Oktoberfest Weekend

Munich is one of my favorite places so far! The city itself is beautiful and extremely clean. It is the cleanest city I have ever been in. Public transportation is very simple, organized and on time. The weather was a bit colder. It was in the high 50s and 60s while I was there. The city is much more Americanized than the cities I have seen in Europe. It is one of the most underrated cities I have been to.

Oktoberfest was insane! We drank liters of bier (that's how they spell it in Germany). The was stronger than what I am used to. We arrived at the festival in Friday afternoon and by the time we got into the first tent (which was more of a building than a ten) at 1030, everyone was drunk. People were chanting all sorts of German songs and anthems. Everyone was eating pretzels and bratwurst. People were standing on the tables and saying prost(cheers!). I met all sorts of people from Australians to other Italians. The experience was unlike anything I have ever been apart of before. We stayed at an apartment with some local German college students. They were friends of a friend.

The second day there we woke at 545 am to wait in line until 9am for the tent to open. This tent was where all the German college students hung out, unlike the previous day's tent that attracted a lot of tourists. There were so many people crowded at the entrance that it became tough to breathe. My shoes got ruined from people stepping on me and fighting to get in. Everyone was wearing lederhosen or durndels. The tent was full by 930 and no one else was allowed inside. I drank a lot and ate a few pretzels. The drunk folk were quite entertaining. There was a hill behind the tents where tons of drunk people took naps (or passed out).

The bus ride was brutally long (11 hours.) The A/C was broken for part of the trip. The alps in austria and Germany were beautiful. The weekend was a huge success and I had a ton of fun with my friends. I want to go back to Munich some day.

This weekend I will be going to Naples, Pompei, and Capri.

Haircut

So I have been trying to get a hair cut for almost a week now. The following is a list of events leading to the haircut:

1.First I tried to buzz my hair using matt's buzzer. I walked all the way across the city of Rome. Joel plugged in the buzzer to what he thought was a converter. It wasn't. The 220 v european socket blew the fuse in the buzzer. Matt has no buzzer and they do not sell them anywhere here!

2. Second I tried walking around the city to find a barber shop or hair salon. Apparently, getting a hair cut in italy is a luxury commodity. The cost of a male hair cut in Italy is a standard 40 euro (which is between 55 and 60 dollars). I passed on a haircut that would have bought me like 200 slices worth of pizza. Side note: I found it ironic that the barber was bald.

3. Thirdly, and finally, I volunteered Regina, a girl friend of mine, to cut my hair. It was quite a project. The tools used included a ninja turtle mini comb that one of my roommates owns and a pair of mini hair styling scissors fom the local farmacia (pharmacy). Regina has never cut hair before and I know nothing about hair besides how to shave my face. We were going for a short mohawk but decided that it looked good as a normal hair cut. She did a great job, better than my usual supercuts look! The mowhawk idea is still pending...

I am going to Munich tonight for Oktoberfest. I am excited to see Germany and meet lots of new people.

First week of classes

Today was the second day of class. Classes seem pretty straight forward but the attendance policies are pretty strict. For most of my classes I have a mid-term, final, a research paper, and an oral presentation. The teachers are great but the language barrier adds a new challenge. I like my classes and professors.

Yesterday I went grocery shopping and pulled a rookie mistake by purchasing way too many groceries. My arms and shoulders were burning after carrying the bags for like a half mile. Its nice to be able to make some different foods. I have been eating a lot of pizza, paninis, and gelato. The food is great but its nice to mix in some new tastes.

My apartment is great and the guys I live with are all cool. The place is huge. There are ten beds for 7 of us. We are in a central location to just about everything and not too far from school. We have no phone jack in our place which is making it difficult to set up internet. I don't spend much time on my computer. Most of the day is spent walking to different places in the city. Rome is enormous. The drivers are crazyyyy. People drink all the time. No one wears deodorant. The buildings are sooo old and so beautiful. I have a lot of good pictures.

I am looking forward to the weekend in Munich, Germany for Oktoberfest. I am taking a train with about 5 or 6 others, I believe. Some are staying in hostels. I am staying at a friends apartment with a couple others. There will be like 12 of us staying in a 2 bedroom apartment. We will be tasting new beer all day and trying all sorts of rare german cuisine.

I will put up Rome pics before the weekend.

Tour of Rome

Today is my second day in Rome and I am constantly in awe. The pantheon is literally two blocks from where I live. We are right in the center of a small set of alleyways and tons of little shops. There are statues and water fountains everywhere. The water is pure and safe to drink at all statues, monuments, and fountains. Everything is sooo old and unbelievably intricate. The pantheon was built in 25 B.C. It is almost overwhelming to take in the different buildings and architecture all over the city.

Last night, I went to Campo di Fiori. The roommates and I went to a bar called Sloppy Sam's and spent time mingling with a mixed crowd. There were some local italians and a bunch of other study abroad students. It is my favorite bar so far. Pics to come soon. School starts tomorrow.

Booking Trips

The time is flying by! I just booked a trip to Oktoberfest in Germany, a trip to Greece and the Greek Islands, and a trip to Barcelona. I will be flying for two of the trips and taking a train for the third. The flights are very cheap. The school is taking us to southern Italy on the 2-4^th of November, right after we move into Rome.

I went to a local pub last night and they bought our entire group (about 13 of us) three or four rounds of free shots. We took over the entire pub and mingled with a bunch of the locals. I am getting better with my Italian and I enjoy speaking, or trying to speak, to the locals.

