Wow, lots of news about traveling this week.
Let's start off with the most recent. So this weekend, I'm going to Venice for Carnivale (Mardi Gras) which should be awesome. Our train leaves Rome at 11 pm Friday night and we arrive in Venice at 6am Saturday morning. We have the whole day in Venice and then our train leaves Venice to come back to Rome at 11:30 pm Saturday night and we get back here in Rome around 7am Sunday morning. Ha, pretty crazy, right? I guess that makes it a 32 hour trip, with two nights spent sleeping on a train. Should be a fun time!
Next on the agenda is the fantastic news that my lovely sister Maria will be joining me for a week before my spring break starts in mid-March. Should be a fun time. I'll be in school taking mid terms that week so I'll have to unleash her alone into Rome, knowing her sense of direction this might be bad news. Also, Italy will be celebrating it's 150th anniversary while she's here so that should be a fun celebration to be a part of.
THEN, Leigh and I just finalized our spring break plans. We're off to Canary Islands for a week!! We leave on the day Maria leaves to go back to America. Pretty spontaneous but it should be an amazing trip, I'm so excited! Volcanoes, Scuba diving, mountains, beaches, zoos, etc etc, what an awesome place for Spring break 2011!!
My parents are then coming over the day I get back from the Canary Islands. They'll be here for a week and some so hopefully we'll get to take a cool weekend trip that first weekend of April.
Okay, moving right along, Second week of April I've got a weekend 3 day trip to Pompeii, Capri, Sorrento and Mt. Vesuvius. I might be looking forward to this trip more than anything so far. This is going to be awesome hiking to the top of the mountain and seeing that amazing ancient city of Pompeii.
After that, I'm taking a break from traveling. Whew. That leaves about 4 weekends left in Rome I think, I'm sure I'll find myself making one last trip before Adam and I leave for our EuroTrip on May 14th! We're getting into booking that right now. Rome, Pisa, Tuscany, Paris, Normandy, Brussels, Amsterdam and London!! 15 days of great fun! Best way to end this amazing journey. I don't want to think about leaving yet.
Wow, so I guess that leaves me next weekend (of March 4th, my birthday!) as the only weekend until mid-April that I don't have something planned. This is going to be a whirlwind of adventure. Oh right, I do have that St Peters Tomb tour on my birthday to look forward to that weekend, and of course, celebrating my 20th birthday.
What do you guys think of these travel plans? Any other stops I should hit? I still have a dream to see Egypt, and have always had that dream since I was a kid, you can ask my family. It's got to be cheaper now more than ever to go there. I think it's a good idea..right?
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Encounter at Gianicolense 168
So I feel like I haven't blogged in awhile, but in reality I guess it hasn't been that long. Either way, I'll give you guys a good mid week update on me.
So yesterday I had an interesting experience outside my apartment door. This wasn't any average run into a neighbor at the door encounter either. I wasn't planning on blogging about it but so far, the two people that have heard about it had an initial response of telling me I need to blog about. So I'll give my followers what they want (Gadhafi, you could learn something from me).
So let me set the scene for you. Juan and I went shopping yesterday afternoon. Upon our return to our apartment building door on the ground level, my stomach called. So, I decided to go to the bar next door to grab a panini while Juan took the groceries upstairs. Of course, he didn't have his key so I lent him mine, this meant that I would have to buzz in up to him to get let him. This detail is important.
So yesterday I had an interesting experience outside my apartment door. This wasn't any average run into a neighbor at the door encounter either. I wasn't planning on blogging about it but so far, the two people that have heard about it had an initial response of telling me I need to blog about. So I'll give my followers what they want (Gadhafi, you could learn something from me).
So let me set the scene for you. Juan and I went shopping yesterday afternoon. Upon our return to our apartment building door on the ground level, my stomach called. So, I decided to go to the bar next door to grab a panini while Juan took the groceries upstairs. Of course, he didn't have his key so I lent him mine, this meant that I would have to buzz in up to him to get let him. This detail is important.
[For anyone who has never lived in an apartment building before, they all have a panel outside the building with a buzzer button to each unit so that guests can buzz up for their friend to them push their buzzer to unlock the door and let them in. Our fancy apartment also has a camera feed that automatically turns on on our display screen up here when it gets buzzed so that we can see who is buzzing to come in.] -Neat, huh?
Okay back to the story. So I buy my panini (which happened to be mozzarella, prosciutto and verdura - very healthy for me) and go to our door to buzz Juan. This bar is literally the door next to our apartment door, so convenient (spell check has auto-corrected me every time that I've used that word in this blog, I can't seem to ever spell it right) for my croissant and espresso in the morning. As I'm waiting for him to answer, I'm watching these 3 girls take pictures of themselves by this parked car on the street "Oh, some one must have just gotten them self a new car" - thought I. Then, they turn to me and start talking to me in Italian. Now I'm no expert yet, but she kept holding the camera up so I asked in broken Italian if they wanted me to take a picture of them (reasonable assumption, right?) Wrong. So turns out, they wanted to take a picture with yours truly.
Alright so hold on, you're probably wondering why I'm blogging about this, because Michael, don't pretty girls ask you to be in their picture every day. Well, blogosphere, surprisingly not. As the one girl got ready to take the picture, the other two strutted over towards me, both of them smiling looking deep into my eyes in the kind of way that my cat Belgie looks at me when she wants me to feed her a treat. "That's odd", I thought. In the meantime, I had already buzzed for Juan, who had buzzed open the door but I was preoccupied at that point so he was just watching the video feed of this going on outside from safe up above. Okay, so as we're posing for this picture, I begin to ask myself, "Michael, is it normal for two stranger girls' hands to be running up your legs while posing for a picture that they asked for?Oh wait, nope this definitely doesn't normally happen."
So while you're mind was wandering there, imagining what happened, I'll fill you in. Turns out they were trying to pull a fast one on me. Next thing I know, during that picture, that seemed to take forever for the girl to take, while they were being all touchy feeling, I felt the girl on my left latch on after feeling around for my wallet in my left pants pocket. I may be an American college kid, but I'm not that stupid. After quickly taking a step back, they ditched the extra flirty routine and basically stood there around me demanding money from me. As Deion 'Primetime' Sanders would say, "#Hold On Playa!". Let me get this straight. You make me pose in a picture with you, while you do what I'm left to assume was a poor attempt to pick pocket me, THEN you tell me that since I let you take a picture with me, that I owe you money. This conversation ends now, Mike is hungry. You don't know even understand who you're messing with. They ditched the whole picture-cost thing and then just flat out started begging for euro's, now in English, saying that they needed money for lunch. I was fed up, I went to the go-to method of getting beggars away here. I said, in slow and loud English, "I am American, I do not speak Italian, Bye Bye." See the beauty of this was that it was both a slap-in-the-face to them because they all knew by that point I was capable of speaking at least some Italian, but it also quickly ended this weird encounter.
I promptly grabbed my panini from the ground and got buzzed in by Juan and shut the door in their face. Moral of this story is I guess it's not my great looks that make people want to stare and take picture of me. O well.. Also, I guess the other moral is not to let gypsies try and steal your money. From then I continued my normal Monday routine of class at 5:15 and eating chicken cordon bleu at night for dinner with what I found to be the cheapest beer in Rome. 60 cents for a 50cl double-tall can, GoldStern, out of Belgium. It tastes for what I paid for..
I hope that story was entertaining to your mid-week blues.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Tuscan Winery
Alright, so let's get going. Day trip to Tuscan winery to drink wine, learn how to make pasta, and to have one of the best lunches I've ever had in my life. Before we start, to quote Matt Selvyn, "Spoiler Alert!!: grapes and flour." He was so right.
I was dozing in and out on the bus ride there but the scenery was incredible every time I peaked out the window. So the game plan for the day went like this. Get a tour around a bit of the property with a history lesson of the place while we were there. If I remember correctly, wine has been made on that property, which is in the Chianti region, for hundreds of years and it came into possession of the family who owns it now in 1911. It was one of the first and only winery's to be headed by all women. After that, we were to get a tour of the barrels and where they ferment the wine. I managed to fall multiple times, sometimes for no apparent reason, (once was because I was taking a picture of the sky and didn't see the steps, but Rachel saved me (kinda) from falling and making a fool of myself). There were barrels everywhere. Despite that they all looked the same, I still felt like I had to take a picture of all of them. Here's one of the many:Then it was wine tasting time, followed by pasta making then more wine and a massive feast. I think for wine tasting you were supposed to swish it around in your mouth then spit it back out. But honestly, I think it is very rude to spit a drink back out into those fancy wine glasses. Therefore, I decided to be classy so instead of grossly swishing and spitting, I just drank it. Much better decision :)
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| Chef Cianfichi |
So after this was by far the best part of the day. We all sit down in a big dining room. They first come around with wine. Next was the 1st course: Prosciutto, sharp cheese and bruschetta. Alright, then another round of wine and some fresh bread. Next was pasta with a meat bolagnase sauce, the besttt. Okay then a lady came around with seconds of the pasta and gave me a bit but ran out when she came to me. So I quickly ate all of that so by the time the next lady came out with seconds for the rest of the table, it looked like I still hadn't gotten seconds, sooo I got thirds :). Then Lissett didn't want the rest of hers so I ate that, and I gladly finished off her wine for her too. I thought I was done and full for the day, BUT THEN they came around with chicken and potatoes. More wine. Dessert accompanied with dessert wine. Wowwwwwwww. Best meal ever? I think so. I have not been so full in such a long time. For only 50 euros, I would do that whole trip every Saturday for the rest of my time here. I recommend it to every and any one!
