has your mouth wide open is the view of the gulf and terraced towns to the left and right. On our way to the apartment we had stopped in the town of Amalfi to grab some groceries and we ended up just cooking up some pasta and drinking delicious local Campania wine to celebrate our arrival in paradise.

Day 79 May 14th 2009 Rome, Italy

Mama and Cara arrived this morning at Fiumicino airport and I was there to grab them and bring them back into Rome! After dropping the luggage at the hotel I took them for a cappuccino before scurrying over to the Vatican because we had made a reservation to go on the Scavi underground tour. This is a very cool tour if you ever get the chance. The Vatican only allows about 250 people to take the tour every day because the history contained under St. Peter’s Basilica is just too priceless to open up to all public. A full 2000 years of history is layered under the giant basilica and at the end of the tour you are standing 8 feet away from the purported bones of St. Peter. You have to send an email to the scavi office in the vatican to make the reservation. After the tour Mom and Cara were very tired so I dropped them off at the Mercure hotel near the Colosseum and headed over to my school, Lorenzo de’Medici for an end of school party. We taught our school administrators how to play American-style flip cup and opened up quite a few bottles of bubbly. I returned to the hotel and picked up a refreshed family to cruise down Via del Corso and show them the super-shopping street. Via del Corso and the perpendicular Via dei Condotti are the biggest name shopping streets in Rome, containing everything from giant department stores to small vendors to Dior, Versace and Armani stores. Didn’t buy anything but we had to exchange some American dollars to euros so we walked over to the American Express office to complete the exchange. Damn weak dollar right now! We jumped in a cab after to head out to the Ciampino airport to pick up Katie who was arriving from Dublin after touring the country with her mom. The end of the year LDM school dinner was that night so we took a taxi again from the Ciampino airport towards the city. Here’s where things got a little interesting and stressful. The cab driver did not exactly know the address I gave her for the restaurant we were going to at first, so she typed it into her GPS. But the GPS didn’t have the exact address I had either so we were kind of driving on a prayer. Well the prayer didn’t help too much because we got very lost looking for this place. To compound the problem, I called Davide, the administrator of our school to get the name of the restaurant because the address wasn’t working. But all he could say was the restaurant was called ristorante! That’s Italian for restaurant! So without the name and without the exact address working we somehow after 20 minutes found the place. Now here it gets even better. The place we were eating was a traditional Roman restaurant, meaning they only serve what Romans ate 2000 years ago. To make a long story short Katie, after telling the chef she could not eat wheat, was served a boiled squid and some sort of mashed polenta. You, reader, can imagine the results. I did end up eating a tentacle which tasted sort of fishy and rubbery but in the end the squid got hidden under the remaining food and sent back. On the flip side the red wine mixed with honey was very delicious and the soup was quite good. A ride back into the city to drop off Mama and Cara and Katie and I went back to the apartment in Trastevere.

Day 70 April 18th 2009 Cinque Terre, Italy

Got out of the apartment early this morning to jump a train from Termini station up to Firenze to meet my illustrious travel cohort Katie E. “Carmen San Diego” Suominen. We then boarded a couple of trains that took us all the way up to the Italian Riviera to the small 60 degree sloped-on-a-mountain town of Riomaggiore. The hike up on the road to the hotel reception left us winded. After depositing our baggage in what can only be described as Batman’s small Italian town version of the batcave, we boarded a short train to the neighboring town of Monterosso. Here we began the famous Cinque Terre hike that spans the five coastal towns. Well we actually only completed the Due Terre hike as for some reason Katie and I can never come prepare correctly for a hike of any sort. Last year we hiked Camel’s Hump with 30 pound backpacks of camping gear on our backs only to find that you can’t actually camp on Camel’s Hump and we would need to hike an additional 1.5 miles in the dark to get to the campsite. Needless to say, both then and now we took the route that led as quickly home as possible. But the sights were beautiful, with the Tyrrhenian Ocean below us and carved terraced Vermentino and pigato vines crawling out from the rocky soil. Oh I didn’t mention why were unprepared for the hike. Katie was wearing thong sandals and we had not a bottle of water nor trail snack between us. Soo typical. But we made it finally to the town of Vernazza which was stunningly beautiful as well. Starving we were, so we sat down on a rock jetty and ate some delicious bruschetta con pesto e pomodoro, insalata frutti di mare e Trofie con pesto (the local pasta). The pesto was to die for here. After the delicious meal we jumped a train back from Vernazza to Riomaggiore for a riposo nap. But in typical fashion we did not wake up from this nap until 7am the next morning.

Days 67 - 69 March 31st to April 2nd Rome, Italy

Started up the new week of class by not going very much because of big change ups in the schedule. Every class was at a different time thus causing me to have to miss one class while attending another. All in all only made 2 classes out of 5 this week... sigh...

Day 66 March 30th 2009 En route to Rome, Italy

One last kabab and then we took the metro back to the airport. Grabbed the exit row seat like always with its ample leg room. Arrived exhausted into Rome Ciampino and grabbed a cab with the others back to the apartment and promptly fell asleep.

Day 65 March 29th 2009 Valencia, Spain

Today was science museum day! We traveled to the astoundingly modern science buildings of Valencia trying to go through the Aquarium. Unfortunately, the aquarium was closing in 2 hours and walking through requires about 3. So we decided upon the science museum nearby instead. Its called the Ciudad de las Artes y las ciencias and it contains every type of museum and exhibit one could ever want. I particularly enjoyed the science museum and all it’s hands-on activities of science. That night a delicious dinner of seafood paella finished us off and we packed up ready to fly out the next day.

Day 64 March 28th 2009 Valencia, Spain

Today was tour Valencia day. Saw a cool castle, climbed a spiral tower connected to a large church. Just did the super sightseeing deal. The sights were fantastic but even more fun was the evening when Carlos’ friends came over and we all played a game of international kings cup. Now for those lay people out there that haven’t been to college in awhile or are yet to enter, kings cup is a drinking game played with cards fanned out in a circle on a table with a cup in the middle. There are many, many variations to the rules so if mine are different than yours, which they will be, don’t take offense. So each card signifies an activity or game that the person drawing the card has to do. For example: all number 2 cards mean the puller must choose two people to sip on whatever cold beverage may be in their hand at the time. And on it goes: 3 is for me (puller sips), 4 touch the floor, 5 all guys, 6 all chicks, 7 hand to heaven, 8 make a date (you and your date sip), 9 bust a rhyme (puller raps a phrase and others must follow), 10 categories (puller chooses a category of anything and the rest name things in that category), jack is back (person who went before puller sips), queen is questions (this one has tougher to explain rules, consult the internet), king is make a rule to be used for the rest of the game. The reason I give you a quick rundown of the rules is because the hilarity stems from playing with guys who speak good english but are not technical enough to rhyme english words or say different categorical items. So imagine saying, “Yo I caught a fish” and expecting to hear dish or swish and hearing, ”ya then I ate my dinner.” With international kings finished we went over to a birthday party being held for one of Carlos’ friends. A few attempted spanish lessons later and a return for rest.

Day 63 March 27th 2009 Valencia, Spain

Early wake to move our stuff out of the apartment for cleaning. Grabbed a other-worldly kabab and headed off for the brand new Valencia Zoo! Such a beautiful day out, 80 and sunny blue skies. I felt like a preschooler again as we stomped around the zoo checking out all the amazing animals, everything from meerkats to giraffes to rhinos. The monkeys were the best, rolling around with their colored behinds. Big photo opportunity. Zoo adventure concluded, we headed back to hang for awhile at the apartment. That evening we grabbed some dinner and headed over to a park to chill and boteone. Ended up at Cafe Valencia, a loud pub/disco where a company was repping Desperadoes Tequila infused beer, a novel idea to be sure. Got the nightlife fix and back to the apartment for night riposo.

