Subtitle: This one's for you John
Alright, it's Tuesday evening and a rather rainy and stormy one at that. So what better to do than write a new blog entry.
This Thursday is All Saints Day which means a day off from school for us, and a mass exodus from Rome for all the locals. I plan to go farther than they are, so Sicily it is. Actually, the trip was planned about a month ago and I'm going through the school. Four days on the island seeing the major cities, climbing the highest active volcano in Europe, and sleeping in hotels rather than hostels. A much better alternative to the trip up to the Swiss Alps for skiing, where I surely would have broken a bone (or bones) attempting to ski for only the third time in my life.
So I'll just post a quick update before I disappear for a few days. But have no fear, Monday I will be back with plenty of stories. The most recent of which will be watching my Colts annihilate that one team that claimes they're good but actually have to cheat to beat reasonable opponents (the Patriots). Don't get me riled up on the issue, it does nobody any good. I'll just say, I personally think they owe a ring or two back.
Anyway, we're in the marshy ground found between midterms and finals. That means the projects are coming up in each class. Well, I only have two, but still, they're in my hardest classes so that has to count for something. We're done with the advertising campaign that has to be presented Tuesday, with the second half to come three weeks later. There's one more week to the marketing game, and then after that is our inidividual marketing plans which rumor has are about as fun as a root canal, or in my case, a gall bladder removal. Awesome.
So, the current news, and the title of my entry brings me to the apartment's particular problem. The showerhead. Allow me to explain. The shower is one of those rectangular boxes that has two panels that slide together to close it off, sealing the water inside. The shower head is one of those on a hose that you can take of the mount on the wall. The problem arose halfway through last week, when the seal around the shower head started leaking on the left side. That meant that the majority of water was coming through the shower head like normal, but there was a heavy spray shooting directly left from the showerhead. If the showerhead wasn't angled quite right the rogue water would hit the wall and spray up over the shower. No good for our clothes, towels, or mold problem. So, as a solution we angled the showerhead down and in so the water spray stayed in the shower stall. Problem solved. Until...Monday. I jumped in the shower after my run and turned on the water. Only a trickle was coming through the mainshower head. But instead of the one spray going left, there was another one of greater pressure shooting directly opposite. It has the similar effects of placing your thumb over a running hose and causing the water to release with much more intensity and distance. Unfortunately, this distance equalled the walls of the bathroom. It was a shortlived shower and I decided a maintenance request was in order. This evening I came home and noticed the bathroom light still on. I looked inside and noticed the walls were wet. That's when I saw a note on the table in the main room written on a napkin that read, "I bring a new showerhead for you tomorrow afternoon. See you, Marco". Apparently Marco turned on the shower and found our sprinkler system did not, in fact, provide any water in a location that was feasable to take a shower. In the meantime, it provides something humorous that you can really only say "when in Rome" to.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Chocolate, ZooMarine and Movies, oh my
As I sit here and type this entry, I still cannot believe the events that have transpired in the past few days. Let me see if I can do them justice.
Saturday- I woke up early. Way too early for what I wanted it to be, but there was running to be done before the day started. Had I known what was going to happen in an hour, I wouldn't have gone running. So, I get back, shower, grab an apple, and head out on my way to Termini to meet up with the others for the train ride to Perugia and the Chocolate Festival. Note: Italian commuter train tickets do not mean you are guaranteed a seat. So, following the lead of others we arrive at the platform ten minutes before the train is scheduled to leave...and it is packed. Eventually five of us set up camp in between two cars where we were able to secure a fold down seat that we could rotate through. Thus began a two and a half hour train ride where I stood the whole time. After passing the time with movie trivia and the question game, we arrived in Perugia. When we left Rome it was cool and sunny, when we stepped off the train in Perugia it was cloudy and cold. Cold was 41 degrees with five minutes of rain that was forecasted to turn to snow. Thankfully it didn't. We pretty much followed the crowds and got ourselvs bus tickets to the top of the town where the festival was held, and when a bus arrived we crammed on it tighter than sardines in a can. After reaching the top and locating a bathroom we jumped into the festival. Soon after, Whitney and I got seperated from the group as the others were scanning for a place to eat and she and I were just checking out the tents in the area. Four hours late we had: seen every tent there was, took pictures with a chocolate bar the size of an average living room wall, had a chocolate covered apple, had a chocolate bar, had a churro, sampled chocolate liquors, took our picture with Remi from Ratatouille, got balloon hats to complete the 12 year old mode we were in, took my picture with a chocolate kiss, took my picture with the Nesquick bunny, had a few pieces of grilled corn, and got a few pieces of chocolate for the road. By the time we were done, the chocolate festival had nothing left to offer us. So we all loaded back up on the train to Rome and slept all the way back.
Sunday- For the third time, Whitney and I sought to find out way to ZooMarine which is the Italian equivalent to Sea World. The forecast was low 50s and rainy so we were the only ones willing to venture out. Seeing as how this was the last free weekend while the park was open, it was now or never. After checking the website we found there was a free shuttle leaving Termini at 9. We got over there at 8:45, and waited until 9:25. No bus. We went in to the train station to see about tickets to Torvaianica where the ZooMarine was. No tickets. We were told to ask the tourist information about it. We went there and were told that a shuttle was going to be at the Eur Fermi metro stop. The next to last stop on the B line. So we ran over to the metro and rode the 20 minutes out to the stop in hopes of making the 10:30 bus. We waited until 11:10 with no bus. Dejected we rode the metro back to Termini and decided to stop in to a different tourist place to ask about movies in english that we could see. Having our picture taken the day before with Remi from Ratatouille had us thinking that was a good choice for a film since it just opened here. We also asked for good sushi restaraunts to eat at thinking if we weren't going to make it to ZooMarine then we sure as heck were going to eat some seafood. Out of curiosity I asked how I would get to ZooMarine if I wanted to go. The lady informed us of the shuttle service. We told her were tried that, twice, and they never came. She then said if we wanted to go on our own we go take the metro to Largentina (the stop after the one we had gone to earlier), get on a Cotrail bus, and walk from the Torvainica station to ZooMarine. Not being one to be beaten by a park for aquatic animals and always up for an adventure, we turned back around and went to the metro. Again rode the 2o minute ride to the last stop, found the bus station, got our ticket, got some coffee to wake us up since at this point we were dragging, and then loaded the bus at 1. Note: the last time we were on one of these buses (going to Tivoli) we overshot the stop by a lot, thus making us apprehensive to do the same thing again. There was a guy sitting across from us who spoke somewhat englsh so I asked what stop ZooMarine was. He said Torvainica. We rode on. Eventually the bus stopped, he got up, pointed down and said, "Torvainica", and got off the bus. So, we followed. Bad move on our part. Apparently this was the first stop in Torvainica with two more to follow. We should have waiting one more stop. We undershot. So, walking down the main road with not a clue where to go we spot a polizia officer who seemed to almost be settling a domestic dispute. I asked where ZooMarine was and he gave directions saying straight, take a right, and go until the sign. He then said tre kilometri. Roughly 3km worth of walking and almost half an hour later...we arrived. And we were two out of mayb 60 in the whole park. While the rain stayed away the temperature plumetted and we were now in the 40s. So, dressed in five layers of clothes, scarfs, and beanies...what did we do? Yep, we headed to the log ride. Rode that twice. Then as if that wasn't cold enough, we jumped on a water slide where took a raft down the slope that sprayed us with frigid water. And again, did that twice. If I don't catch a cold in the next day or two from that I'll be flat out amazed. We saw every show there which included tropical birds (parrots, tucans, etc), birds of prey (owls, falcons, hawks), sea lions, dolphins, and a diving show were I felt frozen myself just watching the poor group of divers plummeting close to 100 feet into icy water with only a wetsuit to warm themselves. But, again, we saw everything ZooMarine had to offer. Bundled up we left the park and walking along the coast back towards town and took some pictures as the sun was setting over Spain. There was a good looking seafood restaurant so we sat outside and waited for it to open. After a good meal we headed out the main road towards the Cotrail bus stop. Or so we thought it was the bus stop. We watched as the bus we wanted to be on stopped at the bus stop before ours and then sped past us as we tried in vain to wave it down. We moved to the actual bus stop and an hour later were on a bus back to Rome. All in all a very good day.
