Ummmm, yeah, enjoy.
Wednesday, June 11
Pictures from Dino's Ristorante Night
Pictures from the dinner at Dino's Ristorante that the school sponsored, earlier I put the story of that night. Was great! Obligatory food shot for my mom....penne with ragu sauce and a spinach gnocchi with a spinach pesto sauce :)
Ummmm, yeah, enjoy.
Ummmm, yeah, enjoy.
Hump Day.
Well it is 4:30AM in the Seattle area right now and it is just the afternoon here in Florence Italy. We just finished up classes, as of today all three of us are done with our presentations. Pat went today, BJ yesterday and myself on Monday.
BJ and I have a final tomorrow we all have a paper due Friday and Pat has a final Friday, then we are off to Germany Saturday morning on an 8 1/2 hour train ride .. ugh. The girls leave Friday night, it is so weird to think that this is all winding down. Granted we have the second leg of our trip coming up, but we only have two full days left in Italy! There is so much more I wanted to see in Florence alone ... this is sad :(
Pitti Palace, Boboli Gardens, Serial Killer Museum, inside the church of Santa Croce, etc :(
oh well, a reason to visit again!
Pat is at school right now working on his paper, BJ went with some other GU students to go check out some churches, I just got back to the apartment and am going to work on my paper and study for tomorrow's test.
I also need to find the place that will ship one of my bags back to Issaquah and also find a place that will cut my hair that speaks English! Euro Faux-Hawk (David Beckham style) here I come :)
okay, ciao for now..
BJ and I have a final tomorrow we all have a paper due Friday and Pat has a final Friday, then we are off to Germany Saturday morning on an 8 1/2 hour train ride .. ugh. The girls leave Friday night, it is so weird to think that this is all winding down. Granted we have the second leg of our trip coming up, but we only have two full days left in Italy! There is so much more I wanted to see in Florence alone ... this is sad :(
Pitti Palace, Boboli Gardens, Serial Killer Museum, inside the church of Santa Croce, etc :(
oh well, a reason to visit again!
Pat is at school right now working on his paper, BJ went with some other GU students to go check out some churches, I just got back to the apartment and am going to work on my paper and study for tomorrow's test.
I also need to find the place that will ship one of my bags back to Issaquah and also find a place that will cut my hair that speaks English! Euro Faux-Hawk (David Beckham style) here I come :)
okay, ciao for now..
Tuesday, June 10
Up and At Em!
8AM.......up and ready for class! LOL
We're so tired, but it was fun last night. Everyone is home and accounted for :)
ciao
We're so tired, but it was fun last night. Everyone is home and accounted for :)
ciao
3AM
So I am back from going out, it is 3AM. It was our last night to really go out with the girls as tomorrow night is the night before a final and the same thing for Thursday night for all the girls....and they leave Friday!
Natalie went home early to work on her paper...so it was Jen, Lindsey, me and Pat! BJ stayed home.
We had a great time out. It was so fun to walk through Piazza Del Signoria after midnight, so peaceful...walking by the 100 year old fake David sculpture with the whole place empty. Pretty awesome, Jen Lindsey Pat and I danced it up and some Florence clubs tonight! We always have a great time out, I will post pictures tomorrow....
I am off to bed, not much school wise tomorrow...just the normal two classes, but I have a Final test on Thursday and the Final Paper due Friday!
I got home...at 3AM, Pat and Jen went off to the midnight bakery (don't ask, I'll explain later) and Lindsey pealed off at her Apt to go to sleepy time! I came home and was surprised to Not find BJ here. Recently he has been chilling with other GU Law students on the trip that have a much later schedule than I am accustomed to. 3AM is the latest I have been up this whole trip, BJ and Pat have had multiple 5-6AM nights. I wish I could roll like that, but I guess I am a wuss :(
I just hope Pat wakes me up when he gets back with midnight bakery.
Pat has got a presentation tomorrow!! good luck to him... I just have to listen to it....good luck to me :)
Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Natalie went home early to work on her paper...so it was Jen, Lindsey, me and Pat! BJ stayed home.
We had a great time out. It was so fun to walk through Piazza Del Signoria after midnight, so peaceful...walking by the 100 year old fake David sculpture with the whole place empty. Pretty awesome, Jen Lindsey Pat and I danced it up and some Florence clubs tonight! We always have a great time out, I will post pictures tomorrow....
I am off to bed, not much school wise tomorrow...just the normal two classes, but I have a Final test on Thursday and the Final Paper due Friday!
I got home...at 3AM, Pat and Jen went off to the midnight bakery (don't ask, I'll explain later) and Lindsey pealed off at her Apt to go to sleepy time! I came home and was surprised to Not find BJ here. Recently he has been chilling with other GU Law students on the trip that have a much later schedule than I am accustomed to. 3AM is the latest I have been up this whole trip, BJ and Pat have had multiple 5-6AM nights. I wish I could roll like that, but I guess I am a wuss :(
I just hope Pat wakes me up when he gets back with midnight bakery.
Pat has got a presentation tomorrow!! good luck to him... I just have to listen to it....good luck to me :)
Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nadine....
You know how a lot of people (including yourself) have that pose or that smile that you feel is flattering that you try and throw out there when someone is taking a picture of you? Well, Professor Nadine Farid has a little pose that we noticed....I have not taken a ton of pictures of her, so I don't have perfect shot of it. But this is a picture we took in our first week in Florence, that is me on the left, Nadine in the middle and on the right is the director of the program Professor Mary Pat Treuthart....notice Farid's cross legged -- stepping forward pose. She loves that pose, so when we went to Siena last week us boys took a picture as an 'homage' to Professor Farid :) See the resemblance?