Day 62 March 26th 2009 Madrid, Spain / Valencia, Spain

A bit cramped flight to Madrid then a better jump over to Valencia. Met Gabby at the Valencia airport as she arrived about the same time I did coming from England. The problem was we needed to burn 6 hours at the airport to wait for Ryan and Jess to show up so we could all go into Valencia together. I am pretty good at wasting time now. I’m not sure if its a great skill but when your traveling poor, you trade more time for less money, so I can deal. Ryan and Jess finally arrived and we all took the metro into Valencia. A funny thing happened when we were trying to get out of the station. The Spanish metro works like this: you buy a ticket at a machine, scan it to get to the tracks, get on the train, then scan the ticket again to leave to ensure you didn’t buy the cheapest ticket and ride it for longer. Well us silly non-spanish speaking travelers did not buy the right tickets and thus it was 11pm at night and we could not get out of the metro station because the gates wouldn’t open for our tickets. We must have looked like constipated weiner dogs scrambling around the gates trying to figure out how to get of the darn terminal! Some Spanish transportation official must have taken pity on us because miraculously after 15 minutes of scrambling like this, the gates opened and we all bolted out. Carlos was our gracious host and we stayed at his super nice apartment right in central city Valencia. A good night of sleep was greatly appreciated.

Day 61 March 25th 2009 Galway, Ireland

Jumped on a bus to the Cliffs of Moher this morning to do a little sightseeing in Ireland. First off, the bus driver was certainly satan’s chauffeur because we were trucking along one lane roads with oncoming traffic at 50 miles an hour. I don’t get car sick but this ride almost changed that notion. Did have a chance to take in a lot of the Irish countryside and see the never-ending rock walls that extend in every direction for miles into the haze. The cliffs were amazing with straight razor edge walls dropping downward for 500 feet or more. Made for good pictures typical of Irish postcards. Crazy bus ride back to Galway where the girls left to go back to Dublin. Myself, on the other hand, had not booked a hostel for tonight because I had found a little scheme. My flight from Dublin to Valencia Spain was at 7am the next morning and there was a bus that left Galway at 2am and arrived at Dublin airport at 5am. So I would sleep on the bus, paying only 5euros for the bus and use that as my transport + mobile hostel. But I had to kill some serious time before 2am so I walked over to Kelley’s apartment. If you’re reading this, thanks again Kelley! I did laundry and got to watch english TV after quite a few days of hectic travel. I was also living out of nothing but my travel backpack which I had filled to maximum capacity but just under the weight limit so I could take it on the plane and not pay check bag fees. A rainy walk to the bus station and shaky sleep ensued. A bit groggy I arrived at the Dublin airport and met back up with Courtney and Rebecca as they were traveling to Madrid to stay with their friend there. Ryanair is a great airline if things go smoothly, but if bad things happen, they are really bad. The suitcase that the girls were using for the two of them was 8 kg over the check bag limit allowed by Ryanair and they had to pay 120euros! to put the bag on the plane. Just awful. I once again slipped by with my backpack without paying but only because I was wearing 3 layers of my heaviest clothing.

Day 60 March 24th 2009 Dublin Ireland / Galway, Ireland

Early bus across Ireland today to Galway for a night in the western atlantic town. I love the Irish accent. I tried to talk to every Irish citizen I could and I don’t care what were talking about as long as I can hear the accent. It makes me happy for some reason. Too bad Vermonters don’t have much of an accent...”sigh”. Checked into the Kinlay Galway Hostel where I was sleeping in a 4 bedroom dorm. I had no problems in the 8 bed one back in Dublin and lord it was so cheap to stay like that. After dropping the bags off at the hostel, Court, Bec and I wandered down into the main street of town, which really reminded me of Church St. back in Burlington. Lined with shops and eateries of every sort, street performers playing tunes, just a really fun atmosphere. Well the weather wasn’t great so we ended up just cruising from pub to pub and shop to shop. Drink a Guiness, check out some Ireland T-shirts, go down to the water, go to the pub and drink a Bailey’s, you get the idea. That night I met up with Rice classmate Kelley O’Brien who is studying abroad in Galway this semester. We went to a place called the cellar which has 5euro pitchers of beer on Tuesdays. So a pitcher per person it was. It was interesting to hear a whole new perspective of study abroad in a different country than Italy. Back to the Kinlay house for top bunk sleepin’.

Day 59 March 23rd 2009 Brussels, Belgium / Dublin, Ireland

Sent Katie off on the airport shuttle then took a quick self tour of Brussels before my flight left for Dublin. Grabbed a waffle, some Leffe beer, and a meat covered piece of bread. It’s true, Belgian waffles are the best. I also bought some Belgian chocolate from the Leonidas chain store. Tripadvisor.com has been so amazingly useful in finding amazing places in all the cities I’ve been, I highly recommend using it if you are going abroad or even in the US (I think?) Made my way to the airport and jumped on my Ryanair flight for Dublin. The best/worst thing (depending) about Ryanair is there are no assigned seats on your ticket, its just a free-for-all to get to the plane and grab seats. In this way it may seem to the unenthusiastic this a big pain in the butt rush. But to an young traveler like myself who can stand pushing and shoving and a bit of competitiveness and the thrill of the chase, I love the fact that I can get exit row seats every flight without paying a dollar more or needing to be a frequent flier. Katie knows my favorite term for this, the “stick and move” from boxing. I use the legspeed and a bit of freestyle walking to get to where I want to be. So landed in Dublin, checked into the Globetrotters Hostel where I was staying in an 8 bed dorm and grabbed a bite to eat with Courtney and Rebecca who had been in Dublin for 3 days prior to me.

Day 58 March 22nd 2009 Amsterdam, Netherlands

Delicious free breakfast one more time before heading over into inner Amsterdam to find the office of Mike’s Bike Tours. After finding the office we were led over to the bike storage shop on the other side of the street and introduced to our guide, Shaun. Shaun had lived in LA and now resides in Amsterdam giving tours as his full time job. He started us off with a quick history of the Netherlands and Amsterdam including wars, commerce, city-destroying fires and the people of tolerance. Then we were split into two groups because there were so many people there for the tour. Bikes were supplied and we were on our way outside, following Shaun in a 20 person duckling line. It was a bit chilly but perfect weather for a slightly athletic bike ride. We stopped at all different points in the city to chat about waterways, Amsterdam housing, marijuana, the Red Light District, invasion by Germans, Yoko Ono and John Lennon and everything else one could ever want to know about the city. We eventually ended up at a small farm outside the city after seeing a very cool windmill. At the farm we got delicious samples of the cheese the farm produced as well as got to see a quick process of making the wooden clogs that Holland is so famous for. It is very uncommon now to see everyday Amsterdamm’ers in wooden clogs but our farmer tour guide explained to us that a few professions still require the use of the super tough shoe, like farmers to protect their feet from cow hooves. Katie and I both bought a small wheel of cheese from the farm and we headed on our bikes back into the city. Shaun told us about a business in Amsterdam that had been selling nothing but french fries for 60 years so Katie and I went over to check it out. This place was the typical hole in the wall take away eatery but man, their fries were out of this world. I got something called “hawaiian” sauce which tasted a bit like tarter sauce and Katie got the mayo-fries. Both were excellent caloric gut bombs. We picked up our bags from the hotel and headed towards the train station, planning on grabbing the overnight train back to Brussels. That plan was not going to work so well considering there was no overnight train back to Brussels. So we instead took the 9pm train getting into Brussels at 11:30 and had to stay at a last minute hotel one night so Katie could leave back to Florence the next morning.