Monday- Nobody cares about class and running so I'll skip this day and move to the good stuff.
Tuesday- Went through classes like normal. After my last class I met up with Whitney and we headed back towards the Film Festival. In an earlier post I wrote how she and I got tickets to see Lions for Lambs while it was at the festival. We walked from the school to Piazza del Popolo (which is all the way across town and a good 45 minute hike) and took the shuttle out to the main festival area. We arrived and I grabbed a booklet with the times of all the movies hoping to see if anything else worked out for me to go see. Walking down towards the theater we saw a line of people around the barriers and a group of about 30 cameras steadily going off. We walked over to investigate and I peered through the crowds and caught a glimpse of something I couldn't quite believe I was seeing. So, I turned to Whitney and asked, "Is that Tom Cruise?" She looked through and he turned to pose for a picture with a fan and we both stare at each other and say no way. I grabbed my camera which I thankfully thought to bring along, just in case, and began taking pictures. We moved to the side closer to him hoping to get a closer angle which we did. Unfortunately he was moving away from us so everyone was migrating with him. This left us at the front of the barriers just watching the scene. Then I noticed a woman from his entarouge carrying back a few pieces of papers to fans. I quickly yelled out, "signora, signora" and handed her my packet with movie info times....which she brought back to me a minute later signed by Tom Cruise on the page with the movie information for that showing. Apparently this was the world premiere of the movie. I ran back to the info booth and asked who else was in town for this. They showed me a list and sadly it was Tom Cruise, Michael Pena, and a few others. Sadly, no Robert Redford or Meryl Streep on the list. After realizing we got as close as we could to the action we showed our tickets and moved down towards the concert hall where the premiere was going to be. We walked over the entrance and stood behind a barricade. After ten minutes of not moving I asked Whitney if she knew what was going on. A woman nearby that spoke english said if you had a ticket you could go through. That was us! So we moved past that rope and on to the other side near the concert hall entrance. Noticing more ropes we realized that it was roped off for the red carpet people to come through and go into a waiting area prior to the movie. So we camped out thinking we could get a picture with Tom Cruise instead of just one of him. After a half hour or so there was a comotion coming into the foyer and a guy I didn't regonize was being photographed as he walked by. He bid the crowd a greeting and kept walking. I figured he must have been a producer to the movie. Another ten minutes later I see the same photographer that had taken this guy's picture coming back and turning around to set up for a picture. I get my camera ready and figure I'll get one too of this guy I don't know. As I look into the screen of my camera I stop in awe not of the producer, but of the guy walking next to him. There, no more than six feet away, was Robert Redford. Snapping back to reality I took the picture was he was passing. Whitney was still in awe and I was amazed that nobody as the info booth seemed to know what they were talking about. Another ten minutes and he, the producer, and Tom Cruise were making their way from outside into the concert hall. That was when I had my short lived conversation with both of them. They go as follows:
Me: "Robert, Robert, can I get an autograph?!"
Robert Redford: "I'm sorry, I'm not able to."
Me: "Oh, that's ok. Robert, you're work is amazing! You rock"
Robert Redford (with direct eye contact): "Thank you, I appreciate that."
Whitney is still dumbfounded. Tom comes through.
Me: 'Tom, you mind if we get a picture with you?"
Tom Cruise: "I wish I could but I'm being pushed into the theater"
Tom Cruise's body guards (as they physically push him down the walkway): "Sorry folks were on a tight schedule."
As you can easily tell, Robert and I are much closer than Tom and I.
We made our way into the theater and were up in the middle deck overlooking the floor. As the lights were coming down a spotlight shown and in walked all the actors (minus Meryl Streep) followed by Tom Cruise and Robert Redford. We were able to grab seats instead of standing the whole time and watched Lions for Lambs at the same time, in the same theater, and for the first time ever in public, with Michael Pena, Tom Cruise, and Robert Redford.
End note: The movie was incredible and as soon as it opens in the US I highly recommend checking it out. And when you do, know that I took pictures of, and talked to the top actors in the movie.
Rome, you just gotta love it over here.
