James Bond & Siena!!

So for those of you who don't know, they're filming a large portion of the next James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, in several parts of Italy.  The closest they are to Viterbo, is Siena.  This is also the site of the biggest sequence they are filming over here.  ANYWAY, this past Thursday & Friday, I went up to see if I could see anything.  Well, I'm happy to say that I got to see several things.  I got to see two stunts filmed - part of a rooftop chase where Bond chases a guy across a roof while shooting, and then they jump to another building.  Pretty sweet.  The crew has 5 cranes set up around the edges of the area they're filming in, for "flying" the camera for overhead shots, as well as for safety purposes for the stunts.  Boy, they are tall.  Big, and tall.

So whilst I was hanging around at the edges of the set/area they had blocked off, I ended up talking to the Head Rigger (the crew that runs the cranes they use for cameras and flying stuntmen from one roof to the other) several times over the two days that I was there. He's a British guy who's very nice.  We talked for about 10-15 minutes the last time I saw him, and well, over the course of our conversation, I let it slip that I am a film major who's about to be done with college and that I one day hope to be able to work on a set like this.  I mentioned other things that let him get the idea that I was someone who knew a little bit about the movie industry (including knowing who the stunt coordinator is - no one knows them, unless you're a nerd like me), and that I wasn't just some gawky, star-struck tourist.  That I was there to see anything and everything I could, and I was simply in awe of the scope of what I was witnessing.  So after all this, he motioned to a guy standing about 20 feet away, who turned out to be the Production Manager for the Italy section of the filming.  

The guy I'd been talking to (Peter Graphum by the way) asked the Prod Mgr if, when they return to Siena next month to finish the sequence in another part of town, I could possibly come on set and "help out"!!!!  Without hesitation, the other guy (Gianlucca?) said "Yeah, we'll give him one of the necklace crew tags and everything." (!!!!!)  At this point, I nearly fainted.  Peter then turned back to me and said "well there you are mate.  Just come and find me - I'll be near one of the cranes - we'll get you all set up.  You can spend the day on set, helping out, and you can get a good idea for everything else that's going on, not just the rigging."  

I thanked him profusely, and told them both to expect me back on at least one of those days - May 13-17th.  My mom, step-dad & Sarah will all be in Italy at that time, but they all understand the scope and magnitude of this opportunity, and are showing full support.  Now of course, it could end up raining the day that I go back, and so nothing could happen, or it could end up being the door opening to get my foot in and never look back.  Or it could end up being somewhere in the middle.  But how cool would that be if I got to help out in some capacity, and therefore be able to say that the first movie I ever worked on was a bloody JAMES BOND movie!!!????

Spring Break with Dad!

So as you all know by now, I'm not the most prompt person in the world.  I mean, when it comes to being on time for class, work, appointments, etc., I'm always on time, if not early.  But when it comes to sitting my lovely butt down at the computer and typing about what I've been doing....well we've established that's not necessarily my forte.  So without any further ado.... I bring you - "My 2 weeks later Spring Break adventure with Dad post."  

Hey all, how's it going?  Fabulous.  So as you might have guessed due to the intro, 2 weeks ago was Spring Break.  My kick ass father (henceforth referred to as "Dad") came to spend the week with me.  We were both very excited about it, seeing as how over the years we've done many a trip together.  Mostly road trips around the US, but one short trip to the Netherlands a few years ago.  The biggest difference with this trip was that for the first time, I was going to be the trip leader.  In the past, we've either gone to a new place for the first time together, or Dad was leading the trip, with me as the navigator.  This time, the tables were turned. (Nice alliteration there huh?)  

We spent the first couple of days in Viterbo, hanging out at my apartment and going out during breaks in the rain.  Not the best weather for the beginning of the trip, but it did get better.  Tuesday rolled around and we rented a car and drove south.  We stopped at Anzio Beach along the way, to pay respects to his (step)dad and my Grandpa who fought there in WWII. The town itself shows no signs of battle, and there was only a few small monuments (British though) to show that anything happened there.  Today, the town is a pretty little beach town, and not much else.  Oh well, at least we went at all.

We drove on, and reached our ultimate destination - the lost city of Pompeii.  We got lucky with our hotel that we had booked online, since the place turned out to be right next to 

the main entrance to the ruins.  