Day 57 March 21st 2009 Amsterdam, Netherlands

Up around 9am to grab some comp-breakfast and head over to the Vincent Van Gogh museum for a tour of amazing art. The theme was “Stars and Nighttime” with the main feature piece of course being “Starry Night” by Van Gogh. A free audio listener was included so Katie and I perused leisurely through the exhibits, getting the info on each one. I’m not much of an art guy but seeing the comparisons between all the works on the subject of night was really fascinating. Potato Eaters in particular captivated my attention for quite a while. Van Gogh tour completed, we decided we really wanted some straight American lunch food. Off to Hard Rock cafe it was. Overpriced, of course, but still hit the spot. Pulled pork sandwich for me and a big burger for Katie, plus two Heineken of course. Back to the hotel to watch German television and rest for a little bit. Dinner at the Satellite bar to watch ‘Nova basketball in the NCAA tourney.

Day 56 March 20th 2009 Amsterdam, Netherlands

Katie and I went down to a delicious breakfast served free with the room then proceeded out onto the streets of Amsterdam. Amsterdam is like a combination of Burlington Vermont/ Venice Italy and maybe Paris or some funky eclectic jazz bar. It really is a city unlike any other. Katie wanted to find a pair of retro sneakers in one of the many many shoe shops that abounded on every street. If everyone in Amsterdam suddenly lost their shoes magically one day, everyone in the city could be refitted with a new pair within an hour tops, that’s how many shoe shops there are in Amsterdam. Eventually we ended up at our first tourist destination, the Heineken Experience Brewery. Because I had done some coupon clipping we got in with a discount and got a green rubber Heineken bracelet to boot. By the time Katie and I got out of the museum, all we could think or drink was Heineken beer. Forget television advertising, buy everyone a plane ticket to Amsterdam for a tour of the brewery and the world will drink nothing but Heineken! Great beer, lots of fun seeing the history of the company; all around a ticket to liquid happiness. We left in a state of slight euphoria a proceeded to have a delicious lunch of hamburgers and mayo-fries. Lunch was cheap and right after we stumbled upon the famous I AMsterdam sign/sculpture right at the top of the Vondelpark. Many pictures were taken. Some more wandering, checked out a dolphin-themed store, dinner was good although a little on the sweet side and a restful night of sleep.

Day 55 March 19th 2009 En route to Brussels, Belgium then Amsterdam, Netherlands

Very early flight today from Ciampino airport to Brussels Charleroi airport. Katie was arriving 3 hours after me in Brussels so I had some time to burn until she arrived. I ended up finding a grassy spot outside the airport in the sun and took a nice nap against my backpack. I thought about asking to test drive some of the rental cars as a way to spend some of the time but decided against that. Did I mention that Brussels is French? Or they speak French at least. But I wasn’t expecting that, come to think of it I’m not sure what I expected in Belgium except waffles. So Katie arrived and we caught a train onwards to Amsterdam which ended up being quite humorous and a bit worrisome because we couldn’t figure out for the life of us whether we needed to change trains somewhere to get to Amsterdam or just stay on the train we were on all the way there. The conductor of the train didn’t seem to know either because one voice came on saying there was a change needed then 5 minutes later another voice came on and said this train is direct to Amsterdam. So we just literally hung on to our seats and hoped when the train stopped we would be in Amsterdam. Well we did have to switch trains eventually and finally made it to Amsterdam Centraal Station (2 a’s in Dutch). We jumped a cabbie and made it to the Hotel de Paris, a fine 3 star hotel establishment right next to the hub of Amsterdam, Leidseplein Square. We hopped over for dinner at the Satellite Bar and Grill where the TV screens are endlessly playing all sorts of sports from Irish rugby to the NCAA March Madness which I appreciated greatly as the Nova Wildcats were making a run to the final four. A burger and Heineken later and it was travel weary sleep time.

Days 52 - 54 March 16th- 18th 2009 Rome, Italy

Strong concentration required these three days to hammer out 5 midterms. I actually like when midterms are packed closely together because then I can stay in a study mindset for those days then emerge victorious. If the exams are spaced out too much I tend to wander and not study as much. St. Patty’s day interrupted this study mindset on Tuesday shortly. A few Irish carbombs and then back to the notebooks. Wednesday night I packed up my super hiking backpack like Tetris level 35 to make sure I had all that I needed for my upcoming 4 country/ 5 city 11 day Spring Break travel-a-thon.

Day 51 - March 15th 2009 Rome, Italy

Another seriously slow day. Remained in the apartment for almost the whole day, except for a short excursion outside to walk through the Porta Portese open air flea market, which is the biggest in Italy, then took a stroll over to “Blockbuster” (so called because of its blue banner background with yellow writing on the front) pizza and picked up a delicious kabab. Read, studied for mid-terms this week, talked to my parents over skype, which you should do too! (c paganelli or frozentimestudios username).

Day 50 - March 14th 2009 Rome, Italy

Seriously slow day today, just chilled the apartment until it was iced over. Unfortunately got rather sick mid afternoon and ended up in bed watching a movie and passing out early.

Day 49 - March 13th 2009 Tivoli, Italy

Arose early this morning to head over to Piazza Trilussa to board the API express to the small town of Tivoli on the outskirts of the Lazio region. Arrived in fine form and disembarked into Hadrian’s Villa or Villa Adriana, an enormous expanse of buildings and man-made lakes that the Emperor Hadrian used as a base camp away from his political duties. He also tested his architectural pursuits all over the villa, experimenting widely with new arches, materials and layouts. After the tour we boarded the bus once again to head into the heart of Tivoli to the Il Ciocco restaurant where the view was amazing over this grotto/ valley and so was the 3 course meal we were served. Our hunger completely satiated, we boarded the bus to head back to camp Roma.

Days 44 - 48- March 8th - March 12th 2009 Rome, Italy

Gonna have to use the 1, 2 skip a few trick here seeing as I’ve gotten a little behind on the blog writing.

Day 43 - March 7th 2009 Rome, Italy

Today was tourista day for the LdM folks. We cruised over to the Roman forum, palatine hill, and coliseum to be “gapers” with our cameras. Ryan and I were also the only men in Rome wearing shorts, even though it was probably 65 degrees and sunny. Warning: start of another Italian culture rant by Chris. Alright so here’s my observation from today: NOBODY in Rome pays attention to what the weather is ACTUALLY doing. I walked out the door in shorts and a windbreaker and was rather hot all day. Everyone else around me? Wearing full overcoats with scarves! Man did we get some looks, couldn’t have looked more foreigner American.

Day 42 - March 6th 2009 Rome, Italy

A typical lazy Friday, traveled over to the Capuchin crypt to view the hundreds of bones of those buried beneath the monastery over 300 years. The bones are patterned into elaborate designs all over the walls and ceilings to form church symbology and motifs. It’s a bit creepy but a totally different and new form of museum.

Day 41 - March 5th 2009 Rome, Italy

Had to get up today earlier than I would have liked to on my first day of the weekend (Thursday) as today our group was meeting the PosteItaliane officials to exchange our precious Permesso di Soggiorno documents (copy of every page in our passport? + copy of visa etc). And we happily sauntered off with a little receipt that said we were good visitors and are now currently deep within the dark machine that is the Italian bureaucratic system. Katie’s appointment to get the actual Permit to Stay is scheduled for September 2009 so I’m thinking I’m going to be, say...Christmas 2009? I may miss this appointment... A little homework at the LdM school then back to base command to suit up for the night. First a quick foray to a local Trastevere osteria that serves delicious gnocchi, but only one day a week! Once this delicious dish of gnocchi arrabiata spicy sauce was done and gone we went to a spot that some of the crew had already frequented called the Bartelli Bar which is tended by Luigi and his friend. We shared talk and spirits with these fine gentleman then proceeded on to the Zarbar for flashing lights and 90’s american music which Italians think is still new stuff for some reason.