So afterwards, we had some time to kill so I went on a little adventure around the area. Saw some amazing views of the countryside, check out the FB Album for more pictures. Here's a nice one of me gazing out into the distance, in deep thought of course.Before I leave, quick shout out to the Colbert Report and the Daily Show with John Stewart. You, alone, are the only show that has allowed me to view it over here in Italy. Hulu, doesn't work. NBC, FOX, ABC etc etc, none of your websites work over here in Italy and I am going crazy not being able to watch my regular shows like Modern Family, The Office, Outsourced, etc.. But at least I have those two shows, other networks, take a page from the Comedy Central guys and make your videos available worldwide, it's 2011, it shouldn't be this hard. That is all.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Random Thoughts
So a couple days ago, we hit the 500th view on this blog, that's kind of cool. I've only written 16 posts since I created this thing a month ago today. So average views per post is whatever your math tells you it is. And no, haterade drinkers, it doesn't tally my views as a view count so don't accuse me of driving up the number. As of right now, it's at 550 which led me to think about some stuff.
- How many of those 550 have GoogleTranslated the title "Andiamo a Roma" and gotten the result "We go to Rome"? How many of you are confused by that. Let's settle this now. GoogleTranslate is dumb. It means "Let's go to Rome." Turns out it is that easy for our teachers to know when we use it. Darn.
- It won't stop you.
- I wish I could get paid to do this.
- Turns out I can, more news to follow ;)
- Sorry all fans of the former Punk-Rock Mike, but I guess this means I'm selling out...
- How many of you have read this every so often and feel like you still know me well but have not talked to me directly. I don't know who reads this, it only tells me your OS and country. So yes, person using a Mac in Singapore, I'd love to know who you are. Anyways, to those who apply to this comment, chances are I most likely miss you and would love to hear from you. Drop me a line if you would.
- On a related thought. Anyone want to tell me what a Linux is, because apparently they represent 2% of my views and I have no clue what that is.
- I also wasn't aware that I had friends in Canada, cool, eh?
- Don't just read it and X out (or whatever you Mac-people's equivalent is). I know you're doing this to avoid paying attention in lecture hall so why don't you waste some more time and leave me a comment about the post, that'd be cool
- Oh, and in case you really can't get enough of me, follow me on Twitter @MickCianfick , I've got some good things to say, tweet tweet.
- Big A and LaGow show tomorrow (Thursday) night at 6:00 on WMUC radio. Go to wmuc.umd.edu and click listen live to hear it, you might just hear me call in again.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
A Day in the Life
This is the story of a day in the life of Mike in Rome. Feel free to go on iTunes and turn on "A Day in the Life" while reading this to enjoy it even more. You might need to loop it a few times.
So yesterday, Tuesday, I had a bunch of blog-worthy experiences. I was too busy yesterday to blog about them though, yes, watching The Godfather trumped blogging, I'm sorry. So Tuesday, as you all might know by now, is my intense school day. Class starts for me at 9am and I don't get home until around 7pm. So for my Bodies and Burials class we met at Le Terme di Diocletian (The Baths of Diolcetian) to check out some ancient remains dug up there from Etruscan and Latin tribes pre-Roman times. Of course it was a 45 minutes bus ride there across Rome in the height of the morning rush. I strolled out onto the busy street around 8am after I grabbed the 1 euro cornetto + cafe (pastry and espresso) deal at the bar next door, what a great wake me up.
So on the bus ride there, I experienced the first of my three cultural experiences. A woman got on a few stops after me. I watched her through the cover of my sunglasses survey everyone in the bus, then zone in on me, smile and walk over. She approaches me and in English with a heavy Italian accent starts asking me for money for her bus fare. This comes just a few days after I had been reading in my Connecting Across Cultures textbook about the many American stereotypes including generosity, wealth and naive trust (not exactly new information to me). I did not have any change for her, the ATM's only dispenses 50 euro bills and I wasn't about to lend that. The best part came afterward. She didn't even so much as try asking another person on that bus for money, not a single one, because she knew no one would. There had to have been at least 20 some others on it. She simply rode it for free and got off about 5 stops later. It left me wondering a bunch of things: how did she know to speak English to me from the get-go, is it that obvious that I'm American? Let me set the scene for you. I was wearing my new slim jeans, button down shirt, leather jacket with black scarf, is that really so obvious? I was kind of offended that she also assumed I knew no Italian and didn't even bother using it. Also, how come she came to me first but didn't bother pestering any one else? Are Americans known to be that niave and free-spending/lending? Okay...maybe.. Point is, that experience was just a microcosm of everything I've been trying to not be stereotyped as since I got here and basically put me to shame and made me feel like all the effort I'm using to blend in is in vain. Oh well, I know I'm trying my hardest. Does that really count for anything in reality?
Second unique experience. After the class was over, which was very fascinating and I learned a ton of cool stuff about that area, I went out to McDonalds at Piazza Repubblica with a couple guys I met in class; that's the first time I've had McDonalds since high school by the way, I forgot how much I used to love those chicken nuggets. Anyways, after taking the bus from there back to AUR (the bus route took us by the Coliseum, Roman Forum, Circus Maximus etc, no big deal) I'm getting off topic. I then went for a walk to find a computer store near campus because my McAfee subscription ran out. Okay so a man approached me asking for information on which bus would take him to Viale Trastevere. He asked in Italian and I responded to him in good Italian telling them that I wasn't sure which bus to take because I'm new to the city but I think that he should take the bus that's pulling up now. The look that took over his face told me that he didn't understand much of what I said and I feared that I had struck out for the second time today and spoken Italian so poorly that he didn't understand a word I said. Don't give up hope on me just yet. He responds in broken English! (whattt!) and says "I sorry, but I not know Italian good, do you by chance speak English?" So naturally we started talking in English and I explained to him what bus I think he should take during which he compliments me saying that MY English is very good for an Italian boy. #ProudestMomentOfMyLife. I never told him I was American..#oops. By the way, I didn't mention this but he was from Libya and just got to Italy. Regardless, I convinced him that I was Italian, more victory for me. I know, I know, what does a man from Libya who doesn't speak much Italian or English know about determining which nationality I am? I. Don't. Care. Best feeling I've gotten since being here.
It didn't last long. After my unsuccessful and equally frustrating walk around the area being led in circles looking for a computer store, I gave up and walked back to the tram to catch it back to school area. Yeah, wow I rode a lot of public transportation, have to make that 30 euro monthly pass pay for itself. So I'm on the tram, and a little boy comes up to me alone begging for change, he didn't have any adult with him. I felt really bad for him. He didn't really say anything, he just came up and held his cupped hands up to me and gave me a sad face, he looked about 8. I wish I had had change to give him, but my meal at McDonalds inconveniently ended up even so I still only had big bills with me. I said, "I'm sorry, no change."; in English.. Bad move Mike. His next words, accompanied by a huge smile were, "Ahhh sei americano? Per favore, per favore" To which he raised his hands even higher and closer to my pockets. In retrospect I should have spoken Italian to him (duh) and maybe he wouldn't have noticed but once he learned I was American, apparently some expectations were set. Again, I felt stereotyped for being American (not in a good way) and it just reminded me of how I failed again at assimilating into their culture. He also spent more time making me feel guilty than he did with anyone else on the tram. Even old grandmothers shrugged him off and his (non)reaction was even more surprising. Did I have a sign on me that said "easy money"? Surely a young college student couldn't have been expected to give more money than the adults on the tram? Nope and Nope.
I know it's only been a little less than a month, but it's kind of a bummer. Long and lonely tram ride back to school. My night class was really fun though for what it's worth. It's not as easy as I thought it would be adjusting to Italian life. I really want to be able to walk around and stop having people come up to me speaking English because they are Italian and assume I'm an ignorant American who doesn't know anything in Italian besides grazie. It would also be nice to just have people stop coming up to me speaking English because they can tell automatically that I'm American. Nothing against America, I love you, but if I'm going to be living here for a third of a year I want to be as Italian as I can. I have the rest of my life to be American in America.
On a brighter note, I learned the word for stamps so I was able to buy stamps so I can start sending out postcards, keep an eye on your mailbox or send me your address if I don't yet have it. Furthermore, I found sour cream and onion Pringles at the store today and am currently snacking on them. What a great pick me up. I'd like to take this moment to let my roommate Juan know unless he gives me an offer I can't refuse, there's not a chance he will ever get so much as a chip.
