One for the Road

Alright, having scrolling through here I realized the last post was about the run ins with the animals. Time for an update and to curb your anxiety about the mouse situation.

So, first things first. Last Friday Troy invited Whitney over to help cook dinner for the group coming over. And also because she was the only one willing to off the mouse. I catch up to them on the way home and when we get there we solemnly go back to where the deed was to be done. Now let me set the scene as it appeared that morning. After a confrontation last time involving a broom propping up a metal panel to the wall trapping Jerry behind it failed, we left the poor guy in the middle pulling with all his might at the drainage pipe and the metal panel lay on the floor. We arrive to the back, broom in hand, and then come to the realization this is not the same scene. Rather, in front of us, was a panel leaning up against the wall in it's original place and an ominious wet spot roughly the size and shape double that of a mouse against the back wall. Apparently 17 days meant 2 to our doorman. RIP, Jerry.

Anyway, we had dinner at our place that night. A hearty dinner of spaghetti with meatsauce. Hit the spot pretty well. After that we met up with all the others for another pub crawl since one of our friends had some friends visiting from back home. We were kind of disappointed that we ended up at three of the same four pubs from the first one we went on the first week we got here. That changed when they took us to a place on the river that normally charges 25euro at the door and we just strolled in. Rather cool place with a modern feel and pretty cool that it was right under the Castel d'Angelo. For some reason I have this knack of meeting DJs here and ran into the one from that place named Job who was hosting a party this weekend. Gave me a flier and his number to ensure I got in. Perhaps next time.

Saturday we woke up, pretty sluggish, and headed back towards Trastevere. The girls had directions to the catacombs so we figured it'd be a fun trip for the afternoon. After vine swinging on a few buses we arrived. It was pretty cool. A half hour tour of the underground catacombs covered approximately 3% of all that actually is there. The length covers 25km! Anyway, we saw a room that was the tomb of 7 popes, the tomb of Santa Maria, and walked through hallways passing countless others. After a walk in the tree lined countryside we all came back to the city. Dinner was suggested, Hard Rock was thrown out there, and after no real objection we headed over there. The food was great but too pricey to make it a reoccuring thing. Troy and I headed back to our place via the metro and got off one stop too early. Turned out to be alright since at a stop light we looked over and saw a guy on a unicycle ten feet off the ground juggling three torches for the cars. We took a few pictures and eventually made our way home.

The walkway to the catacombs.











Sunday Troy, Whitney and I decided to try and go check out this place, ZooMarine. Sea World for the Italians, if you will. One of those adventures that you're not quite sure how it's going to turn out. We ended up at the main train station looking for the right train to head towards the town it's at. After no luck we went over to the tourist information place and asked for directions. The lady rather abruptly told us we wouldn't have time to get there and that we should just take the morning bus at 9:30 and then take the bus back. I told her I didn't want to spend the whole day at ZooMarine, but for just a few shows and call it a day. She still held to her guns and said no. So much for information. We asked where we could go for the rest of the day. She writes down some directions to Tivoli and the Villa D'Este. A tram ride where we saw a guy hauling a one wheeled bike, a delay at a bus depot trying to find the right bus, a sketchy bus ride for half an hour, and a fifteen minute walk back from the other bus depot since we got off at the wrong stop later we were there. This place was really cool. It was the retreat place for the Cardinal and down and behind the building was an area with over 300 fountains. Really neat to see and a lot of fun to walk around and enjoy. After a few hours there we found a really cheap dinner at a pizza place and then headed over to the little puny castle they had where a concert was being set up earlier. After about ten minutes of the possibly the weirdest musical concert I've ever seen we headed for the bus to make sure we got back to the city on time.

And after two attempts I am unable to post pictures just yet. I'll work on it when I get back. I have class to get to now and then a trip to Barcelona to meet up with some random guy that wrote me a penpal letter. Ciao per un buon fin de semana!

A Few Stories

Now that I have completed my homework, and before I go to bed, let me share a few stories that have happened in recent days. Oddly enough both stories involve animals.