Day 40 - March 4th 2009 Rome, Italy

Marched through European history today with our favorite teacher Fabio. Fabio is an all around interesting guy, he is about 26, speaks excellent english and italian, and recites his 2 and half hour lectures completely from memory. It’s quite amazing to sit and listen to. He also gives us all our insider Rome tips about nightspots and the best restaurants and so on. After history comes wine class, this week we sampled 4 different red wines and one Moscasti D’Asti sparkling sweet white. The reds included a Barbaresco 2004 which is from the Piedmonte region of Italy. This easily had the most complex and interesting structure and body of all the wines we have tasted so far. The Moscato was everyone’s favorite because after so many tastings of reds the class was thankful for a sweet passito wine. After wine class it was on to La Montecarlo for a bite and back home for the usual reading writing and arithmetic.

Day 39 - March 3rd 2009 Rome, Italy

Took the ride into school this morning on the tram then the autobus. Chomped through Italian class then went on a search for a new lunch locale, ending up on Via Tritone leading to Piazza Barberini. A pork panini and supplì later the belly was quenched and walked back to class at 3. Made some delicious handmade hamburgers to fry up on the stove (man I miss grilling) then proceeded to read some and write out this crazy blog and also some European history homework.

Day 38 - March 2nd 2009 Rome, Italy

Standard day at the office today. Italian cinema class, some pasta with freestyle spicy sauce. Italian homework and blog writing. I suppose this is a good an opportunity as any to give you insight into Italian supermercato shopping for groceries. The experience is quite comical. So the first time I went grocery shopping, I carried all my items in my arms and shirt because I couldn’t figure out where everyone was getting the green baskets. In Italy there is no cart collection, everyone just leaves their empty vessel near the checkout line once their done unloading. So, one has to go all the way around in the store, pick up the goofy little green rolly basket cart, and begin the shopping experience. Now, this may be because I don’t understand fully every Italian word, but for some reason there are two classes of milk and eggs, the refrigerated and unrefrigerated. I was under the impression these items needed cool temps at all times or else they would spoil, but not in Italy apparently. Eggs and milk are refrigerated in one spot, then right in the same aisle there are their warmer weather brethren. I’ve taken to buying the fridge milk and free standing eggs, which seems to work out fine. Now onto the checkout. The man asks if you want a bag, but you have to pay .05 cents for it. I say no because I now bring my own bags cause I’m too cheap to pay the extra .05. And there are no baggers in Italy, you buy it, you bag it. But once you unload everything the cashier starts laser bleeping each item and sending it full speed at you waiting to bag at the other end. And no sooner has he finished swiping the items and you are not even close to getting all your peanuts and crackerjacks in the bag than then next customers items start speeding down the alley. Now this customer gets all indignant that you are still there desperately trying to pack everything into your small cloth bag. It’s just a riot every time. Well that’s my piece on fare la spesa in Italia.

Day 37 - March 1st 2009 Venice, Italy

For the trip to San Marco this morning Katie and I decided to take a different route around the island to get a different viewpoint. Well... it was a different viewpoint but not the one we expected. The boat rounded all the way around the neighboring island of Murano, taking a full hour to return to Venice where we got off on the wrong stop so for all our troubles we ended up huffing it across Venice to Piazza San Marco. We played with the birds a bit more and did some Murano glass shopping in which Katie had no inkling how to play hardball with the vendors. The glass doesn’t bargain for itself. We ate lunch on the boardwalk people watching for a good time. Then it was back to the hotel, picking up our stuff and onto the train home.

Day 36 - February 28th 2009 Venice, Italy

Arrived in Venice at 11am today and checked into the hotel and dropped our bags off. Then Katie and I took the Vaporetto (public water bus) through the grand canal to Piazza San Marco. We toured the ornate Doge’s Palace with its golden ceilings and played with the birds of the square. We traveled back to the hotel around 6pm for a short nap. Short nap turned to long sleep and soon enough it was 7:30am the next day. 13 hours of sleep (laughs) so be it.

Day 35 - February 27th 2009 En route to Perugia, Italy

ALMOST missed the bus this morning headed to Perugia. Woke up at 7:50am bus was leaving at 8. Needed to take a 10 min tram to Piazza Trilussa where the buses were parked. Wow was that some serious hustling. But I made it and all was well. Slept much of the 3 hour drive up to Perugia. After touring around the main square for a bit I realized I had been there before in 2004 on the Rice europe trip. Kinda cool town but just not that earthshattering ya know? One thing that was really cool was taking this mini-metro down the side of the hill that Perugia sits on to the train station below. Christine Davis was my travel associate for all of this because she, like me, was headed up towards Venezia for that weekend. I arrived in Florence to stay one night with Katie then head up on the high speed train the next morning. We hit up a local trattoria for some eats, (I had fried rabbit?), then went over the Loch Ness lounge for some sweet grooves.

Day 34 - February 26th 2009 Rome, Italy

A working Thursday. Did some research into March break locations and ideas. Read and wrote. Later that evening traveled to the apartment of Heather, our wine and cultures professor for a blind tasting of seven various red wines. We tried each one and took notes on our impressions, then all seven were poured into glasses and we had to try and discern which was which based on our smell and taste again compared to our notes before. I figured I could do alright because the wines seemed to have distinctive flavors and odors. NOPE. I got one out of seven. After the tasting I frequented a local bar establishment then headed back a casa mia.

Day 33 - February 25th 2009 Rome, Italy

Took the tram to the stop just before the Tiber river and made the walk over to the API office at lunchtime to help cook and eat the traditional sicilian dish of eggplant/tomato over pasta. Audra and Christina put together quite a dish and we all ate heartily. A quick jump over to school for class at 3pm, a short break, then Wine and cultures class. We tasted a few red wines this evening to mark differences in tannin levels, bitterness, sweetness and acidity. It was very difficult sensing the subtle differences between each one. After wine class we made it over to La Montecarlo for the weekly dining. We all rather stupidly showered our pizzas with peperoncino spice, thinking we could spice up the flavor, causing our mouths to turn quite caustic and an extra bottle of acqua naturale to be ordered.

Day 32 - February 24th 2009 Rome, Italy

Italian class, lunch break wandering around Piazza di Spagna looking for the last book I needed for classes. Another engaging session of Art History. You know the drill.

Day 31 - February 23rd 2009 Rome, Italy

Today was Italian club slowdown day at the Lorenzo de’Medici school. What this means is that the LdM school, already very environmentally conscious and does everything to conserve energy and paper etc., turned off its computers and electronic devices and had a day of “slowing down life’s pace.” I could not follow this completely because I brought in my laptop to watch a film by Federico Fellini for my Italian cinema class. But lunch was served by the chef hired by LdM and later that evening traditional Tarantella dancers came and put on a dance and musical presentation. The music was fabulous but I didn’t stay long because I was feeling sick and needed to go home and eat and go to bed. Which I promptly did.

Day 30 - February 22nd 2009 Florence, Italy

A bit of cornflakes and coffee for breakfast before checking out of the hotel. Christina pointed us in the wrong direction however, and we ended up missing putting our bags on the bus for storage and had to truck back to the hotel and leave our bags there. Joined up with the big group and split off again to tour Europe’s oldest pharmacy. The pharmacy contains all sorts of old beakers and decanters for muddling and mixing every sort of ingredient thought to cure illness. From the pharmacy we traveled up a steep hill to the Capucci Fashion museum overlooking Florence. The museum exhibits a variety of dresses that were designed and shown by Roberto Capucci for fashion shows around the world. In my opinion these crazy dresses were nice to look at and obviously took a long time to build, but... who cares about dresses that you can’t wear? Maybe its because I don’t wear dresses and lack finer taste in fashion.... The view from the terrace overlooking the city was very cool though. After coming down from the hill I met up once again with Katie to go on a search for a leather shop that does gold letter imprinting on the leather. I got my brother a present stamped with his initials in 18k gold leaf after quite a search around Santa Croce. Back in front of the Duomo a parade was going on for celebration of Carnevale and there were people dressed up in clothes from periods of old and dancers and acrobats. It was quite a spectacle. Said goodbye to Katie and headed to the buses to return back to Roma. Everyone was quite tired and ready for a good nights rest.