Gulliver
Well, I have a new nickname apparently. When we were in Cinque Terre, I was given my new Spokane roommates and travel friends, Jen and Natalie, shit for being so short...we're talking shorter than 5'5''.....and they reminded me that in italy everyone is short and I am the odd one out, and they said that all the short people were going to tie me up like in Gulliver's Travels...so the name stuck....so now I am referred to as Gulliver or Jenn calls me Gully.
...so..Gully has to go work on his paper some more..just sharing that
...so..Gully has to go work on his paper some more..just sharing that
Comparisons.....
Here are some more comparisons from US to Italy for those who have not been .... (AKA, I am avoiding working on my paper that is due Friday).
SUPER MARKET.
So they have no huge Safeway style grocery stores here. There is a new growing trend for these smaller grocery stores that are randomly found on a city block. They are like a maze when you get in them, they are very cramped, no variety in the sense that if you want cheese flavored chips...you got one choice! LOL
You can find a lot of things there, they have meat and veggies too. When you check out they charge you for plastic bags, so most put their groceries in there purse/murse/backpack. etc. And you have to bag yourself, they like throw the bag at you... it is very different.
BOOZE.
Everywhere! Almost every single store you go into has a shelf above the cashier with hard alcohol. Even like Tabbacherias, which is where you go and get stamps, cigarettes, things like that...they have open booze bottles, in case you need a midday shot of whiskey! LOL
Not so much in the touristy city center, but if you get out a little bit they are really into letting you sample booze.
Pat and I have started liking this Italian Liquor called Montenegro. I'm sure they sell it in the states, but it is very common here. BJ jumped on the montenegro wagon here recently too! There was another Italian liquor we were told we should try but we forgot what it was called, so we were at this little 'snack bar' thing in Sorrento, and when we were paying we were staring at the bottles of booze behind the counter trying to remember what the dude from Rome told us to try...and the guy behind the counter got little plastic cups and let us sample a bunch of things. lol It was really cool.
Same thing happened in a liquor store in Rome. They gave us samples of Grappa and wine. Not even a hard sell, just the friendly drinky Italian culture!
Not really something that happens in the states too often.
SMOKING.
Surprisingly to me, there is a smoking ban in all of Italy...similar to WA state smoking ban. And I found out there is one in London and Ireland too! And, as of July 1st, there will be one in Amsterdam. Wow....
It seems like every Italian does smoke, I mean...when that train stops those Italians are running to the exits with the ciggie already in their mouth just waiting to light it.
They have outdoor seating at restaurants that you can smoke at....
LANGUAGE.
Obviously they speak Italian. I would say in Florence about 90 percent also speak some form of English, the further away from the city you go the less people speak the language. In Capri it was about 50/50. But if they know a few words in English and you know a few words in Italian, you can figure most things out.
One of the most Disgusting and Annoying thing that I see far too often are these F**king Americans that walk into these food shops or markets and stuff and are like "umm, okay, I want 2 chicken paninis, 1 slice of pesto pizza, umm and a coke" ... so boisterous so annoying, with NO attempt what so ever to speak the language of the culture they are visiting. Or even speaking slower and pointing and trying to use some BASIC italian like 'Ciao' and 'Grazie'.
I just think it gives Americans a bad name. Granted, there are foreign tourists who come to the U.S. who dont speak English, but I have never seen ... lets say ... a Chinese man walk into an American store and just start speaking Mandarin to the worker there with this expectation that of course we should know Mandarin.
annoying...be courteous.
Before you come here you should learn...Hi, Bye, Thank You, Your Welcome, numbers 1-10, "Check Please", "How do you say", "How much does that cost" at the VERY basic!
You sometimes forget, being in Florence, that English is not the main language, and you go out to a club or something and you have a couple drinks and are talking to some native and you realize .. crap, I don't speak Italian. lol
Pat knows a good amount of Italian, so he has helped us out. We are a little worried about Germany because we have no clue about anything there. But from what we have heard most speak enough English for us to get by. phew...
:)
okay, back to my paper...CIAO
SUPER MARKET.
So they have no huge Safeway style grocery stores here. There is a new growing trend for these smaller grocery stores that are randomly found on a city block. They are like a maze when you get in them, they are very cramped, no variety in the sense that if you want cheese flavored chips...you got one choice! LOL
You can find a lot of things there, they have meat and veggies too. When you check out they charge you for plastic bags, so most put their groceries in there purse/murse/backpack. etc. And you have to bag yourself, they like throw the bag at you... it is very different.
BOOZE.
Everywhere! Almost every single store you go into has a shelf above the cashier with hard alcohol. Even like Tabbacherias, which is where you go and get stamps, cigarettes, things like that...they have open booze bottles, in case you need a midday shot of whiskey! LOL
Not so much in the touristy city center, but if you get out a little bit they are really into letting you sample booze.
Pat and I have started liking this Italian Liquor called Montenegro. I'm sure they sell it in the states, but it is very common here. BJ jumped on the montenegro wagon here recently too! There was another Italian liquor we were told we should try but we forgot what it was called, so we were at this little 'snack bar' thing in Sorrento, and when we were paying we were staring at the bottles of booze behind the counter trying to remember what the dude from Rome told us to try...and the guy behind the counter got little plastic cups and let us sample a bunch of things. lol It was really cool.