Story 1: A few of us were out at Campo di Fiori relaxing and enjoying an evening before three brutal days of class and assignments. After sitting around long enough, and realizing the peanuts and chips set out before us weren't doing the trick, we (mainly I) embarked on a journey of five minutes to get a kebab. I talk to the man and order my kebab. All is going as normal as planned. Those with me stare at it, and since they had never had a kebab, decided they wanted a bite. As they turn to leave I start unwrapping the tinfoil to get into the kebab. I turn around to follow, and I am staring into the face of a dog. I'm not looking down, mind you. I'm looking straight ahead and this dog is staring at me, or rather my kebab. I take a quick inventory of the dog and notice two things. One, it oddly resembles Jar-Jar Binks from Star Wars. Crazy, I know, but if you saw this dog you'd think the same thing. Two, it must be a mix of greyhoud and I'm guessing giraffe. It had a narrow little face, long hanging ears, and beady little eyes that stared at my kebab like it hadn't eaten a thing in five weeks. I eventually notice that this dog is tied to a leash and that leash is being held by a woman. She grins and says something in Italian. I quickly put together a few of the phrases and realize she is telling me her dog is hungry and loves kebabs. I'm still wondering why this dog is so tall and lanky that it can stare me in the face. So I grab a bit of the kebab (mostly bread) and feed it to the dog. I have no idea why this struck me as peculiar, but I didn't think I'd come to Rome to find a giraffe of sorts walking the streets.

Story 2: This actually occured today and is still ongoing. I was walking home from school with the intention of changing clothes and going to play some basketball. I rounded the corner to our street and bump into Troy, my roommate. He says, "hey man, let me show you something interesting." I say sure and then begin to wonder as he leads me back towards the apartment. As he opens the door to our place he turns around and says, "so, I've been here having fun with Tom and Jerry." Knowing me, my immediate reaction was that he found american ice cream. That is until I remember the other night seeing a mouse scurry along the wall of our apartment in the courtyard. So I say, "please tell me there isn't a mouse in the apartment." The immediate answer is, "no, but..." I'm lead towards the back of the place into an enclosed square that is used for drying our clothes and there running from wall to wall is the mouse. No place to go. No way to escape. I ask Troy how it happened and he has no idea. It just somehow wound up from the apartment into there and he locked it in. He went to go tell the landlord/doorman about it. After seeing the mouse the guy goes outside, brings back a broom, and after Troy asks what he's supposed to do with it the guy makes a motion and sound similiar to that of the infamous "Psycho" move. We now realize it's up to us to either kill the poor mouse, or try and let it go without having it escape back into our apartment. Option 2 doesn't really work because that's borderline impossible with the means we have to achieve it. Option 1 was the winner by process of elimination. Unfortunately, (or fortunately depeding on your stance in animal rights and humane treatment) neither one of us could do the deed. After much deliberation we came to a final conclusion...leave the mouse back there with no food or water and eventually it will die of "natural" causes thus making it not our sole doing that the mouse is dead.

The betting pool opens tomorrow as to how many days/weeks this little guy has left.

I'm putting my money on 17 days.

New Discoveries

While I didn't get out of town like initally planned, the weekend was a good one in terms of discovering things that will make life easier for the next few months.

There is a mall about 20 minutes by train south of the city near Fuimicino Airport. This thing put the Galleria to shame. It was insanely massive. Two levels with more shops than you knew what to do with. And the best part? A 1/4 of the bottom level was Target. That's right Target. And it's about three times bigger than any Target Greatland back in the states. So needless to say that's a source of very discounted home decor/convenience items. The other equally great part of the mall is the piazza outside. It's got a movie theater open 24 hours a day showing 16 movies. And blow it...a bowling alley, arcade, and small slot machine casino. That is a rainy Saturday waiting to happen. And all of us that were there were stoked to see bowling. Who knew it'd be here?

