So..just a word on McDonalds and Europe.
They are fricking EVERYWHERE! Almost worse than in the U.S.
It was crazy riding through the smaller towns outside of Munich Germany and seeing those golden arches every few miles!
We have eaten there a couple times and for good reason. First off, in the Florence train station it is the only food place, so we have grabbed a bite there before getting on the train. The other time was in Munich train station because I was hurting from the night before and needed food, but was a tad uneasy on the stomach so I wanted something that was familiar...not some German mystery meat on a pretzel with mustard...while normally amazing, it was a little much on a hangover stomach!
Major differences from the ones out here to the ones in the states.
Here they have curly fries! in Italy they were "Patates Vertigo" :)
Here they serve egg mcmuffins 24 hours a day
They have different sandwiches like the greek burger or the McKrocket (still not sure what is on that one)
For Breakfast they had bacon toast and their egg mcmuffins are with sausage not canadian bacon
Finally they have weird sides, like chicken wings or sausage links or shrimp.....
okay, just a little comparison with something that most people know about!
Thursday, June 19
Thursday Morning in Amsterdam
It is Thursday morning. The sick-bug has hit.
BJ two days ago, Pat yesterday and I think it is catching me this morning ... but I will do whatever I can to make sure it doesn't stick! It is just a stuffy, coughy, drippy, gross...thing.
----I just realized I don't like the word 'drippy'
So it is almost 11AM, we are all just laying around the hostel right now. The Italian who joined us in our six bed room yesterday has been out on his bed since before 11pm last night. He hasn't really moved much, I have seen him roll once this morning so I know he is not dead....plus there is no stink yet....but I find it amazing with five guys rummaging around the room, talking, etc....he is just out. Those crazy Italians!
So last night was fun. We will leave that at that.
Not sure our plan for today. There are some things we still need to see, the Anne Frank House is one of them. We saw it from the outside yesterday, but have not been inside. We are still up in the air on that one, just because of how lousy we feel.
Give us a reason to come back :)
The Red Light District is crazy! More so than I had thought before coming here. Vegas has NOTHING on Amsterdam. We have been offered almost any drug you can think of, we've been offered almost any sex act you can think of....it is nuts.
Pat and I had the free hostel breakfast this morning and I have decided stoners are annoying! Well, I mean 'potheads' ... not the occasional smoker, but "pot heads"..they just move so slow! LOL This hostel is about 85% potheads and that can make things like trying to get breakfast really annoying, they are like Zombies, lol
So one more night here, then off to Dublin tomorrow late afternoon.
Keep in touch, comment!!
BJ two days ago, Pat yesterday and I think it is catching me this morning ... but I will do whatever I can to make sure it doesn't stick! It is just a stuffy, coughy, drippy, gross...thing.
----I just realized I don't like the word 'drippy'
So it is almost 11AM, we are all just laying around the hostel right now. The Italian who joined us in our six bed room yesterday has been out on his bed since before 11pm last night. He hasn't really moved much, I have seen him roll once this morning so I know he is not dead....plus there is no stink yet....but I find it amazing with five guys rummaging around the room, talking, etc....he is just out. Those crazy Italians!
So last night was fun. We will leave that at that.
Not sure our plan for today. There are some things we still need to see, the Anne Frank House is one of them. We saw it from the outside yesterday, but have not been inside. We are still up in the air on that one, just because of how lousy we feel.
Give us a reason to come back :)
The Red Light District is crazy! More so than I had thought before coming here. Vegas has NOTHING on Amsterdam. We have been offered almost any drug you can think of, we've been offered almost any sex act you can think of....it is nuts.
Pat and I had the free hostel breakfast this morning and I have decided stoners are annoying! Well, I mean 'potheads' ... not the occasional smoker, but "pot heads"..they just move so slow! LOL This hostel is about 85% potheads and that can make things like trying to get breakfast really annoying, they are like Zombies, lol
So one more night here, then off to Dublin tomorrow late afternoon.
Keep in touch, comment!!
Wednesday, June 18
So just............
So just plug this in before the last post :) not much has changed since my last post, it is 7:30PM here and we are in our six person hostel, with three new guys...the two french guys and a new italian. lol, We all just did a shot of absinthe and are hanging out listening to music, in a pre-funk situation, before we hit the red light district tonight :) everyone, keep their phones on just in case we need someone to bail us out of somewhere! LOL
anyways, this is what I typed over the weekend.........