Same thing happened in a liquor store in Rome. They gave us samples of Grappa and wine. Not even a hard sell, just the friendly drinky Italian culture!
Not really something that happens in the states too often.
SMOKING.
Surprisingly to me, there is a smoking ban in all of Italy...similar to WA state smoking ban. And I found out there is one in London and Ireland too! And, as of July 1st, there will be one in Amsterdam. Wow....
It seems like every Italian does smoke, I mean...when that train stops those Italians are running to the exits with the ciggie already in their mouth just waiting to light it.
They have outdoor seating at restaurants that you can smoke at....
LANGUAGE.
Obviously they speak Italian. I would say in Florence about 90 percent also speak some form of English, the further away from the city you go the less people speak the language. In Capri it was about 50/50. But if they know a few words in English and you know a few words in Italian, you can figure most things out.
One of the most Disgusting and Annoying thing that I see far too often are these F**king Americans that walk into these food shops or markets and stuff and are like "umm, okay, I want 2 chicken paninis, 1 slice of pesto pizza, umm and a coke" ... so boisterous so annoying, with NO attempt what so ever to speak the language of the culture they are visiting. Or even speaking slower and pointing and trying to use some BASIC italian like 'Ciao' and 'Grazie'.
I just think it gives Americans a bad name. Granted, there are foreign tourists who come to the U.S. who dont speak English, but I have never seen ... lets say ... a Chinese man walk into an American store and just start speaking Mandarin to the worker there with this expectation that of course we should know Mandarin.
annoying...be courteous.
Before you come here you should learn...Hi, Bye, Thank You, Your Welcome, numbers 1-10, "Check Please", "How do you say", "How much does that cost" at the VERY basic!
You sometimes forget, being in Florence, that English is not the main language, and you go out to a club or something and you have a couple drinks and are talking to some native and you realize .. crap, I don't speak Italian. lol
Pat knows a good amount of Italian, so he has helped us out. We are a little worried about Germany because we have no clue about anything there. But from what we have heard most speak enough English for us to get by. phew...
:)
okay, back to my paper...CIAO
Hannibal
So we just put together that the movie Hannibal (silence of the lambs sequel) takes place and was filmed here in Florence. I downloaded some clips, fun to see places used in the movie, that we walk daily,,,like when he hangs the detective out the window and his bowels fall to the ground, that was out the window of the Pallazo Vecchio, which is in the Piazza della Signoria, my favorite piazza that we walk through every day. That is fun. lol
Monday, June 9
Dinos
Well, tonight was AWESOME. We had a great school-paid for-dinner at this place called DINOS. It was great.............the food was awesome, the wine was great, the company was even better..........I love when I can make a group of more than 8 blush with one comment, lol!
We had so much fun, the bus brought us back to Florence and we all got home safely. There is a lot of paper/presentation stress amongst the people that things are fairly calm......
Us boys are chomping at the bit until this weekend when we are DONE WITH SCHOOL and head off for our FUN part of the trip in Munich, Amsterdam, Dublin and London!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The more and more we hear back from law school friends that had made one day treks to our destinations we are more and more excited, IRELAND is supposed to be beyond belief, Munich is supposed to be incredible if you love beer (which we do).......and of course the SPACE CAKES in Amsterdam and the show we have lined up in London!
What a great moment in our lives......sure we have to survive a final and a final paper.....but after that...................wow
okay, miss you all...thinking about you! seriously...
love ya
ciao
We had so much fun, the bus brought us back to Florence and we all got home safely. There is a lot of paper/presentation stress amongst the people that things are fairly calm......
Us boys are chomping at the bit until this weekend when we are DONE WITH SCHOOL and head off for our FUN part of the trip in Munich, Amsterdam, Dublin and London!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The more and more we hear back from law school friends that had made one day treks to our destinations we are more and more excited, IRELAND is supposed to be beyond belief, Munich is supposed to be incredible if you love beer (which we do).......and of course the SPACE CAKES in Amsterdam and the show we have lined up in London!
What a great moment in our lives......sure we have to survive a final and a final paper.....but after that...................wow
okay, miss you all...thinking about you! seriously...
love ya
ciao
Capri Pt. 2
Our Trip back to Anacapri was a tad fuzzy, no big deal though :) BJ was glad to see/hear us come tromping in!I woke up surprisingly early and surprisingly not hurting. Pat woke up still drunk. We went to the Hotels breakfast they offer, Pat stumbled in behind us no shoes and holding his pants up with his hands..no belt. The guy who runs the joint saw him and just smiled lol
We came back, pat napped, we all got ready and hit up Anacapri. We went to this chair lift thing that took us to the very top of the island’s mountain.
Was amazing! I have a ton of pics and videos from that trip. AWESOME view, best of the trip. There was a bar up there, we had a drink and BJ got drunk quick (did I mention he filled a water bottle with a cocktail for the chair lift)!
This is midday and we met some people, one was a US Navy guy who was stationed in Napels. The best laugh I had in all of Capri was when the Navy guy was leaving and drunk BJ goes … ‘Hey’ and the dude turned around and BJ saluted him and goes “…thank you” HAHAHAHA, he was so serious, Pat and I wanted to die and the Navy guy was like.. “Ummm, okay”
We then had some lunch….Pat had a pizza with cheese, meat and an egg on top! LOL Was pretty good.