Today I woke up with a mission to find the grocery store near us. Thursday as I was going to class I came out of the main door on the street and fell in behind a guy holding a sack of groceries. He came from the down the street and was obviously going home. So, this morning/afternoon I went out and stood on the corner waiting for someone else with a sack to walk by. About ten minutes in I notice a lady crossing the street with a bag. I follow here and nearly walk past the place until someone else comes out and bumps into me adjusting their sack of groceries. The store is about 40 yards from our place! It's almost like a rat maze too. You just go up one aisle and follow through to the end. Get what you need when you pass it because it's a nightmare trying to go back through. Got just nonperishable stuff until the water leak in the kitchen is fixed. No need getting cheese and meats and vegetables if you can't do anything with them for a while. Also got some air fresheners and cleaners. Now this place is going to be much better off.

Took the metro down to Piazza di Popolo. Only one tram line so nothing like the network of London's Underground. Got up on the street level and walked into the Piazza expecting to see the open air area I remembered from three years ago. Instead, I walked into a European NBA/And1 traveling expo of sorts. There were two full court games going on that were part of a tournament. The floor was brought in and placed over the cobblestone to somewhat level it off. There was a DJ booth overseeing the whole thing. Three courts for 3-on-3 pickup games as well as a dunking contest and 3-point contest. The place was packed with people. I'm going back tomorrow just to take pictures so you can see what I'm talking about.

After that I walked through Borghese Park which was pretty amazing. Just a lot of relaxing and lounging around. Reminded me of Central Park without all the noise. Looks like a good place to go on long afternoons to read and just lay around. Hopefully the cold will stay off long enough for me to experience it a few times.

Came back and started walking Via Angelico. Took me about two long blocks to realize that there is a bike lane next to the road! It's blocked off just for bikers and joggers. It starts two blocks away and goes for a few miles. I found a running place that's a lot closer to me than the gym next to school! And now I can go run and be able to shower before heading to class. Nerdy, I know. But in the long run it'll help when I get back in the spring for PTs.

Tomorrow I'm heading to the laundromat to do two loads of laundry. I probably will just bring them back and air dry them outside on the racks instead of paying for the dryer too. I'm just running low on warm weather stuff and it's too early to start buying that many clothes. I may try and find a barber shop in the area too. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to get it cut or not. Suggestions welcomed.

But battery power is running low and the construction stool out in the courtyard is making my back hurt. So ciao for now.

A Random One, but sometimes that's just how it goes

Moved into the new place yesterday. Finally was able to unpack all my things and feel at home somewhere. This morning I woke up to sunshine and it was such a great feeling. Something I hadn't experienced in over two weeks! The area around the apartment is great too. Tons of shops, stores, caffes, restaurants, etc. There are a lot of busses running through the area, a tram going through the neighborhood back towards the back of it, and a metro line two blocks away. The walk through St. Peter's Square on the way to school every day is humbling and very cool.

Classes are still going. Yes, I am studying and reading and doing work. And yes, I don't like it. But yes, I know it has to be done.

The ankle has finally healed back up and running is something I can do again. This time, though, I'll stick to the treadmill in the tiny gym over the cobblestone streets and sidewalks. Walking this past week wasn't so much fun. Coming into the third week I'm over 10 pounds lighter. Kind of nice. Easy to do when you walk an hour round trip to school and then walk everywhere else guzzling water as you go. The foutains sporatically through the city to fill water bottles is awesome. The only downside is that it's breaking down my ability to go back to Waco water.

I'm noticing that everyone (everyone being the locals and not tourists) are fashionable. To an extreme. It's quite a change from the t-shirt and jeans apparel going to class at Baylor. You can tell the JCU degree seeking students just by what they wear. Everyone from the five-year-old to the elderly couple walking down the street all seem to have a much more developed sense of style. Maybe I'll catch on to it? And then stick out like a sore thumb back home. But, when in Rome...