Saturday- I woke up early. Way too early for what I wanted it to be, but there was running to be done before the day started. Had I known what was going to happen in an hour, I wouldn't have gone running. So, I get back, shower, grab an apple, and head out on my way to Termini to meet up with the others for the train ride to Perugia and the Chocolate Festival. Note: Italian commuter train tickets do not mean you are guaranteed a seat. So, following the lead of others we arrive at the platform ten minutes before the train is scheduled to leave...and it is packed. Eventually five of us set up camp in between two cars where we were able to secure a fold down seat that we could rotate through. Thus began a two and a half hour train ride where I stood the whole time. After passing the time with movie trivia and the question game, we arrived in Perugia. When we left Rome it was cool and sunny, when we stepped off the train in Perugia it was cloudy and cold. Cold was 41 degrees with five minutes of rain that was forecasted to turn to snow. Thankfully it didn't. We pretty much followed the crowds and got ourselvs bus tickets to the top of the town where the festival was held, and when a bus arrived we crammed on it tighter than sardines in a can. After reaching the top and locating a bathroom we jumped into the festival. Soon after, Whitney and I got seperated from the group as the others were scanning for a place to eat and she and I were just checking out the tents in the area. Four hours late we had: seen every tent there was, took pictures with a chocolate bar the size of an average living room wall, had a chocolate covered apple, had a chocolate bar, had a churro, sampled chocolate liquors, took our picture with Remi from Ratatouille, got balloon hats to complete the 12 year old mode we were in, took my picture with a chocolate kiss, took my picture with the Nesquick bunny, had a few pieces of grilled corn, and got a few pieces of chocolate for the road. By the time we were done, the chocolate festival had nothing left to offer us. So we all loaded back up on the train to Rome and slept all the way back.
Sunday- For the third time, Whitney and I sought to find out way to ZooMarine which is the Italian equivalent to Sea World. The forecast was low 50s and rainy so we were the only ones willing to venture out. Seeing as how this was the last free weekend while the park was open, it was now or never. After checking the website we found there was a free shuttle leaving Termini at 9. We got over there at 8:45, and waited until 9:25. No bus. We went in to the train station to see about tickets to Torvaianica where the ZooMarine was. No tickets. We were told to ask the tourist information about it. We went there and were told that a shuttle was going to be at the Eur Fermi metro stop. The next to last stop on the B line. So we ran over to the metro and rode the 20 minutes out to the stop in hopes of making the 10:30 bus. We waited until 11:10 with no bus. Dejected we rode the metro back to Termini and decided to stop in to a different tourist place to ask about movies in english that we could see. Having our picture taken the day before with Remi from Ratatouille had us thinking that was a good choice for a film since it just opened here. We also asked for good sushi restaraunts to eat at thinking if we weren't going to make it to ZooMarine then we sure as heck were going to eat some seafood. Out of curiosity I asked how I would get to ZooMarine if I wanted to go. The lady informed us of the shuttle service. We told her were tried that, twice, and they never came. She then said if we wanted to go on our own we go take the metro to Largentina (the stop after the one we had gone to earlier), get on a Cotrail bus, and walk from the Torvainica station to ZooMarine. Not being one to be beaten by a park for aquatic animals and always up for an adventure, we turned back around and went to the metro. Again rode the 2o minute ride to the last stop, found the bus station, got our ticket, got some coffee to wake us up since at this point we were dragging, and then loaded the bus at 1. Note: the last time we were on one of these buses (going to Tivoli) we overshot the stop by a lot, thus making us apprehensive to do the same thing again. There was a guy sitting across from us who spoke somewhat englsh so I asked what stop ZooMarine was. He said Torvainica. We rode on. Eventually the bus stopped, he got up, pointed down and said, "Torvainica", and got off the bus. So, we followed. Bad move on our part. Apparently this was the first stop in Torvainica with two more to follow. We should have waiting one more stop. We undershot. So, walking down the main road with not a clue where to go we spot a polizia officer who seemed to almost be settling a domestic dispute. I asked where ZooMarine was and he gave directions saying straight, take a right, and go until the sign. He then said tre kilometri. Roughly 3km worth of walking and almost half an hour later...we arrived. And we were two out of mayb 60 in the whole park. While the rain stayed away the temperature plumetted and we were now in the 40s. So, dressed in five layers of clothes, scarfs, and beanies...what did we do? Yep, we headed to the log ride. Rode that twice. Then as if that wasn't cold enough, we jumped on a water slide where took a raft down the slope that sprayed us with frigid water. And again, did that twice. If I don't catch a cold in the next day or two from that I'll be flat out amazed. We saw every show there which included tropical birds (parrots, tucans, etc), birds of prey (owls, falcons, hawks), sea lions, dolphins, and a diving show were I felt frozen myself just watching the poor group of divers plummeting close to 100 feet into icy water with only a wetsuit to warm themselves. But, again, we saw everything ZooMarine had to offer. Bundled up we left the park and walking along the coast back towards town and took some pictures as the sun was setting over Spain. There was a good looking seafood restaurant so we sat outside and waited for it to open. After a good meal we headed out the main road towards the Cotrail bus stop. Or so we thought it was the bus stop. We watched as the bus we wanted to be on stopped at the bus stop before ours and then sped past us as we tried in vain to wave it down. We moved to the actual bus stop and an hour later were on a bus back to Rome. All in all a very good day.
Monday- Nobody cares about class and running so I'll skip this day and move to the good stuff.
Tuesday- Went through classes like normal. After my last class I met up with Whitney and we headed back towards the Film Festival. In an earlier post I wrote how she and I got tickets to see Lions for Lambs while it was at the festival. We walked from the school to Piazza del Popolo (which is all the way across town and a good 45 minute hike) and took the shuttle out to the main festival area. We arrived and I grabbed a booklet with the times of all the movies hoping to see if anything else worked out for me to go see. Walking down towards the theater we saw a line of people around the barriers and a group of about 30 cameras steadily going off. We walked over to investigate and I peered through the crowds and caught a glimpse of something I couldn't quite believe I was seeing. So, I turned to Whitney and asked, "Is that Tom Cruise?" She looked through and he turned to pose for a picture with a fan and we both stare at each other and say no way. I grabbed my camera which I thankfully thought to bring along, just in case, and began taking pictures. We moved to the side closer to him hoping to get a closer angle which we did. Unfortunately he was moving away from us so everyone was migrating with him. This left us at the front of the barriers just watching the scene. Then I noticed a woman from his entarouge carrying back a few pieces of papers to fans. I quickly yelled out, "signora, signora" and handed her my packet with movie info times....which she brought back to me a minute later signed by Tom Cruise on the page with the movie information for that showing. Apparently this was the world premiere of the movie. I ran back to the info booth and asked who else was in town for this. They showed me a list and sadly it was Tom Cruise, Michael Pena, and a few others. Sadly, no Robert Redford or Meryl Streep on the list. After realizing we got as close as we could to the action we showed our tickets and moved down towards the concert hall where the premiere was going to be. We walked over the entrance and stood behind a barricade. After ten minutes of not moving I asked Whitney if she knew what was going on. A woman nearby that spoke english said if you had a ticket you could go through. That was us! So we moved past that rope and on to the other side near the concert hall entrance. Noticing more ropes we realized that it was roped off for the red carpet people to come through and go into a waiting area prior to the movie. So we camped out thinking we could get a picture with Tom Cruise instead of just one of him. After a half hour or so there was a comotion coming into the foyer and a guy I didn't regonize was being photographed as he walked by. He bid the crowd a greeting and kept walking. I figured he must have been a producer to the movie. Another ten minutes later I see the same photographer that had taken this guy's picture coming back and turning around to set up for a picture. I get my camera ready and figure I'll get one too of this guy I don't know. As I look into the screen of my camera I stop in awe not of the producer, but of the guy walking next to him. There, no more than six feet away, was Robert Redford. Snapping back to reality I took the picture was he was passing. Whitney was still in awe and I was amazed that nobody as the info booth seemed to know what they were talking about. Another ten minutes and he, the producer, and Tom Cruise were making their way from outside into the concert hall. That was when I had my short lived conversation with both of them. They go as follows:
Me: "Robert, Robert, can I get an autograph?!"