Day 29 - February 21st 2009 Florence, Italy

Arose early this mattina to hop over to the front of the Duomo for a trip to the Galleria dell’Accademia to take in the David and other stunning art that surrounds him. Seeing the partially finished Michaelangelo sculptures again was very interesting, the statued figures trying to break free of their Carrara marble cages. After the Galleria I met up with Katie and we jaunted over the San Lorenzo markets to do a little leather browsing. Returned the hotel to rest for a bit and get ready to go over to the cooking school to make a meal of gnocchi, eggplant, and tiramisù from scratch. The chefs teaching us were great and it was so much fun to create a full meal all together. Katie and I then took a stroll over to the lounge called Slowly to sit and enjoy a chilled delight.

Day 28 - February 20th 2009 En route to Florence, Italy

Met the entire cast and crew of the API study abroad group, numbering about 87 strong, at Piazza Trilussa in Trastevere. Boarded one of the two premier buses hired to cart all of us up north. Fiddled with the iPod touch, read some Warren Buffet and just generally passed the time until we made a rest stop at an AutoGrill off of the highway. Ate my brown bag lunch of pita with salame Milano and Emmental cheese and mustard. Back on the bus for the rest of the trip. Our group is too big for one hotel so we split into the Hotel Bigallo where the LdM crew was staying. The hotel looks right out at the Duomo so in terms of location this place has it in spades. Excellent staff and rooms as well. We took off from the hotel to have a guided tour of the main tourist sites of the town. Duomo, Ponte Vecchio, etc. After the tour I met up with Florentine native Katie Suomineno and the crew + us went over to the Mexican eatery Tiauana for a bit of a change of flavors from the pizza and pasta. Dinner was tasty tacos and tortillas with margaritas and having paid the bill, Katie and I went forth the her favorite lounge Loch Ness for a glass of wine and beer with her bartender friend Mark. The lounge is right next to the dance club Twice and we proceeded over there for a bit of lights and music fun. Katie grabbed a cab and I sauntered home to the hotel.

Day 27 - February 19th 2009 Rome, Italy

Restful day at the apartment reading and eating popcorn. Cooked dinner with the crew and packed up my travel backpack to be ready for tomorrow morning’s departure to Firenze.

Day 26 - February 18th 2009 Rome, Italy

Met Guiza today in the Piazza Farnese for a mezzogiorno coffee and croissant. We spoke in alternating Italian/english and she recommended a few museums that I hadn’t been to yet. I am not sure but I think that I may have witnessed part of Angels and Demons being filmed in the Piazza. They had a big film crew with Panavision cameras on dollies in the Piazza and it looked like serious business. I didn’t get to peer more closely at it because I wanted to chat with Guiza. My double header of class from 3pm to 8:30 went smoothly. In the Wine and Cultures class we had our first tasting in class. We sampled a very tasty white wine from northern Italy then a red from central Italy. The white was very good but the red lacked a little bit in complexity and overall satisfaction. I’m learning so much about viniculture its a bit amazing the complexity of the methods and conventions used in the wine business. After class we went cruising around the town for classmate Toni’s 21st birthday.

Day 25 - February 17th 2009 Rome, Italy

Pretty much same as Monday: class, caffè macchiatos, panini’s, some freestyle dinner cooking. Still nodding off in art history but I swear its still not the class, just the time of day.

Day 24 - February 16th 2009 Rome, Italy

Nothing much to report. A good day of class and running a few errands. Picked up some peanut butter at the international food store because Italians do not use it/ make it here apparently. Went to a wine tasting hosted by LdM at a local wine bar. Sampled 2 whites and 2 reds in which one of the reds was a lambrusco. All quite delicious wines. The only thing wrong was that Ryan and I wanted cheese and all the waiters brought out was this measly cheese and prosciutto hamburger looking thing. So after the tasting we took a walk around the block to our Italian friend Francesco’s family’s restaurant and got some delicious cheese sample plates. Back at base I cooked up some real good vegetable stir fry...I’m becoming quite the freestyle cook partly because I don’t know the names of every ingredient so I just throw everything I find and it seems to work out.

Day 23 - February 15th 2009 In treno returning to Rome, Italy

Katie and I were picked up by Martin early this morning to head down to the bus station to grab the 9:30am bus over to the train station to get on the 10:40 treno to Venice Mestre train station. Well all that didn’t happen because apparently there is no 9:30 bus to the train station but only a 11:15am one. So this threw quite a wrench in our well laid plans (which in reality were not well laid out). We found a small albergo nearby and grabbed some scrambled eggs (uova strapazzate) for breakfast. The bus deposited us at the Calalzo train station and we bought tickets to Padova station. Arriving in Padova station we hit our first big problem. The trains heading back to Rome and Florence were almost completely full. Thankfully or not depending on how you look at it, there were tickets available but they were only first class. Here’s the best part: they weren’t guaranteed seats. Nope. Katie and I stood in the first class car for 2/3s of the trip. How about them apples. Needless to say, it was a horrible day of travel back to our respective cities. Sleep was most welcomed.

Double WOW Day 22 - February 14th 2009 Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy

Another great night’s rest at the venerable Hotel Villa Alpina. Katie and I packed our things and brought down our bags to store in the back room of the hotel while we went skiing that day. Jumped the bus to the base of Ra Valles/ Tofana cable tram and rode upwards into the great beyond that is the Dolomites. After a second tram lift up again we found ourselves with a most spectacular view of the surrounding mountain range and the small Cortina village below. For some reason yesterday it seemed like all we were doing was riding lifts and not doing much skiing but that changed today and we were skiing 15 minute runs down from the top. The snow had been groomed in most places but you could jet off to the sides to get a bit of deeper stuff but it was mostly heavy powder so turning in it was not easy. We met up with Sarah and her relatives at halfday and took a few good runs with all them. Then Katie and I ascended on high once more to have a bite to eat on the top of the world. Did I mention I was slack jawed with my tongue hanging out the whole time I was skiing? This place is surreal! I can’t believe people ACTUALLY live here. If I could wake up every morning with my cup o’ joe and look out the window and witness the high peaks at every angle, I would consider life pretty damn near perfect. (I have started to draft my “Chris to live in Cortina d’Ampezzo for an extended period of time” 5 year contingency plan)....We’ll see how that works out... So the St. Valentines day skiing was spectacular, then things started to go from amazing to sort of humorously interesting. After returning our skis and boots and heading over to grab a taxi up to the Hotel Argentina (the Villa Alpina only had rooms open for thursday and friday sadly.) OK first things first; the front desk man, ya know the guy who greets you and gives you your key and so on, was, excuse my french, an ASSHOLE! This guy had the lowest hanging jowls I have ever seen and man was he a troubled child or something. Gave us nothing but attitude and indignation! Katie and I agreed it must be because we are the only 20’somethings in Cortina and arn’t arriving in a Maserati with full bearskin jackets. Oh well, everybody else that worked there was nice. So this guy was humorously mean. Next up was the bus ride down from the Argentina back to town. I am very certain the driver was Satan’s personal chauffeur. He was driving this bus at 50mph down the most curvy steep road. We were sure we were on the Highway to Hell express. Thankfully, we arrived safely in town and wandered to La Furla, the pizzeria that Sarah and her relatives were eating at. The restaurant was pretty busy so we got put at the same table as a single older lady who did crosswords and ate her dinner. And for some reason everyone around us kept eyeing Katie and I. I don’t know why we are still not wearing Yankee caps and I heart NY t-shirts. After dinner we hustled over to the Olympic ice rink from 1956 olympics and watched the Cortina Squirrels battle the wolves with #45 Martin Wilde at left defense. Sarah graciously drove us back to up the Argentina for the night’s sleep.