----------------
sorry for not posting for such a long time, the internet was slightly lacking in Munich and we were only here for 1 ½ days so we wanted to take in as much as we could
Let me just make it clear that Munich is awesome!!! We are all so happy we chose to come here and were so surprised at how cool it was. We thought it was going to be a little break before the fun times in Amsterdam and Dublin, but we were wrong … we sort of wish we could be here longer and for sure want to come here for Oktoberfest.
We lucked out with the timing, because this weekend was the 850th Anniversary of the city of Munich! So it was totally party time EVERYWHERE and the Germans make the US look like babies when it comes to partying.
We left Florence on Saturday morning, went to the train station, got our tickets and got on our super long train ride, 8 ½ hours…it was not as bad as I thought it would be…why? Well the ride was gorgeous, Italy was pretty but it was more once we got out of Italy and the train rode through Austria and the mountains, it was amazing. The other reason was, Euro Cup is going on right now…a huge Soccer tournament in Europe and they are playing in Austria. We had a train FULL of soccer fanatics. Pat ended up partying in the train’s hallway with a group of guys from Spain drinking and singing “viva Espana” !! We were not aware of this until he came around the corner with that look on his face that says … ‘I just had some drinky time’! It was great, the train emptied out in Austria and Pat, BJ and I had a cabin to ourselves, so to get into the Germany mindset we took our Jaegermeister out and had some for the rest of the train ride!We pull into Munich train station, by far the coolest train station we have seen, got ourselves a bratwurst and a pretzel. We got a cab and just pointed to the hostels address we had and he took us there. Got checked in and we had a four bed room and the fourth guy was in here when we got here, a mid forty year old man named Tod! Poor Tod…. :)
We got changed and walked to the nearest Beer Garden, got some food….Pork Knuckle, Potatoes Brats etc.. and a liter of beer. We watched one of the soccer games that was on
There was a table of German guys near us and they were pretty sloppy drunk and one came over and we were talking…he knew enough English…..and he was teaching us some German and stuff. It was great. I was saying that I had about four liters of beer, thinking that was impressive, and he told me that I was in Germany and it is typical for the guys to drink 7 liters of beer and go driving and if a cop pulls you over he looks at you and goes ‘oh, you only had 7 liters of beer, you are okay to go’
lol
he was nuts, and it was funny because his buddy who was there was a cop and was like “nonono! that is wrong”
We then went to sleep …. in the hostel
On Sunday we walked around the huge festival in the downtown area, it was so fun! People all dressed up in their Bavarian outfits…parades, competitions, etc. at 11:30 went to the Mike’s Bike Tour. It was so much fun. We saw some great sights in Germany, went to a beer garden, drove through their huge park (apparently like 3 times bigger than central park), saw a local nudist that the tour guides have nicknamed “tri-pod” we saw why.
Afterwards we went to the famous Hofbrauhaus with these people we met on the bike tour! It was so cool, it holds 5,000 people! Multiple levels, great beer, everyone chanting and singing…it was great. After a few too many beers we stumbled out into the festivities in the streets … had some more beers, listened to some live music, I was drinking with this like 75 year old German woman! Pat proceeded to dance with our new friend…I will upload those pictures later, it was hilarious!
Then we made it back to the hostel, Tod was gone :( Replaced with some new guy we didn’t talk to….Pat ‘’’’fell asleep’’’’ in the lobby, I was out on the bed, BJ finally got Pat back to his bed. We all woke up this morning feeling Germany :)
we are heading to Amsterdam here shortly, just have to check out and take another 9 hour train ride! :(
okay, peace!!! pics will upload later…
In Amsterdam now! The ride was pretty nice actually, the first leg of the strip to Cologne Germany had us in a huge train that was very clean and nice with basically no one else in our car. So we got to lounge out and talk .. etc.
We got into Amsterdam, walked out of the train terminal and were all jaw dropped, the place is great! It looks like vegas meets Europe….you look down the main street and you see flashing lights, huge marquees, Casino signs..etc. Really a cool vibe.