BJ, bought rounds of shots for us and also four for another table with a Priest from Gonzaga he knew.
We then got ready and walked to the Blue Grotto. It was over an hour walk and was too long, but good to burn off some calories and was downhill the whole way. So that is nice! We got there and as we got there the boats stopped touring because the water was getting too choppy, so we decided the best thing to do was to take our shirts and shoes off and swim into it! LOL Right next to the sign that says ‘it is strictly forbidden to swim into the blue grotto’
Which we did, we jumped in, the waves were battering us around a bit as we ducked and slid into the little opening. It is really tiny, apparently if you are on a boat (first off they are like 3 person boats) everyone has to lay down flat to make it through the opening. So we swam into it and made it into the Grotto. It was outstanding!!! So gorgeous and so deep, there was no standing (or even being able to touch bottom). So you just bob there and keep yourselves afloat. A few times I saw waves crash against the opening and completely engulfing it, so that we were enclosed in the cave and for some reason that triggered a weird panic attack so I was like ‘peace guys I’m out of here’ and I swam to the opening and got out, got bashed against the rocks a little and got some cuts on my leg.
BJ and pat dicked around the Grotto a little more, they tried to touch the bottom, and found a little ledge to sit on.
When they came out BJ was smiles from ear to ear. He said it was one of the top 3 most amazing and happiest moments of his life. It was pretty cool.
After swallowing about half of the Mediterranean Sea, we caught a bus back to Anacapri, came to our hotel room, showered/rinsed off and were going to go to Capri for a nice fancy dinner, but realized we have no money and did not want to deal with the crowded Saturday night busses, so we just went to a pizza place in Anacapri! It was great food….the funny thing was that there was a birthday party going on for some kid, with like 12 of their friends. It was fun to see them singing songs in Italian and having a little pizza/birthday party. They were really loud and had any of us been in an irritated mood or had a headache it would have sucked, but it ended up being fun and a good cultural moment.
We came back to the hotel and BJ watched some videos on his laptop while Pat and I did some homework for our last week of school!
I WILL ADD THE BLUE GROTTO PICS HERE SOON...
Sunday, June 8
CAPRI *part 1*
So this weekend we hit up Capri! We took a hydrofoil from Sorrento to Capri,
got into the port and got hit by a monsoon! The rain was pouring so hard that it was flooding all around us, so we had no clue how to get to the hotel we reserved and the rain was POURING on us, so we just ran to the nearest bar we could find (for serious, it was because of the rain!) to wait it out. BJ got a beer, Pat and I got a martini (it had been forever, lots of wine in italy), and they brought us our drinks and this bowl of chips and a HUGE bowl of olives!! They were so damn good. They were fresh and most still had their stems on, so they weren’t marinated or anything, they were delicious.
The rain subsided, we decided to just get a cab and he took us to our hotel on one of the scariest cab rides ever! He was great, but the steep roads that are built for only one car, with traffic going in both directions, bikes and motor bikes weaving all around us, with a massive cliff on the side of the road! LOL We got to our hotel, checked in, it was nice.
We walked around Anacapri, that is were we stayed, It is like 2 minutes up the hill from Capri. It is the LESS ritzy part of the Island, but still expensive as shit! We walked around, got lost in neighborhoods, etc, was fun.
Got back and was recommended a place for dinner from
the guy at our hotel, we said “cheap and good” well, he failed on both parts! It was not super expensive, just more than we were looking for and the food and service was sub-par! I got a steak, pat got a Mediterranean “filet” which was this fish covered in tomato sauce, garlic and olives, BJ got calamari and seafood ravioli! All were only okay! The house red wine was good though!!
Then we came back to our hotel, BJ has been a little ‘down’ recently, not like sad or sick, but just been really tired. I can understand though, we have had the most erratic last three weeks. Always on the go, never sleeping in, trying to party and enjoy ourselves but also having to be at class every morning and HAVING to do the reading….so, he stayed in for the night, Pat and I headed down to Capri. For 1 Euro there is a bus that runs between. We got into Capri and quickly realized our standing in this world.
Even though all the shopping was closed, we still felt out of our league! I had read that these are the most expensive shops and area in the world. Every designer you had ever heard of had a store there, everyone walking around was so into themselves..dressed to the nines, etc. So we just walked and saw so much stuff we wished we could afford.
All the restaurants were so pretentious and fancy, I felt weird even walking by them, lol! But this one we walked by, the waiter came out and was like “you two want to sit down?” (this is a total italy thing, you get the hard sale by waiters as you walk by … I’m sure they get commission by how many people they bring in) so Pat asked if they had Birra, (beer), they did so we sat down and had some beer. Talked to the waiter to find out if there was any nightlife on this island. He told us of the best dicoteca, in his opinion, gave us directions and we were on our way.
********I will finish my post later, for some reason BLOGSPOT is not letting me put any more pics up right now, maybe too many on this page already, I have the rest of the weekend written out I just want the pics to correspond, I will try that here soon*********
Thursday, June 5
Sorrento & More!
After class today we jumped on a 2:52PM train to Naples Italy! It was a three hour train ride, VERY expensive!! Will cost over 120 Euro, nearly 200 US, in just the train ticket. The train was great though, best one we have had yet. It was EuroStar and went really fast and smooth. We had room to get comfortable and we all got in some nap time at some points in the trek.
We pulled into Naples, having no idea where and when the train to Sorrento was. Which stresses some out, but for some reason I like that. The train situation is, they run every hour or so, so I sort of like having to ask people in different languages where and when the train is coming and going.