WOW Day 21 - February 13th 2009 Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy

Slept in until 9:30 this morning and went out in search of rental skis with Katie. We found the Ski System rental shop which Sarah had recommended to us and the proprietor, Walter, hooked us up with some sweet planks and boots to match. We caught a couple of buses all the way to Socrepes where we took quite a few lifts up to the very top of the mountain. At this point I must pause for a moment and say that words or even pictures do not come close to justice for the magnificence in which we were present for today. WOW is all I can muster. Katie and I are sure that when our Lord Jesus returns for judgement day, his landing is going to take place somewhere on the high rise of the Dolomiti peaks we witnessed today. To continue from my side story; We snapped a couple of breathtaking photographs up on top (illustrated below) and started our descent hooking right because I wanted to head for the Cinque Torri section of the mountain. We made it to the 5 Torri and took a couple of runs through the wide open almost country-esque rolling hills of snow. We were a bit cold so we decided to pack it in and headed for the base lodge of the 5 Torri. The bus wasn’t coming for an hour so we sat down for a quick Bombardino, which is a creme/rum/cinnamon concoction. Arriving back at the hotel Katie and I soon passed out from sheer exhaustion. We wandered towards the center of town looking for a small trattoria or ristorante to replenish our growling bellies. For some very odd reason, the place was a total ghosttown. I mean not a soul to be seen anywhere. It was rather spooky to say the least so we headed back for the hotel and ate at the same place we had been the previous night, the Vienna and sampled a few of their other dishes. Sleep was blissful after the strenuous day of awe inspiring beauty and heavenly righteous skiing.

Dolomiti Chris

Dolomiti Chris
Originally uploaded by RomanPags

I have seen the dolomites...and it was good

Day 20 - February 12th 2009 In Treno a Cortina, Italia

Arose and packed my snowpants and Burton jacket! this morning and headed over to Termini stazione to board the 9470 treno a Cortina! On the train I met a kind older lady who I spoke to for most of the train ride in alternating Italian and English. I am going to call her next week and meet up in Rome somewhere. A Firenze my co-traveler/ partner in criminal intent Katie joined up and we proceeded through central Italia up to mestre Venzia and transferred trains onto the Calalzo di Cortina express. The sights on this train are absolutely astounding to the point of tears of artistic joy and beauty. The high rise mountains and small villas below them are just too cool to see. I feel dwarfed by the ominous mountains hanging over me. Katie and I arrived in the small way station of Calalzo and waited for the shuttle bus to arrive to take us up the mountain to Cortina. We were a bit strung out riding on the bus as we had reached our 11th hour of travelling. But we made it safe and sound to the Villa Alpina albergo and wow is this place so very very very nice. We are most fortunate to be poor study abroad students and get such a sweet place to stay in Cortina. We went to dinner with Mike and Regan Torney as well as Sarah to a small pizzeria right next to the hotel.

Day 19 - February 11th 2009 Rome, Italy

Travelled to school early today to read up for the history class at 3pm. Did a silly thing on the way though and took the 62 bus instead of the 64 bus because I was hurrying and only saw the 6 and not the second number so I got a nice tour of Via del Corso and the Piazza di Spagna area until finally traversing through Piazza Barberini and ending up at my desired destination. After history class came wine and cultures which is going to be interesting and desirable soon, is just dry facts (no pun intended) about grapes and regions right now. I returned to the apartment to fry up some molto gusto hand packed hamburgers then travelled with wingman Ryan and co to the Testaccio district in search of a discoteca. Unsuccessful we made a stop at the Roma Rox to sample their wares and returned home.

Day 18 - February 10th 2009 Rome, Italy

Had an excellent Italian classe questa mattina e posso parlare migliore italiano tutti i giorni. (Speak better italian everyday!) Had lunch at one of our spots near Via XX Settembre juicing a few caffè macchiato for caffeinated attentiveness. If you have been reading my blog from the beginning I mentioned a little earlier the reasons I was taking an Art History class. Well today was one of those good-reason-I’m-taking-art-history-in-Roma-days. We entered the Musei Capitolini to study the ancient works of master sculptors, painters, and architects. One of the niftiest things is the giant bronze statue of Marco Aurelio sul cavallo (on horse), the only existing statue of a leader on horseback from the Roman empire. Although the statue that sits on the piazza between the two sections of the musei is not the original one, it is a copy replaced in 1981 when the original (which is 2000 years old) was deemed to need a stable environment away from pollution. After the musei I jumped on a bus to the Termini stazione to pick up my train tickets to travel to Cortina this Thursday with Katie to visit Sarah and Martin Wilde up in the dolomiti mountains. Made a delicious chicken cordon bleu for dinner, a little french invention in a land of pizza. I accompanied a few girls from the apartment building to the colesseo where we looked for and found the toted “Ice Club” which is a bar inside an industrial freezer with the walls, seats and bar made totally out of blocks of ice. Even the drink glass is a conical creation of ice which I most definitely ate after drinking the contents.

Day 17- February 9th 2009 Rome, Italy

Arose this morning late because the blackout pulldown wooden barrier of a shade just makes the room so darn dark! Dressed myself in good business attire and headed into the city before my class at 3. Went looking for a textbook that I need for my Masters of Italian Cinema: Federico Fellini class but the bookstore reported to me that they did not have any copies so I had to attend class without it. We watched Roma, Citta Aperta, by director Roberto Rossilini which is the classic neo-realism film of Nazi occupied Rome. I love the run and gun gritty style of neo-realism, which often uses non-professional actors in lead roles to give the film more common citizen authenticity. After class let out I joined up with the group of LdM students going on a walking tour of Giancolo Hill above Trastevere. The view from the hill at night is amazing and I got a few of slow exposure pictures that are quite nice. After walking down the hill we found our way to a bar by the Tevere to participate in l’apertivo. A glass of vino rosso and all the tapas style food you can eat. Cous cous, verdure vegetables with amazing dipping salsas and so many other good eats. The only problem is there isn’t much seating so most people eat everything standing up, which doesn’t sit well in my stomache. Oh well the food was deliciously cheap. Back to the Trastevere apartment for reading work and bed.

Day 16 - February 8th 2009 North Rome, Italy

Went to breakfast today with Katie at a swank little ristorante and had cheese omelets and succo d’arancia and a few crumpets. Parted with Katie to head back to Camp Trastevere to take a shower and prepare to head to an event of sheer epic-ness: AS Roma vs Genoa on the luscious green pitch of soccer/futbol/calcio depending on where you are in the world. We had to take a pretty long bus ride up to the Stadio Olimpico where the match or partita, was being held. After arriving at the threshold of the spectacular, we waited an extra 30 mins before going into the stadium because a couple of our compatriots did not ::ahem:: get off the tram with everybody else and therefore ended up getting very hopelessly lost. But we made it in and the game had just commenced. Man, this was just too cool. A sea of people on both side of the stadium just going out of their minds for the AS Roma team. Every shot, pass, slide tackle; everything that happened on the field elicited a hiss or cheer from the crowd. And OH the chants. Everyone but us knew them and they erupted out of the top of the stadium like the battle cries of old. Lazio lazio VAFFANCULO! Wow. After the game ended and the 40,000+ people streamed out of the stadium, we smashed ourselves into a public bus and headed back to basecamp. Worked on a few things and skyped mio padre, and for all the readers out there hit me up my skype name is: frozentimestudios or c paganelli.