Looking at trips for the next few weeks. This weekend may just be a daytrip to Pisa and surrounding areas. Nextweek could possibly be either Barcelona or Munich. The following week would be whatever place wasn't visited the previous one. The next week my parents arrive meaning a weekend in Florence and then back here. After that I may head up to Venice before it gets too cold. The last week in October JCU is doing a tour of Tuscany which is supposedly their best trip they offer, so I'll be on that one. Somewhere in November I'm going to try to make it to Sicily. Denton should be heading over to Italy sometime in October/November so we'll see him in Spain and then back here. Those two countries will probably seem a world apart.

That's about all I got right now. Homework and class await in the next hour so I better get to it.

Schools Out For The....Weekend, I guess.

Well, the first week of classes is in the history books. It was quite a ride. Some are easier than I thought, and some took a lot of preparation time to get a handle on. We'll see how it goes from here. Seems that every class meeting in marketing we're assigned a group case study. I'm not a fan already, but this next one seems shorter than the first so it should be alright.

Now to the question you're probably asking: Scott, what are you going to do on your first weekend in Rome during the school portion of the trip?

Well, allow me to tell you. Right now I'll be heading to the apartment to unpack everything completely. Probably clean up a bit in the process. Then I'll go out to the store to grab some laundry soap and maybe a bit of food that will keep through the weekend. A nap is in order after that because at 1 am the Irish Pub over off of Piazza Argentina is showing the Colts/Saints game. Those that know me well know that of the teams in the NFL those are the two I'd support the most. I'm hoping the Colts win, but I'm hoping for a good game from both sides. There is a decent sized group of us going. Those from the south and northeast are really missing their football right about now.

After that it'll be a bit of sleep. I think I'm headed to the train station to look at getting a EuroRail pass. 10 days of traveling in the next two months. Should be a pretty good deal and will let me get up to Florence when my parents come, over to Spain during Dia Del Muerto, and up in to Venice, Germany, or Switzerland sometime. Then it's back home for a bit of reading and bed early.

Saturday we have to be at the Piazza Tirussa at 7 to board a bus headed down to the bay of Naples. From there we're catching a ferry over to Capri for the day. Heading out to the beach, grab some lunch, check out a place where they custom make sandals on your foot (apparently everyone in Italy heads over there to get them before the summer season, but for us we'll have them for next year), and walk around a bit more before coming back.

Saturday night is the white night festival. You could call it a city-wide block party. Everything is open from 9pm-9am. That includes museums, bars, shops and hopefully restaurants. A lot of peopel cancelled weekend plans to stay around and see what it's all about. There are also live music concerts throughout the city, but since we can't understand the language all that much they aren't a big selling point with us.

Sunday unfortunately brings about a day of resting, reading through some of the textbooks, and then maybe heading over to check out the Cowboys game since I don't have class until 1.

Should be a good weekend. Hope you all have one just as good!

P.S. Thanks for the comments, those that right them!

Field Trainin, anyone?

Classes started. Rumor mill has it that around here they hit you hard the first week or two to remind you that you're in classes and not on a long vacation. I'm hoping the rumor holds up because after the first meeting of my class I'm a bit nervous.

My italian class should slow down a bit. I was tempted to talk with the professor to bump up another level, but after seeing the workload for the other courses I'll just work ahead in italian and relearn on my own.

Marketing scared me and everyone else in it. So much for the 101 part of the class. First day and we were already assigned a group project due Thursday. That left a day to read a 50 page chapter, a case study, and then meet with a group of people we didn't know to discuss it all. The professor didn't seem to know too much about the computer side of things. I thought it was funny until I was outside the class and couldn't get the website to open up as well. I stopped laughing.

Advertising management looks like it could be fun. Apparently I slipped through a crack in the catalog and was able to register for it without have a prereq. I don't think the class will be that intense that I'll be struggling to stay afloat. Looks like it'll wind up being more of a hassle to use my creative juices to think up pitches than to actually learn the book work.

Management makes ROTC look likes a Masters course. It was a cakewalk and should remain so throughout the semester. Lines have been drawn already and so far it's three of us Americans on one side of the fence, and two Italians seeking their Masters on the other. We abruptly learned that over here if an employee isn't doing their job up to standards you can't fire them. "They're protected for life" as it was ennunciated strongly from one of the Italians. She rubbed a many of us the wrong way. But the class and teacher are great.