We finally found it, three floors beneath the main terminal on this ollllld dirty train. We stood the whole hour long ride from Naples to Sorrento. It was actually a great ride, it was fun because the train ran right against the coast line through all these little towns. It was very cool.
We got to Sorrento and had NO CLUE where our Hostel was. We had a name and address, but the street signs were mysteriously missing here. So we went from shop to shop showing them the address (honestly, Pat did most of the talking) and asking them if they knew where it was. After about 20 minutes of wandering the streets with all our bags and backpacks, we finally stumbled upon it.
It is really nice, you never would have guessed it was a hostel. Very clean and open. Our room is nice and has air conditioning. They, obviously, have computer access, etc.
We were dying of hunger, so went to this place close by with cheap prices and good choices. The food was phenomenal!! Everyone said that this area has some of the best food and so far they were right. All of our dishes were great and cheap!
We came back, I did some homework, BJ read, Pat showered, those two boys went to sleep and I am up! I cant sleep right now. Those two love their sleep. But, in their defense BJ was up every hour last night letting in our party girls downstairs who were drunk and wanted to visit while BJ and I were sleeping. And Pat had not gone to bed before 3AM this whole week. So they are both a little tired. I have been keeping it quiet lately, so I am not in sleeptime mode, but not party time mode either. lol, what to do what to do!? BLOG!
So, tomorrow we are heading to Capri. It is an island just off the coast. We can see it from where we are at right. So we will take a ferry out there in the morning. We have a place for Friday and Saturday nights, Hotel Loreley. I am excited because Capri is not really a crazy party town. It is really nice and more of a chill with a glass of wine or a cocktail and just relax. Which is good because I have two presentations on Monday and we all have Papers due next week. So, chilling and getting reading and writing done is what we need!
School is going pretty well. It is way harder than we all thought. My theory is that, we had a Rep from the American Bar Association sent out by the ABA to monitor and review the program to see if it is up to par for a law school. So i think they turned the heat up on us pretty good! No worries though, the ABA Rep brought her family and her 19 yearold daughter met us all at a school sanctioned dinner and wanted to come out with us that night...remember, no drinking age in Italy.
She came out with us, and..apparently as her parents were being walked home by the professor her Dad was telling them how I seemed really personable and he felt good with having me with the crew going out because it seems like I was the social coordinator, etc, and he felt comfortable with me there.
well...lets just say, at one point she was dancing on a little stage in a cage type thing at one club, drinking whiskey and then when it was time for her to go home at like 3AM the person walking her home dropped her off like 2 blocks from her apartment they were staying in. ha. SCARY.
The next day we were freaking out so bad, waiting for a call "did the ABA reps daughter crash at your guys place last night, she never made it home" needless to say, she made it home fine and all is well! She actually had a great time as did her parents, so I hope we do well with the ABAs review.
hmmmmmmmmmmm, as you can tell I am trying to get myself tired because I hate laying in bed when I am not tired and thinking about all the things that then stress me out more...school, money, etc!
okay, so my sister wanted me to do a little comparative thing, like talk about things that are different and similar, etc, from Italy to the U.S. since she and many of you guys who read this have not been here before.
So I will add stuff here and there in the future BLOGs, but here are some things.
The birds scare the shit out of me! I call them BIRDS OF PREY as they fly in flocks at my face and I dive to the ground. But, since I am hilarious, when I was at the vatican I called them BIRDS OF PRAY. ha.
So basically the birds are like citizens here, they basically do what they want.
You know in the states I guess a food that we are known for would be like the all american Cheeseburger! The comparison to Italy would be Pizza. So I always thought that it was just a stereotype, and it would be like the cheeseburger and they would be here but I had no idea how wrong I was! Completely serious, there are minimum two pizza places on EVERY street block! By the slice, whole, folded into a pizza sandwich, etc! We have NOTHING compared to the pizza in the states. Way worse than starbucks. It is amazing to me. Pat had HotDog pizza a few weeks ago, I tried zucchini pizza...both were eh. But seriously there are hundreds of places in the city!
okay, I am going to go to bed now. Some English lady came down and was a little bitchy because she wanted on the computer...she was rude, she had no clue how long I had been on to begin with, all she knew I could have just sat down. But, I should probably try and sleep!
We miss you all. See you in three weeks.
We pulled into Naples, having no idea where and when the train to Sorrento was. Which stresses some out, but for some reason I like that. The train situation is, they run every hour or so, so I sort of like having to ask people in different languages where and when the train is coming and going.
We finally found it, three floors beneath the main terminal on this ollllld dirty train. We stood the whole hour long ride from Naples to Sorrento. It was actually a great ride, it was fun because the train ran right against the coast line through all these little towns. It was very cool.
We got to Sorrento and had NO CLUE where our Hostel was. We had a name and address, but the street signs were mysteriously missing here. So we went from shop to shop showing them the address (honestly, Pat did most of the talking) and asking them if they knew where it was. After about 20 minutes of wandering the streets with all our bags and backpacks, we finally stumbled upon it.
It is really nice, you never would have guessed it was a hostel. Very clean and open. Our room is nice and has air conditioning. They, obviously, have computer access, etc.
We were dying of hunger, so went to this place close by with cheap prices and good choices. The food was phenomenal!! Everyone said that this area has some of the best food and so far they were right. All of our dishes were great and cheap!