Tuscany day trip on Saturday to go wine tasting and learn how to make pasta by hand. Should be fun, going to a villa out in the countryside. Let's hope I don't get lost again tomorrow night going to the Extreme Language Project at the pub.
So yesterday, Tuesday, I had a bunch of blog-worthy experiences. I was too busy yesterday to blog about them though, yes, watching The Godfather trumped blogging, I'm sorry. So Tuesday, as you all might know by now, is my intense school day. Class starts for me at 9am and I don't get home until around 7pm. So for my Bodies and Burials class we met at Le Terme di Diocletian (The Baths of Diolcetian) to check out some ancient remains dug up there from Etruscan and Latin tribes pre-Roman times. Of course it was a 45 minutes bus ride there across Rome in the height of the morning rush. I strolled out onto the busy street around 8am after I grabbed the 1 euro cornetto + cafe (pastry and espresso) deal at the bar next door, what a great wake me up.
So on the bus ride there, I experienced the first of my three cultural experiences. A woman got on a few stops after me. I watched her through the cover of my sunglasses survey everyone in the bus, then zone in on me, smile and walk over. She approaches me and in English with a heavy Italian accent starts asking me for money for her bus fare. This comes just a few days after I had been reading in my Connecting Across Cultures textbook about the many American stereotypes including generosity, wealth and naive trust (not exactly new information to me). I did not have any change for her, the ATM's only dispenses 50 euro bills and I wasn't about to lend that. The best part came afterward. She didn't even so much as try asking another person on that bus for money, not a single one, because she knew no one would. There had to have been at least 20 some others on it. She simply rode it for free and got off about 5 stops later. It left me wondering a bunch of things: how did she know to speak English to me from the get-go, is it that obvious that I'm American? Let me set the scene for you. I was wearing my new slim jeans, button down shirt, leather jacket with black scarf, is that really so obvious? I was kind of offended that she also assumed I knew no Italian and didn't even bother using it. Also, how come she came to me first but didn't bother pestering any one else? Are Americans known to be that niave and free-spending/lending? Okay...maybe.. Point is, that experience was just a microcosm of everything I've been trying to not be stereotyped as since I got here and basically put me to shame and made me feel like all the effort I'm using to blend in is in vain. Oh well, I know I'm trying my hardest. Does that really count for anything in reality?
Second unique experience. After the class was over, which was very fascinating and I learned a ton of cool stuff about that area, I went out to McDonalds at Piazza Repubblica with a couple guys I met in class; that's the first time I've had McDonalds since high school by the way, I forgot how much I used to love those chicken nuggets. Anyways, after taking the bus from there back to AUR (the bus route took us by the Coliseum, Roman Forum, Circus Maximus etc, no big deal) I'm getting off topic. I then went for a walk to find a computer store near campus because my McAfee subscription ran out. Okay so a man approached me asking for information on which bus would take him to Viale Trastevere. He asked in Italian and I responded to him in good Italian telling them that I wasn't sure which bus to take because I'm new to the city but I think that he should take the bus that's pulling up now. The look that took over his face told me that he didn't understand much of what I said and I feared that I had struck out for the second time today and spoken Italian so poorly that he didn't understand a word I said. Don't give up hope on me just yet. He responds in broken English! (whattt!) and says "I sorry, but I not know Italian good, do you by chance speak English?" So naturally we started talking in English and I explained to him what bus I think he should take during which he compliments me saying that MY English is very good for an Italian boy. #ProudestMomentOfMyLife. I never told him I was American..#oops. By the way, I didn't mention this but he was from Libya and just got to Italy. Regardless, I convinced him that I was Italian, more victory for me. I know, I know, what does a man from Libya who doesn't speak much Italian or English know about determining which nationality I am? I. Don't. Care. Best feeling I've gotten since being here.
It didn't last long. After my unsuccessful and equally frustrating walk around the area being led in circles looking for a computer store, I gave up and walked back to the tram to catch it back to school area. Yeah, wow I rode a lot of public transportation, have to make that 30 euro monthly pass pay for itself. So I'm on the tram, and a little boy comes up to me alone begging for change, he didn't have any adult with him. I felt really bad for him. He didn't really say anything, he just came up and held his cupped hands up to me and gave me a sad face, he looked about 8. I wish I had had change to give him, but my meal at McDonalds inconveniently ended up even so I still only had big bills with me. I said, "I'm sorry, no change."; in English.. Bad move Mike. His next words, accompanied by a huge smile were, "Ahhh sei americano? Per favore, per favore" To which he raised his hands even higher and closer to my pockets. In retrospect I should have spoken Italian to him (duh) and maybe he wouldn't have noticed but once he learned I was American, apparently some expectations were set. Again, I felt stereotyped for being American (not in a good way) and it just reminded me of how I failed again at assimilating into their culture. He also spent more time making me feel guilty than he did with anyone else on the tram. Even old grandmothers shrugged him off and his (non)reaction was even more surprising. Did I have a sign on me that said "easy money"? Surely a young college student couldn't have been expected to give more money than the adults on the tram? Nope and Nope.
I know it's only been a little less than a month, but it's kind of a bummer. Long and lonely tram ride back to school. My night class was really fun though for what it's worth. It's not as easy as I thought it would be adjusting to Italian life. I really want to be able to walk around and stop having people come up to me speaking English because they are Italian and assume I'm an ignorant American who doesn't know anything in Italian besides grazie. It would also be nice to just have people stop coming up to me speaking English because they can tell automatically that I'm American. Nothing against America, I love you, but if I'm going to be living here for a third of a year I want to be as Italian as I can. I have the rest of my life to be American in America.
On a brighter note, I learned the word for stamps so I was able to buy stamps so I can start sending out postcards, keep an eye on your mailbox or send me your address if I don't yet have it. Furthermore, I found sour cream and onion Pringles at the store today and am currently snacking on them. What a great pick me up. I'd like to take this moment to let my roommate Juan know unless he gives me an offer I can't refuse, there's not a chance he will ever get so much as a chip.
Tuscany day trip on Saturday to go wine tasting and learn how to make pasta by hand. Should be fun, going to a villa out in the countryside. Let's hope I don't get lost again tomorrow night going to the Extreme Language Project at the pub.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Why I Love Valentines Day
Today is a wonderful day. I just took a stroll around the neighborhood, did some shopping, got a panini and just am enjoying this fabulous day. The birds are singing and people are walking around hand-in-hand celebrating this wonderful day. I'm surprised to see everyone around me as lovestruck as I am today. I certainly am dressed for the occasion. I'm shouting in joy from my patio because of this day, because I want the world to know how I feel.
First, shameless plug for my best buddy Adam Seery, Happy Birthday!
Anyone who thinks today should be the celebration of anything else needs to get their priorities straight. Let's be honest, we all knew it was only a matter of time until I brought up Baltimore sports in this blog. Today is the perfect mix. It's beautiful out, I have nothing at all to do except watch my laundry air dry and that global feeling of love is hitting me hard for my O's. The only thing that is missing from this Monday afternoon is chowing down on some Chick-Fil-A, right J-lynn? You, Dom and Irene know what I mean, but let's not get me started on Chick-Fil-A..
Okay, I know, you're skeptical. Is Michael really excited about a team that hasn't had a winning season since 1997? A team that has had more steroid users in the last decade than all-star players or playoff wins? A team that hasn't won it all since Cal was a rookie? I'm telling you YES YES YES. And this is why:
Let's first start with offense. We can all agree that was one of the five areas from last year that need improvement (the other 4 areas being managing continuity, starting pitching, relief pitching and closing pitching) ha. Okay the infield is completely different from last year. B-Rob missed over 2/3 the season last year and is now back, healthy and more excited than he's ever been about an Oriole team. At first base we've got all-star Derek Lee, we've finally got someone with some pop at SS with J.J. Hardy and then at third base the slugger Mark Reynolds. The improvement doesn't stop in the infield though. Matt Wieters has another year of pro ball under his belt and is making the necessary adjustments to become an elite catcher. The outfield is OMG incredible. Nicky M, Jonesey and Luke Scott! With my boy Reimold and then Felix Pie as the backups this is the most complete area of our team right now in terms of hitting and fielding. All 3 of those starters were allstars last year in my book. Oh and by the way, one of the most dangerous hitters of the decade is our DH, that's right Vlady, come back and show the world you ain't done yet.
Okay, pitching. We could have won so many more games last year had we pitched like we did down the stretch. JUST to remind you all, we had a 34-23 record under Buck ever since he took over on that glorious day of August 2nd, 2010, I remember it too well. Okay so pitching, Guthrie is a go to have another great season after we inked him down for another year. Duchscherer is a good pick up, his incentive laden deal will make him want to work hard and it wasn't a high risk money move for us. Rounding out the rest of the starting rotation will most likely be Matusz, Bergesen and Arrieta or Tillman. (There might be some benefits to doing a 6 man rotation) Considering how great these young guys pitched down the stretch last year, there is no reason to not expect them to improve even more as time goes on.