We walked into our hostel lobby and there is this huge section in the corner with big pillows all over and coffee tables with people all just laying around high out of their mind and smoking pot. It was hilarious, the lobby has a cool bar in it with the soccer game playing and a disco ball :)
We just got into our room, we are sharing with three other people, not sure who they are yet, but from the looks of things it is two guys and a girl. One of them has like pajama bottoms on their bed laying out and they are seahawks pajamas, so that is interesting, also that they have pajamas and lay them out, that is interesting too…we will see!
Okay, we are all changed and off to explore! Take all my posts while we are in Amsterdam with a grain of salt :)
anyways, this is what I typed over the weekend.........
----------------
sorry for not posting for such a long time, the internet was slightly lacking in Munich and we were only here for 1 ½ days so we wanted to take in as much as we could
Let me just make it clear that Munich is awesome!!! We are all so happy we chose to come here and were so surprised at how cool it was. We thought it was going to be a little break before the fun times in Amsterdam and Dublin, but we were wrong … we sort of wish we could be here longer and for sure want to come here for Oktoberfest.
We lucked out with the timing, because this weekend was the 850th Anniversary of the city of Munich! So it was totally party time EVERYWHERE and the Germans make the US look like babies when it comes to partying.
We left Florence on Saturday morning, went to the train station, got our tickets and got on our super long train ride, 8 ½ hours…it was not as bad as I thought it would be…why? Well the ride was gorgeous, Italy was pretty but it was more once we got out of Italy and the train rode through Austria and the mountains, it was amazing. The other reason was, Euro Cup is going on right now…a huge Soccer tournament in Europe and they are playing in Austria. We had a train FULL of soccer fanatics. Pat ended up partying in the train’s hallway with a group of guys from Spain drinking and singing “viva Espana” !! We were not aware of this until he came around the corner with that look on his face that says … ‘I just had some drinky time’! It was great, the train emptied out in Austria and Pat, BJ and I had a cabin to ourselves, so to get into the Germany mindset we took our Jaegermeister out and had some for the rest of the train ride!We pull into Munich train station, by far the coolest train station we have seen, got ourselves a bratwurst and a pretzel. We got a cab and just pointed to the hostels address we had and he took us there. Got checked in and we had a four bed room and the fourth guy was in here when we got here, a mid forty year old man named Tod! Poor Tod…. :)
We got changed and walked to the nearest Beer Garden, got some food….Pork Knuckle, Potatoes Brats etc.. and a liter of beer. We watched one of the soccer games that was on
There was a table of German guys near us and they were pretty sloppy drunk and one came over and we were talking…he knew enough English…..and he was teaching us some German and stuff. It was great. I was saying that I had about four liters of beer, thinking that was impressive, and he told me that I was in Germany and it is typical for the guys to drink 7 liters of beer and go driving and if a cop pulls you over he looks at you and goes ‘oh, you only had 7 liters of beer, you are okay to go’
lol
he was nuts, and it was funny because his buddy who was there was a cop and was like “nonono! that is wrong”
We then went to sleep …. in the hostel
On Sunday we walked around the huge festival in the downtown area, it was so fun! People all dressed up in their Bavarian outfits…parades, competitions, etc. at 11:30 went to the Mike’s Bike Tour. It was so much fun. We saw some great sights in Germany, went to a beer garden, drove through their huge park (apparently like 3 times bigger than central park), saw a local nudist that the tour guides have nicknamed “tri-pod” we saw why.
Afterwards we went to the famous Hofbrauhaus with these people we met on the bike tour! It was so cool, it holds 5,000 people! Multiple levels, great beer, everyone chanting and singing…it was great. After a few too many beers we stumbled out into the festivities in the streets … had some more beers, listened to some live music, I was drinking with this like 75 year old German woman! Pat proceeded to dance with our new friend…I will upload those pictures later, it was hilarious!
Then we made it back to the hostel, Tod was gone :( Replaced with some new guy we didn’t talk to….Pat ‘’’’fell asleep’’’’ in the lobby, I was out on the bed, BJ finally got Pat back to his bed. We all woke up this morning feeling Germany :)
we are heading to Amsterdam here shortly, just have to check out and take another 9 hour train ride! :(
okay, peace!!! pics will upload later…
In Amsterdam now! The ride was pretty nice actually, the first leg of the strip to Cologne Germany had us in a huge train that was very clean and nice with basically no one else in our car. So we got to lounge out and talk .. etc.