Robert Redford: "I'm sorry, I'm not able to."
Me: "Oh, that's ok. Robert, you're work is amazing! You rock"
Robert Redford (with direct eye contact): "Thank you, I appreciate that."
Whitney is still dumbfounded. Tom comes through.
Me: 'Tom, you mind if we get a picture with you?"
Tom Cruise: "I wish I could but I'm being pushed into the theater"
Tom Cruise's body guards (as they physically push him down the walkway): "Sorry folks were on a tight schedule."
As you can easily tell, Robert and I are much closer than Tom and I.
We made our way into the theater and were up in the middle deck overlooking the floor. As the lights were coming down a spotlight shown and in walked all the actors (minus Meryl Streep) followed by Tom Cruise and Robert Redford. We were able to grab seats instead of standing the whole time and watched Lions for Lambs at the same time, in the same theater, and for the first time ever in public, with Michael Pena, Tom Cruise, and Robert Redford.
End note: The movie was incredible and as soon as it opens in the US I highly recommend checking it out. And when you do, know that I took pictures of, and talked to the top actors in the movie.
Rome, you just gotta love it over here.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Red Carpet and Fancy Shoes
I hear sparingly that people (majority being my parents) still read this. Comments, much like tipping, are welcomed and appreciated. Otherwise, I could keep the stories to myself.
We're back tracking here a bit, so I'll take you to last Thursday.
After a morning of regularly scheduled class, I broke out of my advertizing class at 1:15 and headed home to pack for the weekend. The plan was to bring my backpack, go to class, and leave directly for Termini and board the train for Florence. It worked smoothly, and showed me that there are a lot of things that can be done in the two hour window between my classes on Tuesday/Thursday other than stare numbingly at the computer screen. I've opted to fill the time with a jog and a shower. Keeping in mind this includes the hour long round trip walk, I have determined it will be a miracle if my feet make it back home to my faithful 4Runner.
Anyway, I get to Termini with ease. Grab my ticket and wait for the departures board to scroll over the new times and reveal when and where my train was to leave. It eventually showed up for platform 6. The departure time wasn't for another 25 minutes but I figured I could go early and read. I stroll up to the conductor, and using my best recollection of the "train station and airport" chapter from Italian 2 at Baylor proceed to double check that this was, in fact, the train to Florence. He nodded yes. I then asked him where car 12 was. He pointed and said, "l'ultima." I leaned away from him, followed his pointed finger, sighed, and adjusted my backpack. 15 minutes of walking later, and feeling like I had walked halfway to Florence, I reached my car. Good thing I came early. Plopped into my (window, luckily, - thanks mom!) seat and pulled out my book. I was joined later by the people that had the seats across and next to me - two Italians, apparant musician want-to-be's, and seemingly unpossessing of a shower in their respective places seeing how both guys smelled as if they hadn't showered in, oh, I dunno, all of the month of September.
We'll fastforward to the arrival. Show up, get instructions as to where to direct the taxi from dad, walk out of the train station,...and stare at a line for the taxi that rivals the line for Space Mountain at Disneyworld in the middle of June. Nearly an hour later I was walking towards a cab. Got thrown out at the Piazza where the hotel was, met up with the folks, and found dinner.
Friday. Got up, early. Somehow vacationing with my parents has me waking up earlier than on any day I've had class in the last five years. No worries, it lets you see more in a day. After grabbing a pretty solid breakfast at the hotel we set out towards the Academia. Had 8:45 reservations to see Michelangelo's David. Quite impressive, though probably would have been better to view it from 50 feet below like originally intended. Regardless, the fact that were admiring it and walking around it with only a dozen other people around made up for that. Afterwards we headed towards the Duomo, took some pictures, and made our way to the start of the walking tour. Spent two and a half hours walking around Florence seeing all it had (which isn't a whole lot) to offer. The remainder of the day was spent shopping for Italian goods, and a pretty decent dinner at a place recommend by Christine, the tour guide. *Pictures to be put on facebook soon*
Saturday. Got up, early. Again. This time for me. My plan was to get up and be the line, not just in line, but the line, to climb to the top of the Duomo. 526 steps. After breakfast I briskly walked down the street, rounded the corner of the cathedral, and came to a halt.
-I pause to interject this question. How is it that anyone could possibly gauge the exact population of China? Or the Far East in general? Half the country, at any one time, seems to be touring some other part of the world. Back to the story.
I came around the corner and found myself behind 40 of China's best armed to the teeth with digital cameras, video cameras, and binoculars, apparently. I will spare the details of the climb, but will say that it took far longer than if I had been the line instead. The view from the top was spectacular and definitely worth the climb. Those pictures to be posted soon, too.
Clambered on down and met back up with my parents. Made our way back to the hotel to find a kiddie carnival in the piazza. I have now been witness to an international chicken dance frenzy, complete with video. A sight that words can't even begin to describe, but I feel safe to say whatever you have pictured in your head is not as zany as what actually occured. We took a taxi to the train station and ran to catch a train to Pisa.
In the process of running, we forgot to get our tickets validated on the platform. 30 minutes later the train-ticket-checker (for lack of proper title) came by. I was seated caddy-corner to my parents so I planned to use my best italian to greet the lady and explain that the ticket was for the three of us. That is until she went to the Swiss couple across from me, who didn't have their ticke stamped either. After pleading back and forth the ticket-checker lady finally had pity at the touring foreigners and fined them 5 euro, rather than the 40 euro PER PERSON that it should have been. At this point I abandoned all plans of using Italian, grabbed my dad's Rick Steves "Guide to Italy" book, and played the part of the dumb, lost American. It worked, and 5 euro (not 120 euro) later we were inbound to Pisa.