We came back, I did some homework, BJ read, Pat showered, those two boys went to sleep and I am up! I cant sleep right now. Those two love their sleep. But, in their defense BJ was up every hour last night letting in our party girls downstairs who were drunk and wanted to visit while BJ and I were sleeping. And Pat had not gone to bed before 3AM this whole week. So they are both a little tired. I have been keeping it quiet lately, so I am not in sleeptime mode, but not party time mode either. lol, what to do what to do!? BLOG!
So, tomorrow we are heading to Capri. It is an island just off the coast. We can see it from where we are at right. So we will take a ferry out there in the morning. We have a place for Friday and Saturday nights, Hotel Loreley. I am excited because Capri is not really a crazy party town. It is really nice and more of a chill with a glass of wine or a cocktail and just relax. Which is good because I have two presentations on Monday and we all have Papers due next week. So, chilling and getting reading and writing done is what we need!
School is going pretty well. It is way harder than we all thought. My theory is that, we had a Rep from the American Bar Association sent out by the ABA to monitor and review the program to see if it is up to par for a law school. So i think they turned the heat up on us pretty good! No worries though, the ABA Rep brought her family and her 19 yearold daughter met us all at a school sanctioned dinner and wanted to come out with us that night...remember, no drinking age in Italy.
She came out with us, and..apparently as her parents were being walked home by the professor her Dad was telling them how I seemed really personable and he felt good with having me with the crew going out because it seems like I was the social coordinator, etc, and he felt comfortable with me there.
well...lets just say, at one point she was dancing on a little stage in a cage type thing at one club, drinking whiskey and then when it was time for her to go home at like 3AM the person walking her home dropped her off like 2 blocks from her apartment they were staying in. ha. SCARY.
The next day we were freaking out so bad, waiting for a call "did the ABA reps daughter crash at your guys place last night, she never made it home" needless to say, she made it home fine and all is well! She actually had a great time as did her parents, so I hope we do well with the ABAs review.
hmmmmmmmmmmm, as you can tell I am trying to get myself tired because I hate laying in bed when I am not tired and thinking about all the things that then stress me out more...school, money, etc!
okay, so my sister wanted me to do a little comparative thing, like talk about things that are different and similar, etc, from Italy to the U.S. since she and many of you guys who read this have not been here before.
So I will add stuff here and there in the future BLOGs, but here are some things.
The birds scare the shit out of me! I call them BIRDS OF PREY as they fly in flocks at my face and I dive to the ground. But, since I am hilarious, when I was at the vatican I called them BIRDS OF PRAY. ha.
So basically the birds are like citizens here, they basically do what they want.
You know in the states I guess a food that we are known for would be like the all american Cheeseburger! The comparison to Italy would be Pizza. So I always thought that it was just a stereotype, and it would be like the cheeseburger and they would be here but I had no idea how wrong I was! Completely serious, there are minimum two pizza places on EVERY street block! By the slice, whole, folded into a pizza sandwich, etc! We have NOTHING compared to the pizza in the states. Way worse than starbucks. It is amazing to me. Pat had HotDog pizza a few weeks ago, I tried zucchini pizza...both were eh. But seriously there are hundreds of places in the city!
okay, I am going to go to bed now. Some English lady came down and was a little bitchy because she wanted on the computer...she was rude, she had no clue how long I had been on to begin with, all she knew I could have just sat down. But, I should probably try and sleep!
We miss you all. See you in three weeks.
I digress....
okay, my last post about stress was a tad annoying lol!
I know we are in Italy and about to travel to one of the most beautiful islands in the world. Yeah, I know, life is tough. I just don't do well with unknown, where some people LOVE it, I like having a solid plan etc, etc.
So we shall see!!
We are heading out of here in about an hour, we will all have our laptops for school purposes, so if there is internet somewhere you will hear from us, if not check on Sunday night.
Ciao
I know we are in Italy and about to travel to one of the most beautiful islands in the world. Yeah, I know, life is tough. I just don't do well with unknown, where some people LOVE it, I like having a solid plan etc, etc.
So we shall see!!
We are heading out of here in about an hour, we will all have our laptops for school purposes, so if there is internet somewhere you will hear from us, if not check on Sunday night.
Ciao
Stress ...
well, stress level is reaching a peak!!
Money is dwindling down, there is nothing more depressing than withdrawing 100 euro for the week and having it show basically 200 american dollars, when you factor in fees and charges.
I am really stressed about this, actually googling credit cards right now to see if I can get one that I will pay off when I work this summer, lol!
20 Page paper next week and my huge presentation on Monday. Lots of work to do...
Plus this afternoon we are heading to Sorrento, which means 4.5 hours or train riding...where we have to switch trains. Then after one night there, we head back north to Naples and take a ferry to Capri. All while working on my presentation and trying to not spend money. lol
This next week will be rough...but once the papers are turned in and the presentations are done, ...sigh.... I can breath.
okay, time for class....
Money is dwindling down, there is nothing more depressing than withdrawing 100 euro for the week and having it show basically 200 american dollars, when you factor in fees and charges.
I am really stressed about this, actually googling credit cards right now to see if I can get one that I will pay off when I work this summer, lol!
20 Page paper next week and my huge presentation on Monday. Lots of work to do...
Plus this afternoon we are heading to Sorrento, which means 4.5 hours or train riding...where we have to switch trains. Then after one night there, we head back north to Naples and take a ferry to Capri. All while working on my presentation and trying to not spend money. lol
This next week will be rough...but once the papers are turned in and the presentations are done, ...sigh.... I can breath.
okay, time for class....