Days 11-15 February 4th - February 7th Rome, Italy

I am going to employ a childhood pneumonic here and say “One two, skip a few, 99, 100”. During this small period of day skipping we started our Wednesday evening ritual of eating at La MonteCarlo and trying to woo the staff to put our picture up on the wall with all the other dignitaries smiling out from the white plaster. Have I mentioned we love La MonteCarlo? We’ll we do. Thursday I am off from class so I ran some errands getting required textbooks and so forth. We frequented the nightspot AnimA again but I have come to dislike this place as it is too narrow in width for its own good and needs more breathing room. Friday I awoke debating with myself whether to go on the school trip to Lake Bracciano and decided against on the grounds that it was cold and rainy and I’d rather go there and swim when it gets hotter. Katie also arrived with her Firenze travel group to tour Rome. We hitched onto another group of API students going to the Scholar’s Irish Lounge and Pub that evening for a bit of spiritual and mentality enhancing entertainment. The place was extremely packed wall to wall but we found our way around eventually ending up in the back at a nice table. We quaffed our elixers and then left to pursue a good night’s rest. Spent a lazy Saturday reading a bit and hanging out with my comrades in arms at the appartamento. Katie and I met up with the API crew that evening and jaunted over to the Jazzclub for a smooth beverage and smooth jazz once again.

Day 10 - February 3rd 2009 Rome, Italy

Arose at a very early 7:30am (comparatively) for my 9am class of Italian language and headed out on the tram to travel the 25mins to the Lorenzo de’Medici school across the Tevere on the north side of historic Rome. The Italian class consists of only me and another girl so the one on one attention of the professoressa is great. After class I spent some time wandering near the Piazza di Spagna then met up with the troops for lunch and returned to the school for my afternoon class of Art History of the Renaissance and Baroque periods. I may or may not have fallen asleep in this class not because it is that boring,... just because I get generally tired in the afternoon around the hours of 3-5pm. Explanations aside we touched on a few famous works residing in Rome and the general syllabus for the class. Now a side note here: I am not much of an artistic enthusiast but I have to fulfill an art history class for Arts and Sciences at UVM, so, I figured there is no place better to do it than right here in a classic art and architecture city. Here’s the kicker that got me: almost 1/2 of my classes are held outside and inside the museums containing the works themselves! We don’t have to sit in a classroom looking at endless slides contemplating the mystery of why Macaroni and Cheese is just so good and yet so easy to make!

Day 9 - February 2nd 2009 Rome, Italy

Awoke this morning early to prepare myself for class. My lecture was not until early afternoon but I wanted to travel into the city to meet up the group after they got out of their classes to walk around a little bit. I did a stupid thing and took the bus all the way into Piazza Repubblica when I really needed to take it to the Wedding Cake/ Vittorio Emanuele II Monumento. So this mistake allowed me to walk for about 30 mins backtracking to Via del Corso to meet up with the crew. I did find some very cool new places on my walk though so that was a positive. Ate a spectacular spaghetti lunch and then strolled into my first class at Lorenzo de’Medici, Masters of Italian Cinema: Frederico Fellini. The 2 1/2 hr classes can be a little long but it really helps cover everything in a continuous stream of consciousness.

Day 8 - February 1st 2009 Rome, Italy

Katie and I spent a good 3 hours at the Termini tren stazione awaiting her scheduled departure back to Firenze. After I saw her safely off, I made my way back to the Trastevere appartamento to read and engage in some peaceful time. That evening a detachment of our API group went off in search of the Steelers’ bar we had heard existed somewhere in the historic district. We found it around 11:30pm and joined the bubbly crowd of Pittsburgh fans even though none in our group were really Steelers’ football fans. The mood was joyous and that’s all that mattered. We met some cool people from the States and the pub was filled with collegiate banners from every major university. The owner was an American from Pittsburgh, hence the Steelers’/ USA lean. By the end of the 1st quarter though we had had enough of the packed little rectangular bar and left to return to camp Trastevere.

Day 7 - January 31st 2009 Rome, Italy

Spent today lazily walking around historic Rome with Katie. At dinner time Katie and I set off in search of a piccolo trattoria to get some delicious cibo. It was 8:30pm on a Saturday night but we didn’t see very many people at all in any of the eateries on Via Nazionale. We kept up our search and were rewarded for our tenacity when we stumbled upon la bottega del caffe, where many Italians were sitting outside enjoying caffe, wine and such. I was slightly intimidated but eventually found the host and requested un tavolo per due. The vino bianco was eccellente, and we ordered the traditional Roman dish which included pork, fried zucchini, e patate. Before that came we let our senses feast upon a plate of assorted cheeses with honey and walnuts dip, an appetizer that all restaurants the world over should serve. Dinner was the highlight of the night and we returned for rest thereafter.

Day 6 - January 30th 2009 Rome, Italy

So the next few blog posts are going to be shorter than previous ones because frankly I haven’t been keeping up with my journaling and cannot remember every minute detail about each day...(not like you wanted to hear them anyway :-P). So today we went back to the LdM school to turn over our documents for our Permesso di Soggiorno, or permit to stay in Italy for an extended period of time. The went smoothly enough. I signed up for the Italian club at LdM so I will be doing a few more Italiano things with the fabulous director Davide Garzia. We took a quick walking tour of the area around the school and Via XX Settembre, checking out spots we get discounts. Then our group went back to the discount pizza shop to grab a bite. I had to jet out of lunch early to go pick up my visitor from Firenze Katie! We went back to the hotel Katie was staying at, dropped her stuff off and grabbed a bus over to the Castel Sant’Angelo to get a in depth tour of the magnificent Papal stronghold. There seem to be a lot of sponsored exhibits in the Castel, which ruined it’s supposed antiquity a smidgen. They had laser light shows inside stone rooms for goodness sake! Oh well the view from the top was fantastic and there was an ice skating rink on the Tiber below so that was a nice touch. From the Castel we wandered towards Piazza S. Pietro and entered the holy ground that is St. Peter’s. Inside is always amazing and having been in twice before I got to look at pieces more closely that I had not done before. St. Peter’s was great and after our guided tour ended and we made our way to Piazza di Spagna to check out the stores on Via del Corso. This shopping excursion was much more successful than the last and the Mastercard took a solid beating. I made my way out of David Hamilton with a black giacca, a few cravatte, and shiny black spat shoes. We cruised back to Katie’s hotel to relax before dinner. We met the crew at Pizzeria Monte Carlo which most of us have fallen slightly in love with for their epic-ly thin crust pizza and tasty cheap red wine. After being kindly asked to leave as we had overstayed by about 2 1/2 hrs we processed forth to the jazz club JazzCafe for a evening of smooth jazz and even smoother dessert vino. We called it a night after the jazz and headed back to base for military issue 8 hours rest.

Day 5 - January 29th 2009 Rome, Italy

Arose this morning at 8:30am to travel with Audra for our introduction to the tram and bus system getting to the Lorenzo de’Medici school. It is about a 15 minute tram ride then a 15 minute bus ride with minimal traffic to get to Via XX Settembre where our school is located. It is right near the Presidential palace and quattro Fontane intersection. We arrived at the school after about 40 mins because traffic was bad and walked up the stairs to the 3rd floor. Lorenzo de’Medici or LdM for short is a recently renovated school that takes up only one floor of the building with 4 classrooms, a small library, computer lab and a few administrative offices. I finally got to see the other students attending LdM this semester, a few coming from Mexico, and the others mostly like where we are from, eastern United States. We heard presentations from the administrators then a woman came in to speak from the US Embassy in Rome. She told us about all the stupid things abroad students have done in the past like get drunk and try to go swimming in the Tiber River. She noted that this was behavior we would want to avoid if trying to have a safe and successful study abroad. The consulate official finished her presentation and we had lunch, and a delicious one at that. Some veal cutlets, potatoes, and a few other things I cannot name at the moment but were scrumptious just the same. Lunch was followed by a walking tour of a few spots around our school that the administrators wanted to show us, a great pizzeria, hair salon, the quattro Fontane again, the direction of the Spanish steps, Trevi fountain, statue of Vittorio Emmanuele etc. They also gave us this red card that gets sconti or discounts at most of the places they showed us. Finishing the walking tour we were back on our own so Ryan and I decided to check out the menswear on Via Nazionale. We cruised and window shopped for a bit then ducked into a store named Big and Kids. The owner and a woman were inside and I asked the woman about looking at shoes and overcoat jackets. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into. A whirlwind of clothes started flying at me and in no time I was wearing black leather spats, a sweatervest, and a wool cappotto overcoat. I was not used to the slightly feminine way of masculine dress even though I knew it beforehand and had already seen it all over, but when the woman brought out the purple argyle sweater, I tried it on and immediately looked over at the owner and asked “Come si dice....gay?” He had quite a laugh over this. I ended up walking out of the store with nothing bought while Ryan got a shirt and a better looking sweater than the purple one I tried on. We went back to the apartment, had some dinner and tucked it in for some rest.