We got into Amsterdam, walked out of the train terminal and were all jaw dropped, the place is great! It looks like vegas meets Europe….you look down the main street and you see flashing lights, huge marquees, Casino signs..etc. Really a cool vibe.
We walked into our hostel lobby and there is this huge section in the corner with big pillows all over and coffee tables with people all just laying around high out of their mind and smoking pot. It was hilarious, the lobby has a cool bar in it with the soccer game playing and a disco ball :)
We just got into our room, we are sharing with three other people, not sure who they are yet, but from the looks of things it is two guys and a girl. One of them has like pajama bottoms on their bed laying out and they are seahawks pajamas, so that is interesting, also that they have pajamas and lay them out, that is interesting too…we will see!
Okay, we are all changed and off to explore! Take all my posts while we are in Amsterdam with a grain of salt :)
Sorry!
Sorry for the long delay in posting! I typed up a long post in a WORD document on Pats computer, but for some reason his laptop will not connect to the free wi-fi here in the amsterdam hostel. But I will post that, it was really long and I dont want to retype it, so when he can connect you can hear the intricate details of Munich, but here is an outline.
MUNICH:
Train ride was nuts, we didn't know it stopped in Austria at the town the EuroCup is being held, so it was like a frat party on the bus with chanting, face paint, and lots of beer.
We loved Munich way more than expected! It was the 850 year anniversary the weekend we were there, so it was this MASSIVE festival with concerts, parade, huge crowds, beer EVERYWHERE.
We did Mikes Bike tour, great times...
AMSTERDAM:
We got in, hostel is nuts, way more pot than I expected! For instance, we walk into the hostel and the whole lobby is one big pot den with pillows and stoned backpackers everywhere.
---------------
so that is where my last post ended. I will write now from yesterday on.
Yesterday we went to this place called Barneys for breakfast, it is famous and was pretty cool. We didn't order any drugs, but it was weird to be given two menus, one for breakfast the other for different types of marijuana and bakery style treats. lol
Afterwards we wandered around ... up and down the canals, worked our way back to the city center and Pat got a Holland soccer jersey, I got a tshirt as did BJ, Pat and I got facepaint and scarfs, I got orange hair spray and pat got an orange wig....BJ wore his tshirt.... we got all ready and ventured to a bar in the RedLight district to watch the undefeated Holland team play Romania! It was nuts..everyone was in orange and going crazy. It was a tad bit subdued for the reason that they had already clinched their spot in the next round of the tournament, so it was like a game 15 in american football, when the team already has their playoff spot. Everyone that they played were the second string. But they WON and we got to listen to EVERY BAR from redlight district back to our place play Queens "We are the Champions" lol, it was funny.
Everyone thought Pat and I were Dutch because we were totally dressed up from head to toe (I will post the pics from Bjs computer as soon as I can)...... the locals would run up and high five us and start yelling about how great the Holland team is in Dutch at us...and we would have to explain that we were US students but became Holland fans during our trip. They actually thought that was even better!
There was an impromptu midnight parade after the win and you could hear the honking and cheering deep into the night.
We have a six bed room, so three of the beds are strangers. The first night it was three girls, all from the Seattle area, which was weird. They left yesterday morning, last night we had two french guys (one snored like crazy) and a girl from Canada. They are all leaving, so we have no clue who are new roommates will be tonight.
They are doing their monthly head to toe cleaning of the whole hostel, so we all have to check our bags in the kitchen for the day and empty our rooms completely. Sort of annoying.
Okay, well, we are off to the Anne Frank House and then the Heineken Brewery tour!
We miss you.....
Sorry for the delay in posting, as I said, the internet sucks :)
.............we are being good!
MUNICH:
Train ride was nuts, we didn't know it stopped in Austria at the town the EuroCup is being held, so it was like a frat party on the bus with chanting, face paint, and lots of beer.
We loved Munich way more than expected! It was the 850 year anniversary the weekend we were there, so it was this MASSIVE festival with concerts, parade, huge crowds, beer EVERYWHERE.
We did Mikes Bike tour, great times...
AMSTERDAM:
We got in, hostel is nuts, way more pot than I expected! For instance, we walk into the hostel and the whole lobby is one big pot den with pillows and stoned backpackers everywhere.