Wednesday, June 4
Sienna
Today was a school visit to the city of Sienna! It is an amazing Medieval city that has not changed anything since the medieval times. It is sooooo cool and really pretty! The streets are so tiny and the piazzas are huge. The duomo is really pretty too. The Gelato we tried was sub-par, but we probably just picked the wrong one. It is super late here and Pat and the girls are out partying it up, but BJ and I decided to stay in tonight because we have a long trek to Naples, Sorrento and Capri tomorrow. ugh! This whole weekend I have to work on my final project/presentation due Monday for one my classes! On the beaches of Capri in my speedo I will be making a power point presentation, lol!
Back to Sienna...it is really an amazing place. Me, the girls and Pat (BJ went with another group) visited the Torture Museum and while the museum was slightly lacking, it was such a great experience because of the company I was with and the fact that we had the whole thing to ourselves, it was awesome. Besides watching Lindsey fall down a whole flight of stairs in the basement part of the museum....the whole thing was like underground, the girls were so scared and to be honest it was a little creepy! They had life size reenactments of torture/death scenes from the middle ages, sort of f***ed up! I mean, yeah we knew what we were going to see...but it was just creepy.
Our favorites were the chastity belts with an 'opening' in the rear end of the belt, so the lady could relieve herself...and the opening was in a heart shape, like a cookie cutter, we were thoroughly enjoying that one. Another one was ... well, it is sort of hard to explain, so I'll just say that Pat and I named it the "taint saw", it may have been the top 10 hardest laughs I have had in the last 5 years. It was great. especially because it was right at the bottom of the stairs that Lindsey fell down, so while she was still hurting and rubbing her scratched up back and broken nails, I was like... "yeah yeah yeah, but seriously, look at the taint saw" LOL!
If you want more details on that email me.
n
We then met up with our wonderful professors and other classmates at a dinner the school paid for! We had a four course meal with the first plate being Italian meats, bruschetta, and olives. The next plate was homemade (and I mean HOMEMADE) pasta (best pasta I have had so far) with mushroom, tomato and cheese sauce. The main course was grilled beef, cut up with potatoes and for dessert we had a vanilla cream with berry sauce. it was amazing! Plus all the wine we could drink.
We had a good time!
I have no time to post the pics (Blogspot is slow with uploading and it is LATE) of our trip HOME from Sienna on the chartered Bus Gonzaga got us. But on our way up we all brought on beer and stuff, but on the way back we were pretty LIT UP from the dinner and some shots we took at a bar on the way back to the Bus (thanks again PAT for the shot). So on the way back we all had two beers a piece (c'mon, it is an hour long bus ride) and Mary Pat Treuthart, the professor and director of the program informed us that it is customary that you play truth or dare in the back of the bus on the way home from Sienna. (the professors all stay at the front of the bus to avoid hearing or seeing anything they don't want to see or hear) So we took this as a license to kill, and after deciding that dares would not be the best on a bus we just did "hot seat" where one person is on the hot seat the it goes in a circle and everyone gets to ask you ANYTHING! So there was a lot of "when was the last time......." and "Where is the craziest place you......." etc!
The best was when Professor Treuthart came back to see what was going on and I, being typical Sean, asked her a question from our game...and she was very cool and answered it with no reservations :)
I love the faculty that joined us this summer.
okay, so so so so late, I will post more pics later, ciao!
Back to Sienna...it is really an amazing place. Me, the girls and Pat (BJ went with another group) visited the Torture Museum and while the museum was slightly lacking, it was such a great experience because of the company I was with and the fact that we had the whole thing to ourselves, it was awesome. Besides watching Lindsey fall down a whole flight of stairs in the basement part of the museum....the whole thing was like underground, the girls were so scared and to be honest it was a little creepy! They had life size reenactments of torture/death scenes from the middle ages, sort of f***ed up! I mean, yeah we knew what we were going to see...but it was just creepy.
Our favorites were the chastity belts with an 'opening' in the rear end of the belt, so the lady could relieve herself...and the opening was in a heart shape, like a cookie cutter, we were thoroughly enjoying that one. Another one was ... well, it is sort of hard to explain, so I'll just say that Pat and I named it the "taint saw", it may have been the top 10 hardest laughs I have had in the last 5 years. It was great. especially because it was right at the bottom of the stairs that Lindsey fell down, so while she was still hurting and rubbing her scratched up back and broken nails, I was like... "yeah yeah yeah, but seriously, look at the taint saw" LOL!
If you want more details on that email me.
n
We then met up with our wonderful professors and other classmates at a dinner the school paid for! We had a four course meal with the first plate being Italian meats, bruschetta, and olives. The next plate was homemade (and I mean HOMEMADE) pasta (best pasta I have had so far) with mushroom, tomato and cheese sauce. The main course was grilled beef, cut up with potatoes and for dessert we had a vanilla cream with berry sauce. it was amazing! Plus all the wine we could drink.
We had a good time!