Day 4 - January 28th 2009 Rome, Italy

We moved out of the hotel today and into our luxury apartments located on Via Trastevere, in Trastevere Rome. The building has great terraces overlooking the street below and is mostly made up of API students. There are 8 of us in the Lorenzo de’Medici program and the other 80 or so are all John Cabot university students. My roommate is Nick from Pittsburgh. The first thing you notice upon sitting on the twin bed is you are not in the land of squishy sleep anymore. I’d give this thing about 1 1/2 inches of padding max. I seem to sleep fine on it so not really a problem but I imagine some would find it a little too stiff? The rest of the afternoon was uneventful, we made pasta dinner down in the girls apartment below and sat around shooting the breeze. We took a short cruise around Trastevere to see what it was like at night, nothing special was the conclusion. I grabbed a media card reader from the Chinese store across the way (it’s really just a dollar store but its unofficially referred to as the Chinese store because thats the nationality of the man who owns it) So I was able to upload pictures finally and get them onto Flickr so all you wonderful people reading this can visually follow along too! Hurray for pictures! Everyone was very tired from the move in so I watched a flick on the computer and promptly went to bed.

Day 3 - January 27th 2009 Rome, Italy

Ryan and I woke up a tad late but we quickly got our act together and got downstairs for the walking tour i monumenti di Roma. We saw all the classic structures and works and they still hold great appeal even though I had seen them twice before, once on a high school trip and then again on a family trip. There was a Nike+ cross country race of some sort going on inside the circo massimo, which is fun to see the old track used for race again. Our guide through all the sites, Paola, was excellent and had great knowledge of the more intricate stories and details that I’d never heard before on other tours. We finished our tour and returned to the hotel Tiziano to spend some downtime before la cena. Our group walked a few blocks up Via Vittorio Emmanuel II and turned a destra onto Via Savelli, where the acclaimed Monte Carlo pizzeria resided. This ristorante was spectacular, the pizza crust was so thin and everything was just damn delicious. We also sipped a few litre di vino rosso. We returned to the hotel base camp to change and prepare for a night out on the city. Our group broke up into two groups, one headed to the bar straightaway and the other going to see the Pantheon at night before meeting up with Team 1. It was therapeutic to sit by the fontana and take in the magnificence of the Pantheon. After we had finished with our tranquil historic fix, we headed in search of club AnimA which was recommended by our cameriere. It was myself, Ryan and Samantha who had already gotten lost looking for the Pantheon who now had to ask for directions twice to find the place. Once inside we were gawked at by the italians, which I am not sure why because we looked pretty plain and not some gaudy american tourists taking pictures at the bar with I heart NY shirts on. So we looked for Team 1 who were supposed to have met us at AnimA. They had already left the place but we ordered our Peroni birra and sat and watched the stream of people in and out. There were four middle aged italian men who definitely were greasing us, Sam in particular of course. We played it cool and stayed for awhile longer, then departed in search of another watering hole as well as Team 1. We met them in la Piazza Navona and found our way to the bulldog inn, where Gabriella was drawing most of the italian men in to where we were sitting. We met a new friend Francesco who had drinks with us then led us to the Scholars Irish pub, which stays open later than all the other places. This pub was a madhouse and we didn’t even get in the door it was just 30 people all clamoring to get inside but a giant russian looking bouncer was throwing people out by their neck meat and solidly refusing entry into the venerable late night establishment. We canned the effort and headed back to go to sleep at the last night in the hotel.

Day 2 - January 26th 2009 Dublin, Ireland

Overall the flight was marvelous although I didn’t sleep a wink. After touching down in Dublin I had to walk over to the transfers terminal where I didn’t have my second boarding pass so I had to walk all the way back down to the front desk and grab the pass as it was sitting right on the desk waiting for me. After passing through security a second time I immediately noticed the Guinness factory store and had to have a peek at all the draught inspired merchandise. I then proceeded onto my gate for the flight to Rome, where I recognized Ryan Cicciu, who I had spoken to previously and knew he was taking the same Aer Lingus flight I was on from Dublin to Rome. I walked over to sit and he noticed me and we introduced ourselves. I told him my travel mission to arrive in Dublin, have a Guinness at 5am and continue onto Rome. He approved so we both went up to the small pub and asked the barkeep if he was serving Guinness at the moment. He said of course their serving Guinness, where do you think you are?! We agreed wholeheartedly and asked for two delicious frothy pints. The barkeep also said he serves thousands of Guinness pints for breakfast and we were not surprised in the least. After sitting and chatting over the delicious thickness that is Guinness stout, we went back to the gate and got ready to board. This flight was very different from the flight from the US. It was totally packed full, no space to move, and during the flight we had some serious up and down rollercoaster turbulence. It was also the most culturally diverse flight I’ve been on in awhile. Heard no less than 5 languages being spoken around me. Ryan and I arrived safely in Rome and passed through customs without my fanfare, I don’t think the officer even looked hard at my passport. Much to our dismay, we learned that the chartered API bus meant to take us to rome had already left at 11am, we being about 30 mins late. But Ryan and I are still certain the papers say 12 noon. Regardless, we thought about taking il treno but instead bargained with a shuttle driver and got a ride for 15euro to the hotel. After meeting Christina the resident director we promptly went up to the hotel room, unpacking nothing and passed out. We awoke around 5pm to get ready to go to our first meeting. I walked downstairs with Ryan and met the other API students who were from the Rome program, as well as Toscania and 3 cities students. We had the meeting in another hotel down the street then went to Pomodoro rosso for an API sponsored meal and our first taste of fine italian ristorante cooking. Everything was delicious, obviously, and we left feeling satisfied and full. Our group split from our fearless resident directors to pursue a vino quest. We scored quickly at a nearby bar & pub where I was told to order first because I speak a bit more of the language. Everyone had their glass of vino rosso and we cin cin’d the safe travel and first night in our new city. That night I could not sleep well because I had already napped twice during the flight and later in the day so it was a bit of a rough sleep.

Day 1 - January 25th 2009 Boston Logan Airport

Upon entering the Boston Logan Airport I sat down to wait for my mother to park the car and come up. I struck up a conversation with the old Irish fellow sitting next to me who had round and yellow front teeth. He was headed to Cork, Ireland and I said I was going to Dublin to transfer to Rome. He remarked that there was a piss drunk man outside the terminal who had peed his pants and probably was not going to be allowed to flight the because he was just incoherently wasted. We had a chuckle over this and then my mom arrived so we checked my bag at the desk and proceeded forth, but I didn’t see the piss drunk fellow anywhere, oh well. After eating a bite for lunch with my mom, (I had clam chowder) I kissed her farewell and passed through security into the international terminal of BOS. Nobody seemed to be near gate E4 which which was the gate my Aer Lingus flight to Dublin was departing from. After perusing through a few of the electronics boutiques I grabbed a big bottle of water and snacks for the plane and went and sat until my flight opened for boarding. I boarded and was sitting in the exit row right where the cabin door entered so I had unlimited leg room and space to stand up and stretch whenever. I started chatting with the stewardess and do love a good Irish accent. The flight staff were wearing complete pale mint green skirts and blouses. I watched a movie on the iPod touch and ate in the in-flight meal, which I do not mind at all and think are rather decent in fact.