Wednesday we spent walking inside, just walking around for several hours.  It turned out that the last week of March was Italian Cultural Heritage Days, and so every monument, museum and ruin-area was free admission.  We talked it over and decided to grab a tour guide for what would've been the amount of our tickets.  It turned out to be the two of us and a couple from Dallas.  Let me tell you - Pompeii is....wow.  So beautiful.  I had no idea it was so well preserved.  I half expected it to be like the Forum in Rome - bits and pieces of buildings and columns lying around, but there were entire buildings still intact, complete with frescoes still painted on the walls.  It was amazing.  (Sarah had told me that it was up to me to decide if we should see when she comes at the end of the semester, and now of course the answer is "hell yeah!")

On Thursday we drove back to Viterbo, and hung out for the evening, while making our plans for Rome over the weekend.  We spent Dad's remaining 3 days in Rome seeing as much as possible.  He obviously wanted to see the Colosseum, the Forum, the Pantheon, and I showed him a bunch of other stuff too.  Something I hadn't seen yet, that we found, was the site of Julius Caesar's assassination.  Pretty cool.  

All in all, we had a great trip/time together.  I got to practice my Italian more than I'd thought I would, and Dad was impressed with that.  We talked about many things while hanging out - the future, Sarah, history, Sarah, etc.  And it was fun using my Italian (what little I have) to help us out, and not seem like stupid Americans.  I even had a pseudo conversation with a very old Italian man on the bus in Rome one night.  So that was pretty cool.  

Prague-tastic

Ahoy ahoy! (Czech for "Hello")


So last weekend was the big trip to Prague! From Friday the 7th til the morning of Tuesday the 11th, Myself, Massimo, Mike, Barbara (& Teddy, her dog) were all in the capital of the Czech Republic.

Single word impressions:
Beautiful,
Majestic,
Historic,
Old-world,
European,
Former Communist state that is still working through the ramifications of said period nearly 20 years later,

Ok, so that last one isn't a single word. Oh well.

After arriving late on Friday, we were ready bright and early Saturday morning to start our tour. Since Barbara had lived
there last semester, she of course was a ready and willing tour guide. We started off by grabbing some crepes for breakfast and seeing this castle /cathedral that you see to the right: Vyserhad. Apparently, in the old days, the lords/dukes/whatever of the area would live in parts of the cathedrals, and have other buildings erected on the grounds for their servants/staff. The same was done for the king's palace (pics further down). We took in the views from this area to get our first ideas of the geography and layout of the city.


Prague is located in a sort of basin, the low point next to the river running through it, with a ring of hills surrounding it, all affording beautiful views of the city from different perspectives. From here, we set off toward the center of town, and our first sense of the city proper. What did we do next you ask? Well, we walked, for 15 hours! We covered so much ground, it's hard to remember what came first, next and last. For starters, there was a twice a year festival going on in one of the main city squares, Starometska. Every Christmas and Easter, the square is filled with wooden shack-like booths of food and trinket vendors. I found this rather ironic after being informed that the Czech people are majority Atheists. But anyway, this square held another distinction of being the location of all of Hitler's speeches in the city. That's the yellow building you see to the right. Apparently, he loved Prague so much, that it was why he set part of his government's seat here, and also why Prague was never bombed by the Nazis.

After grabbing some lunch from a few different vendors (we really did the eating and drinking tour of Prague), we set out for the other side of the river and the palace hill. The route led us across the famous Charles Bridge, a bridge adorned with many statues, artists, musicians, and tons of tourists.


At the base of one of the sculptures, are two bronze plaques, one on either side. The local tradition states that by rubbing specific spots on them, you can make two wishes. For the one on the right, it's a general wish to return to Prague someday. For the one on the left, it's a wish for whatever you desire. Above is yours truly, obviously, making my wish to return to Prague, or "Praha," as the locals call it.

Sunday brought more of the same - lots of walking, lots of eating food & drinking cheap Czech beer (still not my favorite; that would be Belgian, followed by German). The main difference on this day was that Barbara didn't join us, because the previous day's 15 hours of jaunting about took a physical toll, so she decided to rest up and see some old friends while taking it easy. So it was boy's day out, and as I mentioned, we ate alot of food - roasted pork leg sandwiches, chicken-skewers, steak sandwiches, potato pancakes wrapped around sausages, various
pastries, and chocolate-covered bananas and strawberries. Oh, and a small, bizarre pizza of dough, garlic, ketchup and a sprinkling of cheese. (Mike and Massimo ate that one).

We ended up eating at an actual restaurant that night, where we had, among us, boars knee, roast duck, and KANGAROO!! Oh yeah, and a frog leg appetizer. So chalk up two more animals to the list of foods that I've had for the first time ever while being in Europe. So far the list has the following animals - Reindeer (Stockholm trip), Wild Boar (Italy), Hare (Italy), Horse (Italy), Kangaroo & Frog (Prague), and possibly Pheasant (Stockholm) - possibly, because I can't remember if I've had it before or not.