Let me state here my unexplained reason for excitement for this part of the trip. In 2nd grade, when I was smarter, I was working with the 3rd grade class half the time. So, I was assigned a project with two other guys that involved researching an aspect of another country. We were given the Leaning Tower of Pisa. In the project, we discussed the tower itself and that Italy was were pizza came from. Hey, we were advanced for our age, give us a break Anyway, at that time I had thought to myself that it would be cool to travel all the way to Italy to climb that tower. 16 years later and on my 3rd trip to the country, I had my chance.
We grabbed a cab to the Piazza del Miricoli, and there, in it's 15 degree off kilterness, was the tower in all its glory. We spent the better part of half an hour getting all the goofy pictures we would need in our lives involving us and the tower. The best one came when I was pushing the tower over with one finger while my mom was pushing back to try and hold it up. I had a ticket to climb the tower, and my parents had a corner cafe table to watch me. Climbing the tower was a little odd. First you lean left, then you lean right, then you left again, then...and the whole time you're trying not to slip on the slick stone. 140-something feet higher I was at the to,p...and freaked out of my mind. Vertigo set in and the fact that you could tell how angled it was was only heightened by the thin metal bar that went around the circumference at a whopping 4 feet tall. Thus meaning one false step and you could realistically take the nonexistant elevator all the way to the bottom. I took a few pictures and called it a tour.
That brings me back to this past week. Midterm week. I took a marketing midterm on Tuesday. Don't worry mom and dad (and cadre) I made a B on it and with the As on the other projects so far in the class it's a very recoverable exam. After reviewing my italian on the bus ride to school (10 minutes, mom, dad, you saw first hand that I have a decent knowledge of the language) I walked into class and knocked the snot out of that exam. I'm hoping on Monday when she hands them back she'll tell me I don't have a need to go back to class for the rest of the semester and tht I get an automatic A. Even now as I type this, I am hearing the chorus "You'll shoot your eye out, you'll shoot your eye out" from A Christmas Story as poor Ralphie receives a C rather than the A++++++ he was expecting on his paper. A guy can dream though, right?
A Thursday with two of my three classes cancelled and a misfired attempt to find the pyramid, which led to a stroll through a part of town I can considered seen and no desire to re-explore, brings me to today. I got up and went for a run since, again, the weather was cool and crisp like any great fall day should be. The weather here reminds me of the falls in Jersey.
***If you were skimming down through this post STOP AND READ HERE***
August 19, official start of the 2007 Roma International Film Festival. I, of course, was determiend to check this out. Lucky for me I had a few other movie buffs interested in tagging along. We took the bus out to the site and strolled around. We found the information desk and asked for the lady who spoke english to help us. Turns out they all spoke english, so we (mainly I, since I was the one who asked) felt stupid. We got a program with all the movies being shown each day and their times and locations. Among the US films are Elizabeth, Rendition, Noise, Youth Without Youth, Lions and Lambs, and August Rush. After discovering August Rush was playing at a location an hour outside of Rome, I settled for Lions and Lambs Tuesday standing room only. We then asked for tickets to Elizabeth. Sold out. We strolled around for a bit more before I came to a halt. There, in front of me, was a sight I had only seen on tv or in pictures stalking my favorite (insert female, Hilary Duff, Elisha Cuthbert, et al) celebrities. It was a red carpet entrance with an E! platform. I ran back to the information desk and asked the question that would lead to hours of excitment and anticipation..."What's going on tonight?" The answer: an award/recognition for Sophia Loren AND th Rome premier to Elizabeth. Three hours later I had seen both Sophia Loren and Kate Blanchett stroll down the red carpet right below me. Keira Nightely is in town for her premier tomorrow. And Bruce Willis and Spike Lee are bouncing around the city somewhere. After seeing some of the other lineups I wouldn't be surprised if Sean Penn is around either. Definitely took a ton of pictures, and it's one of those things you can only see in Rome - when you're among few Americans hoping to catch a glimpse of movie stars you recognize.
Up next: Chocolate Festival in Perugia, a side trip to Assissi, and (finally) ZooMarine.
Again, if you feel compelled, leave comments. They're much appreciated!
We're back tracking here a bit, so I'll take you to last Thursday.
After a morning of regularly scheduled class, I broke out of my advertizing class at 1:15 and headed home to pack for the weekend. The plan was to bring my backpack, go to class, and leave directly for Termini and board the train for Florence. It worked smoothly, and showed me that there are a lot of things that can be done in the two hour window between my classes on Tuesday/Thursday other than stare numbingly at the computer screen. I've opted to fill the time with a jog and a shower. Keeping in mind this includes the hour long round trip walk, I have determined it will be a miracle if my feet make it back home to my faithful 4Runner.
Anyway, I get to Termini with ease. Grab my ticket and wait for the departures board to scroll over the new times and reveal when and where my train was to leave. It eventually showed up for platform 6. The departure time wasn't for another 25 minutes but I figured I could go early and read. I stroll up to the conductor, and using my best recollection of the "train station and airport" chapter from Italian 2 at Baylor proceed to double check that this was, in fact, the train to Florence. He nodded yes. I then asked him where car 12 was. He pointed and said, "l'ultima." I leaned away from him, followed his pointed finger, sighed, and adjusted my backpack. 15 minutes of walking later, and feeling like I had walked halfway to Florence, I reached my car. Good thing I came early. Plopped into my (window, luckily, - thanks mom!) seat and pulled out my book. I was joined later by the people that had the seats across and next to me - two Italians, apparant musician want-to-be's, and seemingly unpossessing of a shower in their respective places seeing how both guys smelled as if they hadn't showered in, oh, I dunno, all of the month of September.
We'll fastforward to the arrival. Show up, get instructions as to where to direct the taxi from dad, walk out of the train station,...and stare at a line for the taxi that rivals the line for Space Mountain at Disneyworld in the middle of June. Nearly an hour later I was walking towards a cab. Got thrown out at the Piazza where the hotel was, met up with the folks, and found dinner.
Friday. Got up, early. Somehow vacationing with my parents has me waking up earlier than on any day I've had class in the last five years. No worries, it lets you see more in a day. After grabbing a pretty solid breakfast at the hotel we set out towards the Academia. Had 8:45 reservations to see Michelangelo's David. Quite impressive, though probably would have been better to view it from 50 feet below like originally intended. Regardless, the fact that were admiring it and walking around it with only a dozen other people around made up for that. Afterwards we headed towards the Duomo, took some pictures, and made our way to the start of the walking tour. Spent two and a half hours walking around Florence seeing all it had (which isn't a whole lot) to offer. The remainder of the day was spent shopping for Italian goods, and a pretty decent dinner at a place recommend by Christine, the tour guide. *Pictures to be put on facebook soon*
Saturday. Got up, early. Again. This time for me. My plan was to get up and be the line, not just in line, but the line, to climb to the top of the Duomo. 526 steps. After breakfast I briskly walked down the street, rounded the corner of the cathedral, and came to a halt.