We picked up some great relief pitching in Kevin Gregg and resigned a big talent in Koji. With Jim Johnson, Gregg and Mike Gonzalez bridging the gap over to Koji (who I predict to be the closer after his amazing finish last year), it will be tough for any team to get back in the game as long as our starters hold on for at least 6 innings and don't force Buck to overuse the bullpen like Trembley was forced to do last year.
Managing. Mr Showalter, I really hope that you realize how much Baltimore loves you. Sure, Trembley was nice, Perlazzo was kind of likeable, Ray Miller, well I never liked him and I never knew what Juan Samuel was saying so I guess I liked him by default, but you sir, are incredible. You give legitmacy to this team with your track record of turning around teams and bringing them to the playoffs. YOU are the reason for the Yankee dynasty of the late 90's, Joe Torre was just reaping the benefits of what you did. I have been oozing with excitement ever since you took over. You can ask my friend Ken Hartman back home to verify this, from Day 1 he knows I have been park of Bucks Pack (yes wearing buck antlers to games will catch on eventually because of us). Just keep doing your thing, don't listen to anyone else.
In summary, reasons to be excited for next year include the addition of the big 4 acquisitions and their 90 collective home runs from last year, and B-rob being healthy, along with Markakis, Scott and Jones having some protection, the offense will explode this year. The young pitchers and catcher are a whole year older and have more savvy under their belt. Veterans like Guthrie, Lukeee and B-rob and hungry to finally get what they deserve and tear it up in the AL East, watch out division, we're gonna show that you don't need tons of money to get a championship, you should need some heart, will power and a chip on your shoulder.
-Spicy Baltimore Dall'Italia
Listen to my guest appearances on College Park's only source for sports, WMUC Radio every Thursday from 6pm-7pm on the Big A and LaGow Show!!
Enjoy your Valentines Day. #Birdland
First, shameless plug for my best buddy Adam Seery, Happy Birthday!
No silly, I'm not talking about that stupid valentines day crap. I'm sporting my O's shirt, hon. TODAY is the start of something great! TODAY we celebrate pitchers and catchers reporting to training camp baby!!
Anyone who thinks today should be the celebration of anything else needs to get their priorities straight. Let's be honest, we all knew it was only a matter of time until I brought up Baltimore sports in this blog. Today is the perfect mix. It's beautiful out, I have nothing at all to do except watch my laundry air dry and that global feeling of love is hitting me hard for my O's. The only thing that is missing from this Monday afternoon is chowing down on some Chick-Fil-A, right J-lynn? You, Dom and Irene know what I mean, but let's not get me started on Chick-Fil-A..Okay, I know, you're skeptical. Is Michael really excited about a team that hasn't had a winning season since 1997? A team that has had more steroid users in the last decade than all-star players or playoff wins? A team that hasn't won it all since Cal was a rookie? I'm telling you YES YES YES. And this is why:
Let's first start with offense. We can all agree that was one of the five areas from last year that need improvement (the other 4 areas being managing continuity, starting pitching, relief pitching and closing pitching) ha. Okay the infield is completely different from last year. B-Rob missed over 2/3 the season last year and is now back, healthy and more excited than he's ever been about an Oriole team. At first base we've got all-star Derek Lee, we've finally got someone with some pop at SS with J.J. Hardy and then at third base the slugger Mark Reynolds. The improvement doesn't stop in the infield though. Matt Wieters has another year of pro ball under his belt and is making the necessary adjustments to become an elite catcher. The outfield is OMG incredible. Nicky M, Jonesey and Luke Scott! With my boy Reimold and then Felix Pie as the backups this is the most complete area of our team right now in terms of hitting and fielding. All 3 of those starters were allstars last year in my book. Oh and by the way, one of the most dangerous hitters of the decade is our DH, that's right Vlady, come back and show the world you ain't done yet.
Okay, pitching. We could have won so many more games last year had we pitched like we did down the stretch. JUST to remind you all, we had a 34-23 record under Buck ever since he took over on that glorious day of August 2nd, 2010, I remember it too well. Okay so pitching, Guthrie is a go to have another great season after we inked him down for another year. Duchscherer is a good pick up, his incentive laden deal will make him want to work hard and it wasn't a high risk money move for us. Rounding out the rest of the starting rotation will most likely be Matusz, Bergesen and Arrieta or Tillman. (There might be some benefits to doing a 6 man rotation) Considering how great these young guys pitched down the stretch last year, there is no reason to not expect them to improve even more as time goes on.
We picked up some great relief pitching in Kevin Gregg and resigned a big talent in Koji. With Jim Johnson, Gregg and Mike Gonzalez bridging the gap over to Koji (who I predict to be the closer after his amazing finish last year), it will be tough for any team to get back in the game as long as our starters hold on for at least 6 innings and don't force Buck to overuse the bullpen like Trembley was forced to do last year.
Managing. Mr Showalter, I really hope that you realize how much Baltimore loves you. Sure, Trembley was nice, Perlazzo was kind of likeable, Ray Miller, well I never liked him and I never knew what Juan Samuel was saying so I guess I liked him by default, but you sir, are incredible. You give legitmacy to this team with your track record of turning around teams and bringing them to the playoffs. YOU are the reason for the Yankee dynasty of the late 90's, Joe Torre was just reaping the benefits of what you did. I have been oozing with excitement ever since you took over. You can ask my friend Ken Hartman back home to verify this, from Day 1 he knows I have been park of Bucks Pack (yes wearing buck antlers to games will catch on eventually because of us). Just keep doing your thing, don't listen to anyone else.
In summary, reasons to be excited for next year include the addition of the big 4 acquisitions and their 90 collective home runs from last year, and B-rob being healthy, along with Markakis, Scott and Jones having some protection, the offense will explode this year. The young pitchers and catcher are a whole year older and have more savvy under their belt. Veterans like Guthrie, Lukeee and B-rob and hungry to finally get what they deserve and tear it up in the AL East, watch out division, we're gonna show that you don't need tons of money to get a championship, you should need some heart, will power and a chip on your shoulder.
-Spicy Baltimore Dall'Italia
Listen to my guest appearances on College Park's only source for sports, WMUC Radio every Thursday from 6pm-7pm on the Big A and LaGow Show!!
Enjoy your Valentines Day. #Birdland
Sunday, February 13, 2011
40 Hours in Firenze
Wow, so this will be tough to condense that whole trip into one blog. I'll give it my best.
Friday Morning, Hour 1: We were planning on getting the 8:43am slow train out of Rome to Florence that costs only 16 euros. We arrived at the train station at 8:45. Our friends, Matt and John, who had already purchased tickets online got there even later. The next slow train wasn't for another few hours but for 45 euros we could take the fast train there that left at 9:45am. I went and checked out other fares and schedules while they got their first McDonalds fix since arriving here (I hate that place). By the time I got back and told them about the 9:45 train it was probably 9:25. We all quick dashed over to the ticket machines. It's 9:30 and John, the last person, had just bought his ticket. 15 minutes to get to the platform, we'll be fine. Nope. The machine errors and doesn't print his ticket. Quickly we find an attendant that speaks English and explain the situation and they take him back to another area to resolve the problem. Finally, 5 minutes later he emerges with a ticket and we're set to go get on the train. Nope. Matt dropped his ticket and we can't find it anywhere on the ground. Dash back to the ticket machines. He buys a new one (for all those counting at home this is his third ticket including the online ticket for the train we missed) and we're finally set to go. It's 9:41. Search the display boards, find out platform and run there. We get on the train at 9:43. As soon as we sit down the doors close and the train starts moving. What a start.
Hour 4: We arrive in downtown at the Florence S.M.N. station and start heading in to find the hostel we had a deposit at. After getting sidetracked by the huge Duomo we found the area we needed to be in but could not find the hostel despite about an hour of searching. Not wanting to waste anymore daylight we ended up going to the next one we found and dumping our stuff off there. After having lunch at a really great pizzeria we started our sightseeing adventures.
Hour 6: 14:00: I split off from the group for a bit to go return a leather jacket I had bought earlier by the train station. The zipper had already broke off of it, but after being able to negotiate the price down 25% down I should have expected that. For some reason they just gave me a new one though, whatever, I'll take it.
Hour 7: After meeting up with everyone at this chocolate festival we stumbled upon a church that looked kinda neat. We go in and it turns out being the highlight of my trip. Basilica Santa Croce. Here's a roster of the people buried along the aisles of this church. Leonardo Bruni, Carlo Marsuppini, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Galileo Galilei, Dante Alighieri, Vittorio Alfieri, Niccolo Machiavelli, Gioachino Rossini & Ugo Foscolo. #DreamTeam
Kind of a big deal. Okay so after getting many pictures of all these intricately beautiful tombs, there was a whole museum part that housed clothes of St Francis of Assisi, famous Renaissance paintings and even more famous tombs. Too much to say about this place so I'll leave it at that.
Hour 9: The next few hours were mainly spent wandering around the city streets and going back to the hotel to rest up a bit and watch Italy's Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Who knew that show was even still being shown. No Regis though..