That night, Massimo & I went to "the largest dance club in Eastern Europe," the name of which I can't remember. The place has 5 floors, each with it's own style of music and DJ. It being Sunday however, and not a prime club-going night, there were only 2 floors open. We mainly just hung out and people-watched. After 2 days of lots of cheap Czech beer, we really weren't in the mood for any kind of alcohol, so we didn't have any. One floor was playing some really industrial techno, and the other was playing top-40 type pop songs. LAAAAAAME. The highlight of the night, for Massimo anyway, was seeing this one cute girl, who happened to be from Italy. He never spoke a word to her, but he couldn't take his eyes off her either. It was love at first sight, for him at least. In the end, he let her leave without trying to talk to her, but he certainly talked about her for the rest of the trip, to anyone that would listen anyway.

So Monday brought with it the plans to go to a town about an hour outside of Prague - Kutna Hora, and see a bone church, and the village it occupies. However, before leaving we (luckily) read a few Czech guide books and found out that the church is closed on Mondays from Oct-April. That put the kibosh on those plans. (Add that to the sold out opera we wanted to see on Saturday, and there were two plans that got ruined.) We thought about it for a few and decided to stay in Prague that day, since it was our last day in town, and there was still a few things we wanted to see, including their imitation Eiffel Tower, and the giant Metronome on one of the hills. Massimo & I set off together and Mike & Barbara together.

As it turned out, the tower was only open on the weekends, so we went 50 yards away to see the mirror maze, which ALSO turned out to be closed during the week.

Double lame.

The other thing that we wanted to do, and actually were able to, was go see the giant metronome that stands on one of the opposing hills. The story with that is there used to be a massive statue of Joseph Stalin on the hill, overlooking the city during the rule of Communism. He chose the spot because it looked out over all of Prague. Naturally, after the fall of communism, the people of Prague decided they wanted this statue no longer. So of course the obvious option was to replace it with a giant metronome. I didn't understand the meaning/symbolism behind it, and apparently neither did Barbara, nor anyone else I asked. We tried to figure out a few ideas, such as it standing for the Czech people getting back their rhythm, or getting back a regular routine, but we were told that the Czech people don't think that deeply. Oh well, another unsolved mystery.

All in all, a mighty fine trip to the Czech Republic. Our flight there and back took us through Bratislava, Slovakia, and on the trip home we had a 3 hour layover. I figured I would at least walk outside and find some dirt to walk on, to say that I'd walked on Slovakian soil. I did one better. Just outside the rather small airport was a large city map showing the airport literally being on the edge of the city. I figured "what the hell," and went for a walk while the other 3 stayed inside. Just off the airport property was the edge of town. Unfortunately, it was the industrial part of town, but there was however an IKEA store. I figured in honor of all my parents who love the store, that I'd check it out. I ended up buying two small boxes of Swedish cookies...from a Swedish store...in Slovakia. But hey, at least I can say I've been to Slovakia. How many of you out there can say that?

week 8(?) update

To recap for those of you who didn't get the email:

So, I'll just get it out of the way - I suck at getting out regular updates. What can I say? I'm just lame like that. My view has been that when I sent out an update I should have something really cool to say, aside from the everyday nonsense of "I did this today, I did that yesterday...blah, blah, blah." I've been meaning to get this one out for a few weeks, but have been suffering from motivational problems. For one reason or another, I just haven't felt like sending out long emails/posting blogs, but I'm gonna do my best to get back on top of it for the rest of the semester.

But back to the fun stuff: Talking about me, (and my travels)

A couple Fridays ago, I woke up, and on a whim I decided to take off to Florence (Firenze in Italian). I asked my neighbor/friend Barbara if she wanted to join me.

Exact conversation verbatim:

ME - So, Barbara - how are you feeling today? (She has M.S. remember)
BARB - Like shit. Where are we going?
ME - Florence, you want to go?
BARB - Sure, what time?
ME - Half an hour.
BARB - Ok.

Total elapsed time - 30 seconds.

So we hopped on the train, and 3 hours later, we were in Florence. I'd had just enough time between asking her to join me, and our departure to book a hostel on hostelworld.com (a must for any traveler). We stayed there from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon, when we headed back to Viterbo. We hit up 3 different museums. First and foremost we went to the Museo Academia to see THE piece to see in Florence: some statue of a naked dude that was built by one of the Ninja Turtles... For those of you scratching your heads, that was a reference to Michaelangelo...and the DAVID.