-I pause to interject this question. How is it that anyone could possibly gauge the exact population of China? Or the Far East in general? Half the country, at any one time, seems to be touring some other part of the world. Back to the story.
I came around the corner and found myself behind 40 of China's best armed to the teeth with digital cameras, video cameras, and binoculars, apparently. I will spare the details of the climb, but will say that it took far longer than if I had been the line instead. The view from the top was spectacular and definitely worth the climb. Those pictures to be posted soon, too.
Clambered on down and met back up with my parents. Made our way back to the hotel to find a kiddie carnival in the piazza. I have now been witness to an international chicken dance frenzy, complete with video. A sight that words can't even begin to describe, but I feel safe to say whatever you have pictured in your head is not as zany as what actually occured. We took a taxi to the train station and ran to catch a train to Pisa.
In the process of running, we forgot to get our tickets validated on the platform. 30 minutes later the train-ticket-checker (for lack of proper title) came by. I was seated caddy-corner to my parents so I planned to use my best italian to greet the lady and explain that the ticket was for the three of us. That is until she went to the Swiss couple across from me, who didn't have their ticke stamped either. After pleading back and forth the ticket-checker lady finally had pity at the touring foreigners and fined them 5 euro, rather than the 40 euro PER PERSON that it should have been. At this point I abandoned all plans of using Italian, grabbed my dad's Rick Steves "Guide to Italy" book, and played the part of the dumb, lost American. It worked, and 5 euro (not 120 euro) later we were inbound to Pisa.
Let me state here my unexplained reason for excitement for this part of the trip. In 2nd grade, when I was smarter, I was working with the 3rd grade class half the time. So, I was assigned a project with two other guys that involved researching an aspect of another country. We were given the Leaning Tower of Pisa. In the project, we discussed the tower itself and that Italy was were pizza came from. Hey, we were advanced for our age, give us a break Anyway, at that time I had thought to myself that it would be cool to travel all the way to Italy to climb that tower. 16 years later and on my 3rd trip to the country, I had my chance.
We grabbed a cab to the Piazza del Miricoli, and there, in it's 15 degree off kilterness, was the tower in all its glory. We spent the better part of half an hour getting all the goofy pictures we would need in our lives involving us and the tower. The best one came when I was pushing the tower over with one finger while my mom was pushing back to try and hold it up. I had a ticket to climb the tower, and my parents had a corner cafe table to watch me. Climbing the tower was a little odd. First you lean left, then you lean right, then you left again, then...and the whole time you're trying not to slip on the slick stone. 140-something feet higher I was at the to,p...and freaked out of my mind. Vertigo set in and the fact that you could tell how angled it was was only heightened by the thin metal bar that went around the circumference at a whopping 4 feet tall. Thus meaning one false step and you could realistically take the nonexistant elevator all the way to the bottom. I took a few pictures and called it a tour.
That brings me back to this past week. Midterm week. I took a marketing midterm on Tuesday. Don't worry mom and dad (and cadre) I made a B on it and with the As on the other projects so far in the class it's a very recoverable exam. After reviewing my italian on the bus ride to school (10 minutes, mom, dad, you saw first hand that I have a decent knowledge of the language) I walked into class and knocked the snot out of that exam. I'm hoping on Monday when she hands them back she'll tell me I don't have a need to go back to class for the rest of the semester and tht I get an automatic A. Even now as I type this, I am hearing the chorus "You'll shoot your eye out, you'll shoot your eye out" from A Christmas Story as poor Ralphie receives a C rather than the A++++++ he was expecting on his paper. A guy can dream though, right?
A Thursday with two of my three classes cancelled and a misfired attempt to find the pyramid, which led to a stroll through a part of town I can considered seen and no desire to re-explore, brings me to today. I got up and went for a run since, again, the weather was cool and crisp like any great fall day should be. The weather here reminds me of the falls in Jersey.
***If you were skimming down through this post STOP AND READ HERE***
August 19, official start of the 2007 Roma International Film Festival. I, of course, was determiend to check this out. Lucky for me I had a few other movie buffs interested in tagging along. We took the bus out to the site and strolled around. We found the information desk and asked for the lady who spoke english to help us. Turns out they all spoke english, so we (mainly I, since I was the one who asked) felt stupid. We got a program with all the movies being shown each day and their times and locations. Among the US films are Elizabeth, Rendition, Noise, Youth Without Youth, Lions and Lambs, and August Rush. After discovering August Rush was playing at a location an hour outside of Rome, I settled for Lions and Lambs Tuesday standing room only. We then asked for tickets to Elizabeth. Sold out. We strolled around for a bit more before I came to a halt. There, in front of me, was a sight I had only seen on tv or in pictures stalking my favorite (insert female, Hilary Duff, Elisha Cuthbert, et al) celebrities. It was a red carpet entrance with an E! platform. I ran back to the information desk and asked the question that would lead to hours of excitment and anticipation..."What's going on tonight?" The answer: an award/recognition for Sophia Loren AND th Rome premier to Elizabeth. Three hours later I had seen both Sophia Loren and Kate Blanchett stroll down the red carpet right below me. Keira Nightely is in town for her premier tomorrow. And Bruce Willis and Spike Lee are bouncing around the city somewhere. After seeing some of the other lineups I wouldn't be surprised if Sean Penn is around either. Definitely took a ton of pictures, and it's one of those things you can only see in Rome - when you're among few Americans hoping to catch a glimpse of movie stars you recognize.
Up next: Chocolate Festival in Perugia, a side trip to Assissi, and (finally) ZooMarine.
Again, if you feel compelled, leave comments. They're much appreciated!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
A Story to Nightcap
Today was one of the first days it steadily rained throughout the day here. Allow me to share one quick thing to all those who have yet to venture into Rome in the rain.
Walking on wet cobblestone is similar to walking on ice. It takes steadiness and a patience to make sure footing is secure. Walking too fast, as I discovered this afternoon, leads to a foot sliding out from underneath and busting ones ass in front of all to see. Folks, I'm here to tell you, you don't need to be bilingual, or a genius, to translate pointing and snickering. That is a universal reaction.