---------------
so that is where my last post ended. I will write now from yesterday on.
Yesterday we went to this place called Barneys for breakfast, it is famous and was pretty cool. We didn't order any drugs, but it was weird to be given two menus, one for breakfast the other for different types of marijuana and bakery style treats. lol
Afterwards we wandered around ... up and down the canals, worked our way back to the city center and Pat got a Holland soccer jersey, I got a tshirt as did BJ, Pat and I got facepaint and scarfs, I got orange hair spray and pat got an orange wig....BJ wore his tshirt.... we got all ready and ventured to a bar in the RedLight district to watch the undefeated Holland team play Romania! It was nuts..everyone was in orange and going crazy. It was a tad bit subdued for the reason that they had already clinched their spot in the next round of the tournament, so it was like a game 15 in american football, when the team already has their playoff spot. Everyone that they played were the second string. But they WON and we got to listen to EVERY BAR from redlight district back to our place play Queens "We are the Champions" lol, it was funny.
Everyone thought Pat and I were Dutch because we were totally dressed up from head to toe (I will post the pics from Bjs computer as soon as I can)...... the locals would run up and high five us and start yelling about how great the Holland team is in Dutch at us...and we would have to explain that we were US students but became Holland fans during our trip. They actually thought that was even better!
There was an impromptu midnight parade after the win and you could hear the honking and cheering deep into the night.
We have a six bed room, so three of the beds are strangers. The first night it was three girls, all from the Seattle area, which was weird. They left yesterday morning, last night we had two french guys (one snored like crazy) and a girl from Canada. They are all leaving, so we have no clue who are new roommates will be tonight.
They are doing their monthly head to toe cleaning of the whole hostel, so we all have to check our bags in the kitchen for the day and empty our rooms completely. Sort of annoying.
Okay, well, we are off to the Anne Frank House and then the Heineken Brewery tour!
We miss you.....
Sorry for the delay in posting, as I said, the internet sucks :)
.............we are being good!
Tuesday, June 17
Alive
We've made it to Amsterdam. All alive and essentially well. Huge post coming sometime in the future. The internet here is not what you'd call reliable.
GO HOLLAND!!! EuroCup 2008
GO HOLLAND!!! EuroCup 2008
Friday, June 13
We are off!
Okay, well tomorrow morning we head to Munich Germany.
School is done - getting last minute gifts for family today, getting my EURO hair cut!! Very excited and sort of scared.
okay, will post when we get to GERMANY. Wish us luck on the 8 1\2 hour train ride, lame.
CIAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
School is done - getting last minute gifts for family today, getting my EURO hair cut!! Very excited and sort of scared.
okay, will post when we get to GERMANY. Wish us luck on the 8 1\2 hour train ride, lame.
CIAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thursday, June 12
Another Casualty!
Well, my power cord for my laptop was the latest casualty of this trip! Some interesting Italian wiring and weird surges where sockets sometimes worked then didnt then sometimes did, then POP fry...bye bye.
But, life goes on....a replacement is easily attainable and good price when I get back to states and the timing, while it sucked because I have to finish writing my paper at these weird Italian-keyboarded computers at school, I was planning on shipping the laptop back tomorrow anyway with about half my stuff. Had no use for the laptop in Germany, Amsterdam, Ireland or London and it would just be something to get stolen!
This thing will be updated via hostel/hotel computer labs and internet cafes.
oh well, we still have our health *knocking on wood*
ciao!!!
But, life goes on....a replacement is easily attainable and good price when I get back to states and the timing, while it sucked because I have to finish writing my paper at these weird Italian-keyboarded computers at school, I was planning on shipping the laptop back tomorrow anyway with about half my stuff. Had no use for the laptop in Germany, Amsterdam, Ireland or London and it would just be something to get stolen!
This thing will be updated via hostel/hotel computer labs and internet cafes.
oh well, we still have our health *knocking on wood*
ciao!!!
Wednesday, June 11
Rain in Capri
Remember when I told you, in my long Capri email, that when we first got on to the island there was a monsoon going on and we had to slip into a tented bar area and grab a drink until it passed. Well, here is a video I took as we waited for it to pass, to get a sense of our beautiful welcome to Capri :)
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...
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