Hour 12: We went out for a good Florentine dinner at the recommendation of our hotel, sat down and realized nothing on the menu was under 30 euros, ouch. After politely and awkwardly telling our waiter we had to leave, we ended up at a cheaper and better restaurant. Not that the waiter there had any problem making fun of me for butchering a couple words in Italian, no tip for you buddy.
Hour 14: Wandered around the city some more and saw what a lot of the sights look like at night. Ended up at a bar that was recommended to us by a friend that was studying in Florence of one of the guys I was with. It was pretty empty when we showed up so we ended up just discussing future plans for cities that we wanted to go and the likelihood that I will ever get to go to Egypt like I want to. Then, oddly enough, it started filling up with lots and lots of guys (I only saw two other girls in the whole bar) and then they put on the YMCA. Hmm, so around midnight we called it quits and started walking back to the hostel.
Hour 24: Woke up and started getting ready for the day to realize that our hotel room had no running water. That delayed us a couple hours, finally a few hours later everyone was awake and we started out to the Uffizi. The line was around 45 minutes wait so we ended up making a reservation to come back at 1:30.
Hour 28: Checked out the Accademia Gallery where Michelangelo's Davis is now kept. It was moved there a little over a century ago to protect and preserve better since it had been out in Piazza Signoria since the early 1500's where a marble copy now stands. Not much else in that museum except for the David, which was so incredible. Incomplete statues surrounded it so that you could see Michelangelo's process of chizzling away at the marble, the fact that he made him so lifelike and smooth blows my mind. Pictures weren't allowed so here's the best I could do.
Hour 30: Finally in the Uffizi, where again pictures were not allowed but I guarantee you that it's worth seeing for yourself. Did a self-audio-guide tour which was well worth it and I think we spent about 2 hours in there, It was just so much artwork by so many great artists. Again, too much to talk about it. Next stop.
Hour 32: After grabbing some lunch, we started our ascent up to the top of Il Duomo. 468 steps, nothing compared to St Peter's Basilica a couple weekends ago (wow I can't believe it was that long ago). Anyways the view of the city which was home to so many great minds and people during the Renaissance was stunning, red roof tops everywhere. The feeling of knowing that I was walking on the same streets and same churches that Galileo, Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Lorenzo D'Medici, Dante, the list goes on and on. Hopefully I soaked up some of their enlightened thought and knowledge.
Hour 34: After climbing back down, we got some gelato to recharge our batteries at Black Bar where I went again with Maria the following month. This was actually only the second time I've gotten gelato but just like the last time, the amazing taste was just as mind blowing. Alright so our visit is winding down. We started walking towards the train station when out of nowhere, these bird or bat things overtake the skyline. This wasn't a normal flock, this was something out of a Hitchcock movie. They were making real high pitched noises and swooping around in herds everywhere. We went for cover in fear of getting pooped on, John wasn't able to avoid it though, ha.
Hour 35: We got to the train station and bought the cheaper slow train ticket that would be over a 3 and a half hour ride home. It left at 7:13. We had some time to kill so we went down the street and had a nice early dinner. I don't know if it was because the dinner was so good or what but apparently we lost track of time. I went to the bathroom as we were getting the check and when I took my watch off the wash my hands I realized that it was 7:02. After quickly paying and rushing back up towards the station we managed to find the platform and get on the train with only 2 minutes until it departed. After finally sitting down and relaxing a lady came on the intercom saying that tickets would be checked soon and all those who didn't validate their tickets will be assessed a 40 euro fee. We, first time train travelers, had no clue what validating meant. We paid for the tickets, we thought we were fine. Luckily some American tourists behind us told us that at the platforms there have validation machines and we need to get each ticket stamped. At this point the train was slowing down for a quick stop at a small station outside Florence. Matt and I sprinted out the train while the others jammed in the door so it wouldn't close and leave without us. As the train lady is blowing her whistle at us we finally get them all punched by the machine which was conveniently right outside the door. Not after a minute of being back in the train sitting down the lady comes by checking for ticket validation. She found it interesting that our tickets where validated at the last stop despite it being obvious we had boarded the train back in Florence. Oops. She let us off with a half grin. That could have been bad. The rest of the 3 hours was just me and my Dan Brown book which fit well with the whole aura of where I had just been.
Hour 40: Home sweet home. Not that this apartment is anything special but it being almost midnight and having slept little to none in the past couple days, there was no better site than seeing Circonvallazione Gianicolense 168. After sleeping in until 1 this afternoon and spending way too much writing this blog I guess it's time to start some homework and get ready for the school week. Going to wineries and Tuscany this coming weekend!
Friday Morning, Hour 1: We were planning on getting the 8:43am slow train out of Rome to Florence that costs only 16 euros. We arrived at the train station at 8:45. Our friends, Matt and John, who had already purchased tickets online got there even later. The next slow train wasn't for another few hours but for 45 euros we could take the fast train there that left at 9:45am. I went and checked out other fares and schedules while they got their first McDonalds fix since arriving here (I hate that place). By the time I got back and told them about the 9:45 train it was probably 9:25. We all quick dashed over to the ticket machines. It's 9:30 and John, the last person, had just bought his ticket. 15 minutes to get to the platform, we'll be fine. Nope. The machine errors and doesn't print his ticket. Quickly we find an attendant that speaks English and explain the situation and they take him back to another area to resolve the problem. Finally, 5 minutes later he emerges with a ticket and we're set to go get on the train. Nope. Matt dropped his ticket and we can't find it anywhere on the ground. Dash back to the ticket machines. He buys a new one (for all those counting at home this is his third ticket including the online ticket for the train we missed) and we're finally set to go. It's 9:41. Search the display boards, find out platform and run there. We get on the train at 9:43. As soon as we sit down the doors close and the train starts moving. What a start.
Hour 4: We arrive in downtown at the Florence S.M.N. station and start heading in to find the hostel we had a deposit at. After getting sidetracked by the huge Duomo we found the area we needed to be in but could not find the hostel despite about an hour of searching. Not wanting to waste anymore daylight we ended up going to the next one we found and dumping our stuff off there. After having lunch at a really great pizzeria we started our sightseeing adventures.Hour 6: 14:00: I split off from the group for a bit to go return a leather jacket I had bought earlier by the train station. The zipper had already broke off of it, but after being able to negotiate the price down 25% down I should have expected that. For some reason they just gave me a new one though, whatever, I'll take it.
 |
| Scarfed up with Galileo - Star Gazing |
Kind of a big deal. Okay so after getting many pictures of all these intricately beautiful tombs, there was a whole museum part that housed clothes of St Francis of Assisi, famous Renaissance paintings and even more famous tombs. Too much to say about this place so I'll leave it at that.
Hour 9: The next few hours were mainly spent wandering around the city streets and going back to the hotel to rest up a bit and watch Italy's Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Who knew that show was even still being shown. No Regis though..
Hour 12: We went out for a good Florentine dinner at the recommendation of our hotel, sat down and realized nothing on the menu was under 30 euros, ouch. After politely and awkwardly telling our waiter we had to leave, we ended up at a cheaper and better restaurant. Not that the waiter there had any problem making fun of me for butchering a couple words in Italian, no tip for you buddy.
Hour 14: Wandered around the city some more and saw what a lot of the sights look like at night. Ended up at a bar that was recommended to us by a friend that was studying in Florence of one of the guys I was with. It was pretty empty when we showed up so we ended up just discussing future plans for cities that we wanted to go and the likelihood that I will ever get to go to Egypt like I want to. Then, oddly enough, it started filling up with lots and lots of guys (I only saw two other girls in the whole bar) and then they put on the YMCA. Hmm, so around midnight we called it quits and started walking back to the hostel.
Hour 24: Woke up and started getting ready for the day to realize that our hotel room had no running water. That delayed us a couple hours, finally a few hours later everyone was awake and we started out to the Uffizi. The line was around 45 minutes wait so we ended up making a reservation to come back at 1:30.
Hour 28: Checked out the Accademia Gallery where Michelangelo's Davis is now kept. It was moved there a little over a century ago to protect and preserve better since it had been out in Piazza Signoria since the early 1500's where a marble copy now stands. Not much else in that museum except for the David, which was so incredible. Incomplete statues surrounded it so that you could see Michelangelo's process of chizzling away at the marble, the fact that he made him so lifelike and smooth blows my mind. Pictures weren't allowed so here's the best I could do.Hour 30: Finally in the Uffizi, where again pictures were not allowed but I guarantee you that it's worth seeing for yourself. Did a self-audio-guide tour which was well worth it and I think we spent about 2 hours in there, It was just so much artwork by so many great artists. Again, too much to talk about it. Next stop.
Hour 32: After grabbing some lunch, we started our ascent up to the top of Il Duomo. 468 steps, nothing compared to St Peter's Basilica a couple weekends ago (wow I can't believe it was that long ago). Anyways the view of the city which was home to so many great minds and people during the Renaissance was stunning, red roof tops everywhere. The feeling of knowing that I was walking on the same streets and same churches that Galileo, Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Lorenzo D'Medici, Dante, the list goes on and on. Hopefully I soaked up some of their enlightened thought and knowledge.