Speaking of which class time is rolling around again. I'll post later with actual stuff rather than just stupid course work. Till then, ciao.

Just A Recap

Let me clear the air from the start. Our football team is useless. While I am and will always be a strong Baylor fan; there comes a time when you just have to let some things go. I have spent many a year defending our football team's reputation against the like of Longhorn and Aggie fans. And I will continue to do so here while there are two Red Raiders in the program. However, I shall bid my farewell to Guy Morris and his final season in the green and gold. You, my friend, are going to be replaced by a much more welcomed asset in Mike Singletary. Just look at the facts: You spend all off season getting the team ready and focused for TCU. All preseason media reports have you discussing the TCU opener; not the rest of the season, but just the first game. It became such a big deal that soon it was obvious that if it were to be lost, so would the season. You bring in a total of four potential quarterbacks. FOUR! Most solid teams have their main guy, a pretty good backup, and then some kid who threw a few passes in high school and comes in when the other two can't shake of their torn rotator cuffs. We have four, and you, Guy Morris, pick the one who was the least favored in the pack, the one who threw just under .500, and couldn't put a single point on the board. For a coach who targeted the first team on the schedule, fine tuned the game plan, and practiced just for that game, you couldn't even find a way to put 2, 3, or 7 points on the board?! I'll go ahead and say it. Bring in Kim Mulkey. She's the only coach that brought in a national title in less years than most players can get their degree. She may not know football, but I'm sure she could find a way to win. Regents, start fueling up the plane to fly in Mike-maybe he can be here by conference play.

Now for the italian side of life. Things are slow paced. We just kind of walk around and take in the area. The other day my roommate and I had our bags packed and ready to board a train for Milan for the weekend. Just as we were buying the tickets a brief conversation with my dad has us stay put so that if something were to happen with our housing situation we could be around to act on it. (So much for that idea. Now that it is Labor Day in the states it'll almost be a full week before the SAI folks hear back. Three cheers for us three guys living isolated and in a basement below the street for four months.)

So we walked out of the train station and rather than going straight back we climbed onto a double decker tour bus. It's our first week here, we're entitled to do such things. An hour passed by as we enjoyed the breeze blowing through the upper deck and I played hawaiin surfer while standing the majority of the time snapping off pictures left and right from an angle that provided quite a viewpoint.

We got off near St. Peter's and walked around there for a bit. We quickly discovered that things in the area cost almost three times as much as back in our neighborhood. Our snack quickly turned into just a big bottle of water and a Fanta. Onward we headed over to the Castle of San Angelo. We spent about an hour and a half walking around. Probably would have been longer if we had sprung for the audioguide in english for 4 euro. Instead we looked at the italian and between my broken italian and his broken spanish tried to understand as much as we could. Finally, we hit the top deck. The view was unbelievable. We had a panoramic view of the entire city. Mountain ranges, cathedrals, palaces, Vatican City, Olympic Stadium, the hill we live on the other side of. You name it and we could point out either the exact thing or the area it is in. Needless to say we spent the better part of an hour up there. Especially since it had a cool breeze and that was something we haven't felt much of since being here.

We've spent most of the nights out at Campo di Fiori which is a pretty fun place to go and hang out with friends. Every now and then we turn around and find more people that go to JCU through another program. Once classes start tomorrow I'm sure there will be a lot more people to meet and thus more things coming up to go do. I'm hoping this next weekend we can take a trip somewhere. Either the coast to the beaches or up north just to see what's there. Rome is great but that can be explored during the week. With a history book/tour guide, of course.

Anyway, the school is about to close down for the Sunday evening. Tomorrow I'll be up here before class to upload pictures to my computer. Since I know a few people reading this site don't have facebook, I'll be uploading them to a second album that has public access so everyone can view them. Sound like a plan? I thought so.

Ciao