Walking on wet cobblestone is similar to walking on ice. It takes steadiness and a patience to make sure footing is secure. Walking too fast, as I discovered this afternoon, leads to a foot sliding out from underneath and busting ones ass in front of all to see. Folks, I'm here to tell you, you don't need to be bilingual, or a genius, to translate pointing and snickering. That is a universal reaction.
Long Overdue with A Long Time to Write
My deepest apologies to the few that read this blog, for the delayed update. I had a post typed up in a Word document on my Dell computer to transfer. It was never able to make the switch.
Let me explain, backing up from two weeks ago and working towards the present.
The last I wrote I was about to head to Barcelona, to not only see Spain for the first time, but also to see a friend I haven't seen since early May. Troy and I packed our bags Thursday night and headed over towards Trastevere to meet up with some others. We dropped the bags off at the girls' apartment and all headed back to the mall which was a twenty minute train ride away. It was a rainy night so what better thing to do to occupy our time than to go bowling. It was a cutthroat game down to the wire, but yours truly pulled it out with an astounding 148. It was humorous to get the game underway though. Even though there was a guy with us that was fairly knowledgeable in the Italian language, I was still thrust to the font of the group to give it a go with the hardly english speaking guy behind the counter. After a bit we got down the part of needing one lane for six people. Then came shoes size. I told him 10. He looked at me rather peculiar. It was then that I looked behind him and noticed the lowest number was 28. No good for my 10 size foot. So, instead of trying to calculate numbers in my head (which we know never works well), I asked him what size *this* is. *This* would be me holding my hands apart about the same length as my foot. He laughed and tossed me a pair of shoes. 42 it is over. The others all followed suit which I thought was even more funny.
Let's see. After the bowling and hour or two of pool, we all headed back to the apartment. A few hours of card playing and chilling led us to 4 in the morning which was our time to call the cab and head to the airport. There were two others coming along with us for the plane over there. We figured all going to the airport together would cut in cost. What happened helped our wallets even more. We load up in the cab and I immediately think of the part in Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's opening song with the cab. This guy had some style...and YMCA cranked up already. So, us being the slightly obnoxious Americans that we are, asked him to crank it up more and began seeing complete with sign motions. 15 minutes later the cab died. Just stopped running. Another cab was leaving from the direction of the airport, so our driver got out and flagged him down. We grabbed our bags and switched to the new, and more spacious, cab. Apparently if the cab has problems en route and has to pass you off, you don't pay. Five minutes of driving and 2 euro a piece later we got out at the airport.
Let me see if I can speed things up a bit (since this post is going to be longer than normal)
-checked in ahead of any other JCU students
-got our tickets and a priority pass that let us board in the first group
-I wanted to be first, so I sat in line...by myself...on the floor
-15 minutes later I broke out into song with "All By Myself"...the other three I was with took pity and camped out on the floor too
-Serenaded the bus with "You Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" on our way to the plane
-Boarded plane and fell asleep before the flight attendants could point out the (far too often used on RyanAir) emergency exits
-Woke up and boarded an hour bus to Barcelona from the airport...immediately fell back asleep...no singing this time.
-Got off the bus, grabbed a map, and set out for the hostel
-An hour later arrived at hostel to find the Denton Elder stretched out ready for a nap.
-Rained on that parade and then set out for an afternoon of walking around and taking in the sights
-Walked a lot, took a boat ride around the harbor, walked a lot more, got some lunch, did a bit more walking, and then found dinner with everyone
-Ate paella, a lot
-Went to the Gaudi, climbed the Guadi, and freaked at the open air heights of it all and quickly (but very very carefully since it was the tiniest spiral staircase I've ever seen) went back down
-Drank Sangria, a lot
-Saw a protest. Got close enough to take pictures and figure out what was going on. Did not, as fun as it did seem, join in.
-Got my alarm clock stolen by a man-beast who can only be compared to one, Mongrol, from Blazing Saddles
-Went to a Dow Jones bar where the price of drinks fluctuated like the stock market
-Took a ton of pictures and pretty much had a great time
It was really good to hang out and spend some time with a friend from home. At least then he knew about everything in Waco I was talking about. Most people just look at me blankly since they have a biased view of the city. Once I describe Dr. Pepper they seem to key in a bit more. So that was a fun trip that brought in the month of October on a good note.
Mr. Elder, it was a pleasure leaving an imprint on Barcelona with you.
By pass a week and a half of classes, a bit of studying, and some tests...and it brings you to this past week.
The parents came in to town! That was/is a lot of fun. It's been a while since we've been on a big family vacation. This one may be one of the biggest we've had. And it was very nice to be able to eat at restaurants again. They came into town on Thursday so I met up with them after class. Had some wine, walked around a bit, checked out there hotel and grabbed some dinner. Friday I met up with them for a day of sightseeing and showing them around the city. Saturday we were up early and touring the Vactican and St. Peter's. That was pretty cool since the tour we were on only had five of us plus the guide. So you got a lot more information, could ask all sorts of questions, and I definitely learned more in that morning than I could retain the next day. That afternoon we took a walking tour around the NE side of town near Piazza del Popolo. Found out a lot more information about that area. The trident of the churches and the roads meeting at the far gate of Rome, certain streets of the back area, and Augustus's tomb. Sunday was spent lounging around and doing some reading and studying. I met up with them later that evening and had some dinner. Then they came to Scholar's Lounge with me to check out where we all go watch Sunday football. Turns out most of the group was there so they met them all. They initially were going to stay for a few minutes and then head back. Two Peronis and a ton of conversation later they left a little bit before the rest of us. They seemed to really enjoy the place and all my friends loved getting to meet them and chatting. Got back to the school thing Monday and then they took of for Florence today. I'll be meeting up with them tomorrow night for a few days in Florence and then a return trip through Pisa. Should be a fun weekend.
Now for the bad news:
My computer bellied up this past weekend. It happened on a Sunday. It was in the middle of running Mission Impossible III. The battery was running low so I plugged in the outlet power. Smoke started billowing out of the top of the screen. For a second I thought perhaps the DVDs have become more life-like and my computer was a self-destruct message. I quickly snapped out of it and blew the smoke away unplugging it. The remaining power lasted until Monday afternoon. Then things went black and unrecoverable. That thing was with me from high school through my whole college experience. It has seen several different cities and continents. It has played music and movies with the best of them. It has helped me with late night papers and even later night conversations. It has even woken me up for class before. The memories on that machine were great, and it will always be missed.