Hour 34: After climbing back down, we got some gelato to recharge our batteries at Black Bar where I went again with Maria the following month. This was actually only the second time I've gotten gelato but just like the last time, the amazing taste was just as mind blowing. Alright so our visit is winding down. We started walking towards the train station when out of nowhere, these bird or bat things overtake the skyline. This wasn't a normal flock, this was something out of a Hitchcock movie. They were making real high pitched noises and swooping around in herds everywhere. We went for cover in fear of getting pooped on, John wasn't able to avoid it though, ha. |
| Bird Attack - Watch Out Johnny! |
Hour 35: We got to the train station and bought the cheaper slow train ticket that would be over a 3 and a half hour ride home. It left at 7:13. We had some time to kill so we went down the street and had a nice early dinner. I don't know if it was because the dinner was so good or what but apparently we lost track of time. I went to the bathroom as we were getting the check and when I took my watch off the wash my hands I realized that it was 7:02. After quickly paying and rushing back up towards the station we managed to find the platform and get on the train with only 2 minutes until it departed. After finally sitting down and relaxing a lady came on the intercom saying that tickets would be checked soon and all those who didn't validate their tickets will be assessed a 40 euro fee. We, first time train travelers, had no clue what validating meant. We paid for the tickets, we thought we were fine. Luckily some American tourists behind us told us that at the platforms there have validation machines and we need to get each ticket stamped. At this point the train was slowing down for a quick stop at a small station outside Florence. Matt and I sprinted out the train while the others jammed in the door so it wouldn't close and leave without us. As the train lady is blowing her whistle at us we finally get them all punched by the machine which was conveniently right outside the door. Not after a minute of being back in the train sitting down the lady comes by checking for ticket validation. She found it interesting that our tickets where validated at the last stop despite it being obvious we had boarded the train back in Florence. Oops. She let us off with a half grin. That could have been bad. The rest of the 3 hours was just me and my Dan Brown book which fit well with the whole aura of where I had just been.
Hour 40: Home sweet home. Not that this apartment is anything special but it being almost midnight and having slept little to none in the past couple days, there was no better site than seeing Circonvallazione Gianicolense 168. After sleeping in until 1 this afternoon and spending way too much writing this blog I guess it's time to start some homework and get ready for the school week. Going to wineries and Tuscany this coming weekend!
Lost II
I have a feeling this title is going to be part of a series by the time I'm finished here. Anyways, spoiler-alert, I survived!
So I just got back from Florence, but I can't blog about it yet because my pictures are still uploading. So, I'm going to kill some time talking about how a disastrous night turned really good Thursday night.
So Thursday night was the start of my Extreme Language Exchange which is held every Thursday night from 7:30-9:30 at a bar called M8 Bar in the Trastevere area (the area of Rome that's between where I live and Vatican City/(Country?). )
So I got done my Business Law class at 6:40. That class by the way, is one of the coolest ones I've ever taken. It's basically a law101 class and we're learning everything about the legal system from the very basics up. It's making me really interested in that career path and my teacher, who used to be a lawyer for the U.S. Army, put in a plug for that position for anyone who wants to be a lawyer and doesn't mind traveling. Sign me up. Oh and it just so happens that a man who sits next to me in Italian class everyday is a lawyer for the Marines here in Italy and also really enjoys it.
Anyways, back to this pub/class. So I left AUR after I got out of Business Law with a mental snapshot of what GoogleEarth told me to do to get to this pub from school. If I did it right, I should get there in 20-25 minutes by walking (I'm still learning the bus routes, that is, when they're not on strike.) I started out on the right roads but quickly knew I was not going the right direction. My first bad sign was that there were no other signs of human life anywhere near where I was going. But I had my Rolling Stones playlist going on my iPod so I kept trekking obliviously. Then I turn a corner and two camouflage army jeeps are parked with about 8 soldiers carrying huge machine guns standing guard. Apparently the road I was about to keep going on was not for people like me. At the first sight of me, one of them raised his hand palm out towards me, (universal sign for 'do not enter'). He was about to go on and explain why it is I can't enter, but I quickly gave out a "Mi Dispiace" and briskly went the other way. You've got a machine gun and there's 8 of you, you don't need to give me an explanation.
Let's try another direction. So now, with "Jumpin' Jack Flash" on mute, I start going down another road. The sun has been long gone at this point in the night. So I started going in another direction because intuition says that this bar is not near the people with guns (those are just the bars that Plaxico Burress goes to). So for all my avid blog readers, you'll remember how I talked about a big hill that overlooked all of Rome in this park that I went through on the bus ride to the Vatican Wednesday? If not just read the blog below this. Anyways, turns out I ended up there which was both good and bad for two reasons each. It was good because I recognized the park and the incredible view of the whole city lit up from the top of a huge hill. It was also good because I now knew about where I was. Bad News: 1. I was in a deserted park, with no lighting at the top of a huge isolated hill. 2. I now knew that I was nowhere near where I need to be, which was mainly down in the city and not up on a huge hill. Hopeless Frustration.
It's now about 7:20. I've got 10 minutes to get to where I need to be. I quickly got out of that creepy park as I imagined how perfectly I could have become the plot for a Hollywood horror movie. No more Stones on the iPod, switched on my gym playlist in hopes that Kanye could get me amped up and out of there. Somehow, after a series of random turns I actually ended up, out of nowhere, on a very busy street dodging scooters left and right. I stopped the first 4 people I ran into. None of them spoke any English and none of them had heard of the pub I was trying to find. Figures. For all lovers of irony out there, about 1 hour later, I would learn all necessary words for directions and getting lost at the Italian language thing at the bar because the one lady gave me directions on how to get to Trastevere but I didn't yet know that 'girare sinestra' meant turn left and 'girare adestra' meant turn right, which again, I learned about an hour later. Shoot, another spoiler alert, I got there eventually. Don't worry, I'll still keep you in suspense. So finally now that I had cell service I figured it was time to make a call. I called my apartment land line and had my roommates Google where I was. At 16 cents/minute I had to be quick. I found out I was a few miles away from where I needed to be, which was bad considering I started out at AUR less than a mile away.
Wow this story is going on forever, good news my Florence pictures just finished uploading. Okay let's speed this up. So I get their directions and hang up. 15 minutes later I realize I'm going the wrong way, still. I am so close to giving up and just trying to retrace my steps to get back to school. Another expensive call. Finally get my bearings. 25 minutes of wandering later I get to the bar, more than fashionably late. It was all worth it. These local Italians at the bar were so nice and helpful. I learned more useful phrases and words in that 90 minutes I ended up being there than I would have in 2 weeks worth of classes. I can't wait to go back next week and learn even more. They taught me practical everyday words, stuff textbooks don't. The one lady I met kept telling me I was talking like a book instead of a person and corrected on me on the words I was using that were too formal. Keep it up and she said I might be able to fool a couple of people on my heritage. Score.
Alright, Florence pictures are successfully uploaded and given captions. Sorry if this completely wasted your time. Anyways, Florence blog to come. Here's a teaser: 40 Hours. Lost train tickets. More lost train tickets. Barely boarding in time. Duomo. Churches. Churches. Churches. Tombs. Dante. Michelangelo. Galileo. Da Vinci. Churches. Pizza. Pizza. Pizza. Rude Waiter. Bats, everywhere. Hostel, no water. Pizza. Almost missing the train home.
Cool (or Figo, as I learned the other night), check back tomorrow, time for bed.
So I just got back from Florence, but I can't blog about it yet because my pictures are still uploading. So, I'm going to kill some time talking about how a disastrous night turned really good Thursday night.
So Thursday night was the start of my Extreme Language Exchange which is held every Thursday night from 7:30-9:30 at a bar called M8 Bar in the Trastevere area (the area of Rome that's between where I live and Vatican City/(Country?). )
So I got done my Business Law class at 6:40. That class by the way, is one of the coolest ones I've ever taken. It's basically a law101 class and we're learning everything about the legal system from the very basics up. It's making me really interested in that career path and my teacher, who used to be a lawyer for the U.S. Army, put in a plug for that position for anyone who wants to be a lawyer and doesn't mind traveling. Sign me up. Oh and it just so happens that a man who sits next to me in Italian class everyday is a lawyer for the Marines here in Italy and also really enjoys it.
Anyways, back to this pub/class. So I left AUR after I got out of Business Law with a mental snapshot of what GoogleEarth told me to do to get to this pub from school. If I did it right, I should get there in 20-25 minutes by walking (I'm still learning the bus routes, that is, when they're not on strike.) I started out on the right roads but quickly knew I was not going the right direction. My first bad sign was that there were no other signs of human life anywhere near where I was going. But I had my Rolling Stones playlist going on my iPod so I kept trekking obliviously. Then I turn a corner and two camouflage army jeeps are parked with about 8 soldiers carrying huge machine guns standing guard. Apparently the road I was about to keep going on was not for people like me. At the first sight of me, one of them raised his hand palm out towards me, (universal sign for 'do not enter'). He was about to go on and explain why it is I can't enter, but I quickly gave out a "Mi Dispiace" and briskly went the other way. You've got a machine gun and there's 8 of you, you don't need to give me an explanation.