I have no time to post the pics (Blogspot is slow with uploading and it is LATE) of our trip HOME from Sienna on the chartered Bus Gonzaga got us. But on our way up we all brought on beer and stuff, but on the way back we were pretty LIT UP from the dinner and some shots we took at a bar on the way back to the Bus (thanks again PAT for the shot). So on the way back we all had two beers a piece (c'mon, it is an hour long bus ride) and Mary Pat Treuthart, the professor and director of the program informed us that it is customary that you play truth or dare in the back of the bus on the way home from Sienna. (the professors all stay at the front of the bus to avoid hearing or seeing anything they don't want to see or hear) So we took this as a license to kill, and after deciding that dares would not be the best on a bus we just did "hot seat" where one person is on the hot seat the it goes in a circle and everyone gets to ask you ANYTHING! So there was a lot of "when was the last time......." and "Where is the craziest place you......." etc!
The best was when Professor Treuthart came back to see what was going on and I, being typical Sean, asked her a question from our game...and she was very cool and answered it with no reservations :)
I love the faculty that joined us this summer.
okay, so so so so late, I will post more pics later, ciao!
Shout Out
I want to give a quick shout out to my new Law School GIRLS! Before I got here I did not know Natalie or Jennifer very well, but since we have been here they have become great friends and some of the funniest girls I know! :)
I love the other girls, Lindsey, etc...but I knew them pretty well before the trip. But these two girls were definitely a great find....made the trip very memorable. ALSO, they live together and are in need of a third roommate in the house, and I need a place to live..so I think I found a place for my shit!! :)
here is a pic of us.........
I love the other girls, Lindsey, etc...but I knew them pretty well before the trip. But these two girls were definitely a great find....made the trip very memorable. ALSO, they live together and are in need of a third roommate in the house, and I need a place to live..so I think I found a place for my shit!! :)
here is a pic of us.........
Tuesday, June 3
Tuesday
Tuesday afternoon we 'hiked' to the top of the Duomo, the big dome in the middle of the city. It is amazing. The walk to the top was pretty hard, not just because of the nearly 500 steps, but more because it was super claustrophobic with the walk way up being like three feet wide and built with concrete and bricks hundreds and hundreds of years ago. So I kept thinking 'earthquake' the whole time I was going up....you can see in one of the pictures I took of us walking up how narrow it can be. The view from the top was amazing.......I posted this pics too.
Later that night....
the Barry students & neighbors dropped the ball on their night of hosting a dinner....so, LAST MINUTE (we're talking 7PM of a 7:30PM dinner) we were told no potluck, even though they were fixing dinner for themselves! A little bummed because I started this tradition the first week and it was a fun Tuesday thing, they wanted in on it and we let them join...and they mucked it up :(
We went to this restaurant across the alley/street from our apartment and it was awesome!!! For 15 Euro....you get a selection of different dishes, etc..for example...
All for that price, I got two glasses of wine, espresso, water (you pay for that here, that is why I am listing it..lol), noodles with a bolognese sauce, glass of champagne, a 'starter' that was like a bread and tomato concoction, chicken with cheese curds, and bread...it was great that the prices were so good and we got course after course,,,,plus the champagne and the starter bread/tomato dish was complimentary, that is nice!
okay, enough about food.
So afterwards we came back to the apartments and the girls (Lindsey really wasn't pumped, but the rest of the girls were) dying to go out to their and Pat's favorite discoteca "Space Electronica" LOL! It is pretty fun, but I think they have been there five times already. Pat loves the Karaoke, Jen loves the cages on the dance floor..and after last night Natalie is a fan of 'taking a nap' on the toilet paper dispenser in the bathroom and also taking a nap in the booths at Karaoke.
The songs sung last night,,,,I'm trying to remember,
I know I did Elton John "Your Song" and not sure what the other one was.
Pat and Natalie were dying to do Alladin songs! lol, no dice
Pat & Brian did boy band songs again.
Pat did Enrique Iglesias "Hero"
Here are pictures from the night, note the last picture of Natalie on the bench. Seriously, she was not passed out, she just takes these random naps when we go out! LOL she is nuts.
Later that night....
the Barry students & neighbors dropped the ball on their night of hosting a dinner....so, LAST MINUTE (we're talking 7PM of a 7:30PM dinner) we were told no potluck, even though they were fixing dinner for themselves! A little bummed because I started this tradition the first week and it was a fun Tuesday thing, they wanted in on it and we let them join...and they mucked it up :(
We went to this restaurant across the alley/street from our apartment and it was awesome!!! For 15 Euro....you get a selection of different dishes, etc..for example...
All for that price, I got two glasses of wine, espresso, water (you pay for that here, that is why I am listing it..lol), noodles with a bolognese sauce, glass of champagne, a 'starter' that was like a bread and tomato concoction, chicken with cheese curds, and bread...it was great that the prices were so good and we got course after course,,,,plus the champagne and the starter bread/tomato dish was complimentary, that is nice!
okay, enough about food.
So afterwards we came back to the apartments and the girls (Lindsey really wasn't pumped, but the rest of the girls were) dying to go out to their and Pat's favorite discoteca "Space Electronica" LOL! It is pretty fun, but I think they have been there five times already. Pat loves the Karaoke, Jen loves the cages on the dance floor..and after last night Natalie is a fan of 'taking a nap' on the toilet paper dispenser in the bathroom and also taking a nap in the booths at Karaoke.
The songs sung last night,,,,I'm trying to remember,
I know I did Elton John "Your Song" and not sure what the other one was.
Pat and Natalie were dying to do Alladin songs! lol, no dice
Pat & Brian did boy band songs again.
Pat did Enrique Iglesias "Hero"
Here are pictures from the night, note the last picture of Natalie on the bench. Seriously, she was not passed out, she just takes these random naps when we go out! LOL she is nuts.
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