I had the fortunate luck, and a very generous dad, who brought the backup computer from home. Now that the trips were locked in he had no more use for it over here. And with his computer waiting back in Waco, graciously left this one with me to use. Now I can still go about saving powerpoints, excel sheets, and class notes on the computer and bring them home to study.
I think this post is a bit long right now so I'll shut it down for the evening. Be back in a bit to add some more.
Let me explain, backing up from two weeks ago and working towards the present.
The last I wrote I was about to head to Barcelona, to not only see Spain for the first time, but also to see a friend I haven't seen since early May. Troy and I packed our bags Thursday night and headed over towards Trastevere to meet up with some others. We dropped the bags off at the girls' apartment and all headed back to the mall which was a twenty minute train ride away. It was a rainy night so what better thing to do to occupy our time than to go bowling. It was a cutthroat game down to the wire, but yours truly pulled it out with an astounding 148. It was humorous to get the game underway though. Even though there was a guy with us that was fairly knowledgeable in the Italian language, I was still thrust to the font of the group to give it a go with the hardly english speaking guy behind the counter. After a bit we got down the part of needing one lane for six people. Then came shoes size. I told him 10. He looked at me rather peculiar. It was then that I looked behind him and noticed the lowest number was 28. No good for my 10 size foot. So, instead of trying to calculate numbers in my head (which we know never works well), I asked him what size *this* is. *This* would be me holding my hands apart about the same length as my foot. He laughed and tossed me a pair of shoes. 42 it is over. The others all followed suit which I thought was even more funny.
Let's see. After the bowling and hour or two of pool, we all headed back to the apartment. A few hours of card playing and chilling led us to 4 in the morning which was our time to call the cab and head to the airport. There were two others coming along with us for the plane over there. We figured all going to the airport together would cut in cost. What happened helped our wallets even more. We load up in the cab and I immediately think of the part in Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's opening song with the cab. This guy had some style...and YMCA cranked up already. So, us being the slightly obnoxious Americans that we are, asked him to crank it up more and began seeing complete with sign motions. 15 minutes later the cab died. Just stopped running. Another cab was leaving from the direction of the airport, so our driver got out and flagged him down. We grabbed our bags and switched to the new, and more spacious, cab. Apparently if the cab has problems en route and has to pass you off, you don't pay. Five minutes of driving and 2 euro a piece later we got out at the airport.
Let me see if I can speed things up a bit (since this post is going to be longer than normal)
-checked in ahead of any other JCU students
-got our tickets and a priority pass that let us board in the first group
-I wanted to be first, so I sat in line...by myself...on the floor
-15 minutes later I broke out into song with "All By Myself"...the other three I was with took pity and camped out on the floor too
-Serenaded the bus with "You Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" on our way to the plane
-Boarded plane and fell asleep before the flight attendants could point out the (far too often used on RyanAir) emergency exits
-Woke up and boarded an hour bus to Barcelona from the airport...immediately fell back asleep...no singing this time.
-Got off the bus, grabbed a map, and set out for the hostel
-An hour later arrived at hostel to find the Denton Elder stretched out ready for a nap.
-Rained on that parade and then set out for an afternoon of walking around and taking in the sights
-Walked a lot, took a boat ride around the harbor, walked a lot more, got some lunch, did a bit more walking, and then found dinner with everyone
-Ate paella, a lot
-Went to the Gaudi, climbed the Guadi, and freaked at the open air heights of it all and quickly (but very very carefully since it was the tiniest spiral staircase I've ever seen) went back down
-Drank Sangria, a lot
-Saw a protest. Got close enough to take pictures and figure out what was going on. Did not, as fun as it did seem, join in.
-Got my alarm clock stolen by a man-beast who can only be compared to one, Mongrol, from Blazing Saddles
-Went to a Dow Jones bar where the price of drinks fluctuated like the stock market
-Took a ton of pictures and pretty much had a great time
It was really good to hang out and spend some time with a friend from home. At least then he knew about everything in Waco I was talking about. Most people just look at me blankly since they have a biased view of the city. Once I describe Dr. Pepper they seem to key in a bit more. So that was a fun trip that brought in the month of October on a good note.
Mr. Elder, it was a pleasure leaving an imprint on Barcelona with you.
By pass a week and a half of classes, a bit of studying, and some tests...and it brings you to this past week.
The parents came in to town! That was/is a lot of fun. It's been a while since we've been on a big family vacation. This one may be one of the biggest we've had. And it was very nice to be able to eat at restaurants again. They came into town on Thursday so I met up with them after class. Had some wine, walked around a bit, checked out there hotel and grabbed some dinner. Friday I met up with them for a day of sightseeing and showing them around the city. Saturday we were up early and touring the Vactican and St. Peter's. That was pretty cool since the tour we were on only had five of us plus the guide. So you got a lot more information, could ask all sorts of questions, and I definitely learned more in that morning than I could retain the next day. That afternoon we took a walking tour around the NE side of town near Piazza del Popolo. Found out a lot more information about that area. The trident of the churches and the roads meeting at the far gate of Rome, certain streets of the back area, and Augustus's tomb. Sunday was spent lounging around and doing some reading and studying. I met up with them later that evening and had some dinner. Then they came to Scholar's Lounge with me to check out where we all go watch Sunday football. Turns out most of the group was there so they met them all. They initially were going to stay for a few minutes and then head back. Two Peronis and a ton of conversation later they left a little bit before the rest of us. They seemed to really enjoy the place and all my friends loved getting to meet them and chatting. Got back to the school thing Monday and then they took of for Florence today. I'll be meeting up with them tomorrow night for a few days in Florence and then a return trip through Pisa. Should be a fun weekend.
Now for the bad news:
My computer bellied up this past weekend. It happened on a Sunday. It was in the middle of running Mission Impossible III. The battery was running low so I plugged in the outlet power. Smoke started billowing out of the top of the screen. For a second I thought perhaps the DVDs have become more life-like and my computer was a self-destruct message. I quickly snapped out of it and blew the smoke away unplugging it. The remaining power lasted until Monday afternoon. Then things went black and unrecoverable. That thing was with me from high school through my whole college experience. It has seen several different cities and continents. It has played music and movies with the best of them. It has helped me with late night papers and even later night conversations. It has even woken me up for class before. The memories on that machine were great, and it will always be missed.
I had the fortunate luck, and a very generous dad, who brought the backup computer from home. Now that the trips were locked in he had no more use for it over here. And with his computer waiting back in Waco, graciously left this one with me to use. Now I can still go about saving powerpoints, excel sheets, and class notes on the computer and bring them home to study.
I think this post is a bit long right now so I'll shut it down for the evening. Be back in a bit to add some more.
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