Let's try another direction. So now, with "Jumpin' Jack Flash" on mute, I start going down another road. The sun has been long gone at this point in the night. So I started going in another direction because intuition says that this bar is not near the people with guns (those are just the bars that Plaxico Burress goes to). So for all my avid blog readers, you'll remember how I talked about a big hill that overlooked all of Rome in this park that I went through on the bus ride to the Vatican Wednesday? If not just read the blog below this. Anyways, turns out I ended up there which was both good and bad for two reasons each. It was good because I recognized the park and the incredible view of the whole city lit up from the top of a huge hill. It was also good because I now knew about where I was. Bad News: 1. I was in a deserted park, with no lighting at the top of a huge isolated hill. 2. I now knew that I was nowhere near where I need to be, which was mainly down in the city and not up on a huge hill. Hopeless Frustration.
It's now about 7:20. I've got 10 minutes to get to where I need to be. I quickly got out of that creepy park as I imagined how perfectly I could have become the plot for a Hollywood horror movie. No more Stones on the iPod, switched on my gym playlist in hopes that Kanye could get me amped up and out of there. Somehow, after a series of random turns I actually ended up, out of nowhere, on a very busy street dodging scooters left and right. I stopped the first 4 people I ran into. None of them spoke any English and none of them had heard of the pub I was trying to find. Figures. For all lovers of irony out there, about 1 hour later, I would learn all necessary words for directions and getting lost at the Italian language thing at the bar because the one lady gave me directions on how to get to Trastevere but I didn't yet know that 'girare sinestra' meant turn left and 'girare adestra' meant turn right, which again, I learned about an hour later. Shoot, another spoiler alert, I got there eventually. Don't worry, I'll still keep you in suspense. So finally now that I had cell service I figured it was time to make a call. I called my apartment land line and had my roommates Google where I was. At 16 cents/minute I had to be quick. I found out I was a few miles away from where I needed to be, which was bad considering I started out at AUR less than a mile away.
Wow this story is going on forever, good news my Florence pictures just finished uploading. Okay let's speed this up. So I get their directions and hang up. 15 minutes later I realize I'm going the wrong way, still. I am so close to giving up and just trying to retrace my steps to get back to school. Another expensive call. Finally get my bearings. 25 minutes of wandering later I get to the bar, more than fashionably late. It was all worth it. These local Italians at the bar were so nice and helpful. I learned more useful phrases and words in that 90 minutes I ended up being there than I would have in 2 weeks worth of classes. I can't wait to go back next week and learn even more. They taught me practical everyday words, stuff textbooks don't. The one lady I met kept telling me I was talking like a book instead of a person and corrected on me on the words I was using that were too formal. Keep it up and she said I might be able to fool a couple of people on my heritage. Score.
Alright, Florence pictures are successfully uploaded and given captions. Sorry if this completely wasted your time. Anyways, Florence blog to come. Here's a teaser: 40 Hours. Lost train tickets. More lost train tickets. Barely boarding in time. Duomo. Churches. Churches. Churches. Tombs. Dante. Michelangelo. Galileo. Da Vinci. Churches. Pizza. Pizza. Pizza. Rude Waiter. Bats, everywhere. Hostel, no water. Pizza. Almost missing the train home.
Cool (or Figo, as I learned the other night), check back tomorrow, time for bed.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Relaxing in the Garden
So today's been pretty eventful, which makes up for the nothingness that I've done so far this week. Monday I had no class and pretty much was just recovering from being out so late watching the Superbowl. Tuesday I had class from 9am to 6:40pm (18:40 as the Romans call it) so that was fun. A high point was my dinner actually. We discovered a pizza shop near our apartment called "Marys Pizza" that does a deal where for 10 euros you can create your own pizza that's 3 feet long and 1 foot wide basically, an amazing deal and you split it into thirds so you get three different types made fresh to order!
Today I got up and came here to AUR to finalize my permit to stay (I'm now a legal person here, yay!) Then, I hung out for a bit and went over to the Vatican and bought my friends and I the tickets to take a tour of St Peters Tomb and the rest of the Necropolis underneath St Peter's Basilica. It's going to be on my birthday so I'm pretty pumped, that should be a life changing experience. I don't throw that phrase around too often either. After putting on my tourist face and hanging out in St Peters Square afterwards I caught the bus back to campus and the bus took this route that went on top of some hill and I had an incredible view of all of the city of Rome. Pictures of this view to come. It was awesome.
Then I met my friend here back on campus, and by campus I mean the garden in between the two class buildings. Went to the phone store and got her back on the social map and I upgraded my plan and got a new cell # because of it. Now I get double the text message per month for still the same rate! Score. My new # is 333-437-1700, which means I now have to tell all 3 people who had my old number that I got a new one; shouldn't be a big problem, ha.
Alright, I've got Italiano class in a few minutes to close out my day (also my first class today). After I'm heading to the AUR Wolves soccer game to cheer on my roommate (there's actually just a bar next to the field).
Successful Wednesday, check. Two classes tomorrow and then its the weekend! Heading to Florence for a couple days this weekend? Possibly. I hope you all appreciate my new layout, it's all of pictures I took myself. Submit your complaints to anyone but me.
Ci Vediamo A Presto! (see you soon)
Today I got up and came here to AUR to finalize my permit to stay (I'm now a legal person here, yay!) Then, I hung out for a bit and went over to the Vatican and bought my friends and I the tickets to take a tour of St Peters Tomb and the rest of the Necropolis underneath St Peter's Basilica. It's going to be on my birthday so I'm pretty pumped, that should be a life changing experience. I don't throw that phrase around too often either. After putting on my tourist face and hanging out in St Peters Square afterwards I caught the bus back to campus and the bus took this route that went on top of some hill and I had an incredible view of all of the city of Rome. Pictures of this view to come. It was awesome.
Then I met my friend here back on campus, and by campus I mean the garden in between the two class buildings. Went to the phone store and got her back on the social map and I upgraded my plan and got a new cell # because of it. Now I get double the text message per month for still the same rate! Score. My new # is 333-437-1700, which means I now have to tell all 3 people who had my old number that I got a new one; shouldn't be a big problem, ha.
Alright, I've got Italiano class in a few minutes to close out my day (also my first class today). After I'm heading to the AUR Wolves soccer game to cheer on my roommate (there's actually just a bar next to the field).
Successful Wednesday, check. Two classes tomorrow and then its the weekend! Heading to Florence for a couple days this weekend? Possibly. I hope you all appreciate my new layout, it's all of pictures I took myself. Submit your complaints to anyone but me.
Ci Vediamo A Presto! (see you soon)
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Ciao Napoli!
So the pizza was at a restaurant called Brandi. Although historians like Herodotus discussed pizza in his writings from the 5th century BCE, it was Brandi that invented the Margarita Pizza, yup. In 1780, this place started making pizzas, one of them was for Queen Margherita (yes, OMG, that's where they got the name!). The pizza was so extraordinary that she wrote the chef a letter congratulating him on making such a desirable pizza (you can still see the letter in the restaurant). Now, still under family ownership relating to the original chef, this place is the spot in Naples. [Source: My recollection of the Brandi Menu.] We got there early right as they opened at Noon but the place filled up in a snap.So you're probably wondering why I wasted half my blog talking about pizza and not Naples. Sorry Naples, but you weren't very impressive otherwise. By far the dirtiest city I have ever seen, see below, and overrun by the Mafia (we got out before sunset, don't worry), Naples was really a letdown.
This was a typical scene throughout the city. Beer cans in fountains, dog poo everywhere on the sidewalk, trash dumpsters well overflowing. Bleh. There was a neat church and a couple medieval castles but other than that, the visit was not very eventful. We went through a travel agency for college students so we got to meet some other kids from Rome which was fun.Oh, but the views of Mt Vesuvius (it didn't erupt while I was there, phewf) and the Mediterranean from the top of the coastal castle were incredible.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Cultural Difference
So for that cultural class, here's my first assignment which I realized would actually be a neat thing to blog about. I didn't realize how many subtle things would be different here, including this part. Enjoy.
I have had many unique cultural experiences already in just the short amount of time that I have been in Rome. None have been more unique, nor more surprising, than grocery shopping. Shopping for food is a necessity and after I tried to go as long as I could by constantly eating out at restaurants, it became evident that my roommates and I would have to go grocery shopping and start cooking for ourselves. Going grocery shopping was a culturally unique experience for many reasons mainly because it is hard to find similarities between doing so in America compared to in Italy.
Shopping in America is normally done at an English speaking superstore where one can purchase everything at the same store that is open from 6am to midnight, if it is not a twenty-four hour store. I came to realize that this was not the case in Italy. I did not expect to be able to walk down the street to a Wal-Mart, but I did not anticipate the cultural shopping experience here to be so different. In the residential area of Rome that my apartment is in, the main street is lined with many small specialty shops. These shops tend to open early in the morning, shut down in the afternoon, then open back up for the early evening and then close down by seven or eight o’clock. This schedule, to me, seems to be reflective of Italian cultural values. Americans emphasize working hard, around the clock, to make the most profits. Italian life is more family based and less “workaholic” in nature. They break for lunch during the afternoon so that their workers are not forced to work without having appropriate amount of time for a meal. The same reason is for their early closing at night; it enables them to get home to their families instead of working the night shift.