The people in my immediate group of friends are all incredible people: Frederik, Kelsie, Bianca, Brianna, Eda, Joel, Taras, Shelby and the others who I am sure will be named later.

I am figuring out my way around the city of Florence. I love the city life. I am walking everywhere!! I actually have blisters from wearing sandals for consecutive days in a row. The weather is absolutely perfect. A cool 80 has been about the average. Yesterday it rained for the first time since I have been here. I run the city pretty much every day. There is a local park where everyone runs, bikes, or rides mopeds. I saw a local working out using a tree the other day so a roommate and I decided to try it. We did a bunch of pull-ups on a tree limb, some push-ups and sit-ups. I have been doing these things in my room pretty much daily to stay in shape. Walking so much and eating more slowly has been beneficial to me keeping fit.

The city is covered by stone and cobblestone- the sidewalks and roads. There are only tiny cars – mostly fiat . There are no trucks. There are a tonnnn of mopeds and scooters. They fly down the streets, sidewalks, and roads. The drivers are crazy. The people are great. Everyone here is so tan. Everyone drinks coffee, wine, and smokes cigarettes. I love everything about the culture here!

I am currently in the process of editing and labeling my photos to put on here. I am going to try to get some on here today.

Weekend in Venice

Venice is amazing. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the city is completely engulfed with water. There are no cars. The streets are waterways. The cars are boats. People walk everywhere and everyone is fit. There are very few overweight people.

I tried several different styles of panini. The bread is so fresh and the meat is so flavorful. Every meal comes in courses and lunch generally takes about an hour. Most people have a beer or a glass of wine with their meal. Clocks are hard to come by. It is very easy to lose track of time. The infrastructure of the buildings was unbelievable. Many of the buildings were over a thousand years old! Much of the weekend was spent touring the museums. These museums are home to some of the oldest and most beautiful artwork and sculptures in the world. The night life consisted of fancy dining in an absolutely enormous piazza. A band played classic italian type jazz music while hundreds of people dined under large umbrellas on a huge shared patio.

The first night:

After walking around for a while, a group of about ten got bottles of wine and sat along a very scenic point where a 25 million dollar yacht was docked just off the shore. A taxi boat shuttled guests to a boat party until about 3 am when we decided to call it a night.

The second night:

We wandered the streets and bridges and narrow walk-ways and alley-ways until 3 am. I tried a new drink called absinthe which is an extremely powerful type of liquor. A late night excursion ensued after a few glasses of wine. Cyle, Kelsie, Bianca, and I randomly hopped on a ferry to Lito Beach (on a nearby island) when everything closed in Venice at around 1am. Everyone else went to bed. We had no idea when the ferry would come back or if it would ever come back. The adventure led us to a late night "snack bar." We have been talking about it all day!

(On a side note - a large group of us went on a "gelato tour" last week and tried several different flavors of the italian ice cream. It is incredibly more delicious than ice cream!)

Today I am back in class and my italian is getting very decent. I am working very hard to learn the language and I am using broken italian to speak with the locals more regularly. Later this afternoon I will be going on a wine tasting tour at a local vineyard. I have my second italian quiz tomorrow. Accessing the internet is very difficult now and I will be posting the 160 photos and 6 videos shortly.

Florence

9/9

Today I woke up extremely hung-over after a big night. Today was the long day for my language orientation. Monday and Wednesday language class lasts from 9am to 1pm. Tuesdays and Thursday class lasts from 9am to 1pm and from 2pm to 4pm. I am starting to catch on quite quickly to the Italian language and I am looking forward to speaking with some locals more.

9/8

Today was my first day of class. The classrooms are on the fourth floor in the middle of a bustling little Italian piazza (or village type square). People drink wine on the sidewalk during the day. I saw a group of chefs wearing aprons at about 10am drinking beers on the sidewalk and speaking in Italian.

I learned how to “haggle” for a bargain when buying a wallet from the street vendors near the steps of the Duomo. Vendor says “twenty”, I say “twelve”, vendor says “seventeen”, I say “twelve”, vendor says “fifteen”, I say “what is the lowest you will go,” vendor says “thirteen,” I say “sold.” I wandered the streets on foot with a group of about six people with whom I am becoming very good friends. They are in the same program. We saw amazing cobblestone roads and and lots of small scooters and compact cars.

A group of students in the program met for a cocktail hour with hors’devores. A drink voucher allowed us a free drink. It took only one drink for me to realizing bartenders in Italy are much more direct in their effort to make their customers drunk.

9/7

Today I learned that the definition of an Italian gypsy: A lady wearing an all white robe. Her face is painted white. She is carrying red roses and a change cup. She is making kissing and growling noises with her head tilted to the side while holding out the change cup. I discovered this on a group walking tour of the city’s historical sites. They were everywhere!

London

The last two days have been amazing. I stayed up all night on the plane with the six other kids on my flight. We arrived at about 7am, London time. We went to a few pubs and dranks a little before we checked into the hotel at noon. After sleeping until about 5pm, the group of prague and rome students (about 110) had a free cocktail meet and greet in the hotel. We spent the night eating at a oriental restaurant and meandering around the local pubs. Today was absolutely incredible. After an early breakfast, the entire group took a three hour tour and hit multiple historical stops. The stops included Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, The London Bridge, the Tower of London, and multiple other sites. The pound exchange rate sucks. Everything is soo expensive. Walked the city today and saw the first ever Hard Rock cafe and Jimmy Hendrix's guitar. Went to all three major museums and visited covet garden. Pictures of this will be coming soon. Just got invited to the hotel restaurant for a drink. More to come later.