The small specialty shops are another example of Italian culture values. Americans want to be able to do their shopping as quickly and efficiently as possible. Italian lifestyle again seems to emphasize the personal aspect to shopping. I wanted a sandwich today for lunch and this experience was a microcosm of what living in Rome is like for me. First, I went down the street to the bakery where I bought fresh bread. I then had to go to the butcher shop to buy prosciutto. I then went to another store to buy mozzarella and finally I went to the fruit vendor to buy tomatoes. After four stops, I finally had all the ingredients for my lunch. Walking back to my apartment I realized that I remembered each person from each shop because of how personal they were with me and interested in finding out who I am. Despite that my Italian is still at a basic level and their English was not much better, we were able to carry on an enjoyable introductory level conversation. I bet if I go back tomorrow they would all remember something unique about me. Although it was time consuming, I did enjoy this experience as a customer because it truly made me feel as if they valued my business; a feeling I have never gotten when leaving Wal-Mart. Also, because of their emphasis on fresh products, I will most likely be making several trips per week to these various shops because it is not customary here to load up on groceries that will last for a week or two.
Getting Really Lost
So today was an interesting day.
It started out with us going to AUR to print out our tickets for our Naples trip tomorrow (Saturday) since we have no printers here at the apartment. From there we rode the bus down to the ancient area and checked out the Victor Emmanuel Monument as well as walking by the Coliseum, Forum, Circus Maximus, etc. One highlight was a really great lunch at this place nearby called Pastarito (maybe if I give them a shout-out, I'll get a discount next time).
We then started on our main task of the day. So to back track, last night, I googled "free fun things to do in Rome". I got a hit that listed the top 10 things to do in Rome, that are free. Sounded perfect. #1 was visit the Roman Forum (which it then noted that as of 2008 was no longer free). Well we had already done that, along with many of the other top 10 items but #2 was one that we had not even heard of. It said there was Via Appia Antica, an ancient Roman road that lead from the city gates all the way across to the other coast of Italy. It said this road has many interesting ancient ruins along it right at the start at the city limits including cool catacombs etc.
So I told everyone about it and we tried to find it. After continually asking people "Dov'e la via appia antica" (where is it) we kept getting pointed towards the same direction but it just didn't seem right. We ended up on a path off of a road that was called Via Appia Antica. Well it wasn't right. So we found the catacombs (closed of course since it was now after 5pm) but decided that path might have been it. After walking on it for a bit and the light going away we realized we were so lost. I know this is hard to picture but even though we were right in Rome, we were in the middle of fields in nowhere land.
We saw virtually no other people on this path, except this creepy man who we thought was going to kill us. This road had a couple ancient outpost looking ruins on it but it was not the right road. It was a dirt path through the hills leading to nowhere. It had tons of forks and splits with no kind of direction on which way lead out.
We wandered on it for a couple hours it seemed with darkness quickly soaking up all the light that was left as the sun was setting. Any ruins that were there we probably couldn't have even seen because of how dark it was (that's our fault for sleeping in so late and not leaving towards the city until noonish). I have to get up to go to Naples in like 6 hours so I didn't do justice to how scary it was being lost in the hills with no sight of civilization anywhere. I guess we were playing the roles of ancient Romans walking that road.. Anyways hopefully tomorrow goes well and I eat plenty of Neapolitan Pizza. Oh and in case you were wondering, we eventually saw car lights and heard traffic and were saved by Bus #118. So all ended well.
It started out with us going to AUR to print out our tickets for our Naples trip tomorrow (Saturday) since we have no printers here at the apartment. From there we rode the bus down to the ancient area and checked out the Victor Emmanuel Monument as well as walking by the Coliseum, Forum, Circus Maximus, etc. One highlight was a really great lunch at this place nearby called Pastarito (maybe if I give them a shout-out, I'll get a discount next time).
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| Ancient Via Appia Antica Entrance to Rome |
So I told everyone about it and we tried to find it. After continually asking people "Dov'e la via appia antica" (where is it) we kept getting pointed towards the same direction but it just didn't seem right. We ended up on a path off of a road that was called Via Appia Antica. Well it wasn't right. So we found the catacombs (closed of course since it was now after 5pm) but decided that path might have been it. After walking on it for a bit and the light going away we realized we were so lost. I know this is hard to picture but even though we were right in Rome, we were in the middle of fields in nowhere land.
We saw virtually no other people on this path, except this creepy man who we thought was going to kill us. This road had a couple ancient outpost looking ruins on it but it was not the right road. It was a dirt path through the hills leading to nowhere. It had tons of forks and splits with no kind of direction on which way lead out.We wandered on it for a couple hours it seemed with darkness quickly soaking up all the light that was left as the sun was setting. Any ruins that were there we probably couldn't have even seen because of how dark it was (that's our fault for sleeping in so late and not leaving towards the city until noonish). I have to get up to go to Naples in like 6 hours so I didn't do justice to how scary it was being lost in the hills with no sight of civilization anywhere. I guess we were playing the roles of ancient Romans walking that road.. Anyways hopefully tomorrow goes well and I eat plenty of Neapolitan Pizza. Oh and in case you were wondering, we eventually saw car lights and heard traffic and were saved by Bus #118. So all ended well.
This was one of the cool ruins we passed by, thought about sleeping there if we never found our way out, ha. 
Friday, February 4, 2011
School Life
Hello there followers,
I apologize for not having blogged in awhile, I've been pretty busy this week with the first week of classes getting under way. So let's see, classes went alright. Monday and Wednesday nights I'm taking Italian201, it will probably be the most challenging course but since I'm in Rome, I should pick stuff up quickly which will hopefully make the class easier. I was switched up into a more intense section after the first class so hopefully I handle it well, my teacher, Della, seems very nice though.
On a related note, I'm signed up for the Extreme Language Project as part of my UNIV269 course that UMD is requiring me to take online from here. It meets every Thursday night from 730-930 at a pub in Trastevere where I'll be paired up with Italian youth trying to learn English. I help them learn English, they help me learn Italian. Everyone wins. It sounds cool.
I'm going to have to drop another class or else I'll have no free time to have fun and travel on weekends (that's priority #1). Getting back to what I intended this post to be, I've got 6 classes currently. The aforementioned Italian201 class, and UNIV class, then I also have ARCH200 (Bodies and Burials), BUS200 (Business Law), POL306 (Security and Defense Policy in the EU) and POL312 (Political Philosophy of the Renaissance). I love the other courses I'm taking, although they seem like a lot of work (UMD told me that these classes would have little to no work outside of class, Lies. I have just as much as I would back at College Park). My POL312 teacher is boring to death though, so to cut my course total down from 6 to 5 I might drop that class and just deal with doing more work another semester, I'm a Sophomore, plenty of time.
Okay so more about AUR. It's a small university, only around 500 students, with 400+ of those being study abroad students. It has only one academic building which is located at the back of 'the garden' as it is called here. This area is normally crowded with students hanging out on a nice afternoon between classes and seeing me relaxing in there became a classic sight throughout the semester due to my long breaks between classes. Love it.
Outside are the ancient Roman archways marking the entrance to the city. Right next to them is a small cafe where all the students hang out and get lunch. Great paninis for a good price. I tried my first espresso there on Tuesday (I have class straight from 9am to 6pm) to give me a boost for the day and it tasted terrible but boy did it wake me up (they grew on me throughout the semester - now I miss them everyone morning I get up for work).
Okay, I could go on about some neat things we learned in class this week but I've written enough and I want to start blogging about the rest of my week. Stay Tuned.
I apologize for not having blogged in awhile, I've been pretty busy this week with the first week of classes getting under way. So let's see, classes went alright. Monday and Wednesday nights I'm taking Italian201, it will probably be the most challenging course but since I'm in Rome, I should pick stuff up quickly which will hopefully make the class easier. I was switched up into a more intense section after the first class so hopefully I handle it well, my teacher, Della, seems very nice though.
On a related note, I'm signed up for the Extreme Language Project as part of my UNIV269 course that UMD is requiring me to take online from here. It meets every Thursday night from 730-930 at a pub in Trastevere where I'll be paired up with Italian youth trying to learn English. I help them learn English, they help me learn Italian. Everyone wins. It sounds cool.
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| The Garden - where we eat lunch/hang out |
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| Gli Archi |
Outside are the ancient Roman archways marking the entrance to the city. Right next to them is a small cafe where all the students hang out and get lunch. Great paninis for a good price. I tried my first espresso there on Tuesday (I have class straight from 9am to 6pm) to give me a boost for the day and it tasted terrible but boy did it wake me up (they grew on me throughout the semester - now I miss them everyone morning I get up for work).
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| Gli Archi Bar - so many great memories there |
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