Oddly enough, you're not supposed to take pictures there. Most museums that don't allow photography do so because of the flashing damaging the paint. Which makes sense. But we're talking about a giant marble statue, so explain that one. Anyway, me being me - Savage Ron - I snuck a few pics. Barbara figured the reason was to boost the sale of their postcards. Of course. Anywho... the other museums we went to were mainly to see pieces by artists we'd been learning about in our Art History class. (by the way, I'm taking Art History instead of Rennaisance History, which had the most boring teacher ever.)

All in all, we had a busy, fullfilling two and a half days in the capital of the Tuscany province. The only drawback was the fact that we didn't hear enough Italian. We heard so much English, and (surprisingly) Japanese, not to mention French, Spanish and German, that it was almost annoying to not be able to practice our language skills as much as we wanted. We still tried though... However, we ate GREAT while we were there. We seemed to have a knack for finding good places at cheap prices. Friday dinner = 4 courses + 2 beverages for 22 Euros.

Other wise, we just walked around the whole time, taking in the city's beauty. Saturday night I sniffed out a jazz club, so we went and heard a decent quartet for a little while and had some dessert wine. Before we left on Sunday, we hit up an outdoor market, where I got a few knick-knack souvineirs (sp?), but coolest of all - I got two full-length kitchen aprons: One with the torso of David on it, and the other with the torso of "Birth of Venus" (woman riding a clam-shell, naked). I figured they would make good his/her aprons for Sarah & I.

Other than that, not much has been going on over here. Just been hanging out, trying to save my money. I went down to Rome last weekend to catch the sunset over the city. I had nothing else to do. :)

THIS weekend however, is PRAGUE baby! I'm really excited to go. I've heard that it's one of the more beautiful cities in Europe, and I'm going with someone who lived there last fall, so that's even better. As I mentioned last time, Mike (the USAC office helper), Massimo, Barbara and I are the 4 going, and we plan on enjoying the hell out of it. We're planning on seeing the opera Don Giovanni while we're there, based on Barb's very enthusiastic recommendation. So be prepared for more on that soon....

I don't remember who it was, but someone asked about seeing some kind of daily routine. Well here goes:

Mon/Wed/Thurs:
Usually wake up between 11-noon
Get a cappuccino and a pastry of some kind.
Shower before class (if I wake up in time)
Do homework
Have class at 3 or 4
Maybe hit up the grocery store
Walk up & down the Corso (most likely with Teddy), grabbing a cappuccino along the way
Eat dinner (places vary for this one)
Talk to Sarah for a while
Watch a movie or something
Sleep around 2-3am

Tues:
Get up at 8:30am
Grab quick cappuccino
Have boring Travel Writing class 9-11
Rest of day - chill: Read, walk, watch movies, enjoy empty apt, get cappuccino
Walk Corso in evening
Dinner
Go out to local club (not every Tues, but most)
Talk to Sarah
Sleep around 3-4am.

Weekends: Whatever comes to mind; travel, chill, sleep, etc.

Week 4 Italy Update

Feb 3 – end of Week 4.

Well, it’s that time again….time for an update from Italia!
When we last left our world traveling hero – me – I was just getting settled after the first week of being in a new country, new city, new continent, surrounded by new people and a new culture. Well, for all of you sitting on the edge of your seats in anticipation - and I know that’s all of you – I’m happy to report that I’m still in Viterbo, Italy, and I haven’t gone too crazy yet. But let me tell you what I have been up to:

Last weekend, Jan 25-27, I went to Stockholm Sweden with 2 of my roommates and two girls from our program. Stockholm was beautiful. We got there on Friday afternoon, and left early Sunday morning (there was only one flight to Rome everyday – at 7:20am – Lame!), so we were only in town for about 36 hours! We got into town and went to our respective hostels to drop off our stuff and head out on the town, as we had not a minute to waste. My two roommates who came, Massimo and Omar, were staying in a hostel on one of the central islands in the city. That’s right, Stockholm is situated across an archipelago of several islands. The two girls were staying on another island that was actually close to the island that I was due to stay on, so we all decided to walk in that direction together. We should’ve taken my suggestion and rode the metro, seeing as how we ended up walking about 2 miles along the coast of one island, with the cold wind bearing down on us, freezing our ears and faces, but hey, can’t have ‘em all right? Anyway, after the girls found their hostel, it was time to find mine. Seeing as how the reservation for where I was due to stay had been made by another guy in our program who got sick and bailed, I had no idea where the place was, just a name and a phone number. I was directed to a thin green island (as it looked on the map) and told “it’s easy to find once you’re on the Island, you can’t miss us.” Great. Upon seeing that the island was mostly covered in trees and dirt, I was skeptical to say the least when we got to the island. One end was totally dark, but the other end of the island appeared to have a few small buildings with a few lights. Apprehensively, we went in for a closer look. “This is an odd place for a hostel. How the hell did he find this place?” I wondered as we slowly made our way to the small complex of buildings. Finally, we reached a developed little area of the island, where a few medium sized buildings resembling a high school stood, and we saw a sign for the Langholmen Hotel. We had found it! As soon as we entered, I knew this was no ordinary hostel/hotel. After explaining that I was there for a reservation under someone else’s name, and no, he wasn’t with me, I got the receptionist to put me in a room with 2 British guys (whom I hardly ever saw). It was also during this encounter that I realized I had just read about this place a little earlier in a friend’s Let’s Go Europe! guide book. This place was an old prison that had been converted into a hotel in the late 1980’s, and my room was actually an old cell! How cool is that? My cell:

So after I got done checking in, and we procured some restaurant recommendations from the girls behind the counter, we set off in search of sushi. We ended up at Helen’s Sushi (how funny is that?) and had a pretty good meal, save for the fact that they put mayonnaise in their California rolls and didn’t put the orange Salmon Roe on the outside of them.

We spent the rest of the night just kind of wandering around, checking out the nightlife in good ol’ Stockholm. Apparently due to the unusually warm weather they were having (mid 30’s Fahrenheit – take that global warming non-believers) and the fact that it was payday, meant that the streets were actually packed with Swede’s running around from here to there. Crazy Swedes. Not really though, everyone we met and talked to was actually very nice. Everyone speaks Swedish and English, EVERYONE. English is actually taught from 2nd grade all the way through graduation of high school, and you can’t graduate unless they’re fluent in it. Really makes you wonder why the US doesn’t do that with Spanish. The city itself is remarkably clean and surprisingly modern. We ended up finding an Absolute Ice Bar – one of only 4 in the world. Naturally we had to check it out (Don’t worry, no one’s tongue got stuck to anything). It was actually pretty cool – yes, pun intended. We got lots of pictures and had only 2 drinks seeing as how they were about 9 Euro (after conversion) each. But when the hell else are we gonna be able to go into a bar made of ice?

Me and the small Ice Bar Menu.

Saturday morning, we all wandered around by ourselves, seeing as how we all wanted to see different stuff, and decided to meet up for lunch. Myself, I walked all around the city center, up and down their main walking street that’s full of shops. I got few souvenirs, including a pair of Birkenstock sandals from an actual Birkenstock store(!), which I had never seen before. Come to find out, it’s the only one in Sweden, so there! I made my way to the “top” of the walking street, which is like the “corso” in Italian cities. When I got the high end, there was a small knob of a hill that afforded some good views of part of the city. Seeing as how Stockholm is a coast city, there aren’t too many elevation changes, but true to my nature, I found one of the high spots. The knob had views of half of the city, with the other half being blocked by trees or buildings. I sat there for a little while, eating some chocolates I had bought and drinking in the cool Scandinavian air.

When it came time for lunch we met up and went to find some authentic Swedish food. What we did find was a place that had chalk boards outside proclaiming that they served Reindeer, Elk, and Venison. Sold right then, we went in without even seeing the name of the place. Turns out it’s the Glenfiddich Warehouse. Roughly 100 types of Scotch/Irish whiskey stared up at us from the menu, calling us to drink it. But seeing as how it was only 1:30 in the afternoon, we passed. 3 people in our group got the Reindeer, I got the rack of Venison, and the other got the Elk. They were all magnificent. The reindeer had one of the best sauces I’ve ever had in my life – a lingonberry cream sauce, which was more cream than berry, but it was amazing.

After lunch, we split back up and Massimo & I went to find a restaurant that was rumored to have 44 course dinners. After lunch, we figured the bar had been set pretty high, and we needed to find something that would fit the bill. We walked to 2 different islands, directed there by confused Swedes, neither of which turned out to be the right place. One of the islands didn’t even have restaurants of any kind, just a collection of museums. Confused, cold, and tired, we decided to ask the ladies behind the museum counter if THEY knew where it was. They looked at the address we had written down, and pointed to the street where Massimo and Omar’s hostel was, on the edge of the island we had just been on. DAMNIT!! So we walked all the way back over to that island and find the building – directly across the street from his hostel! Only thing is, the restaurant is not there anymore. We decided to warm up, and seeing as how it was right there, we stepped into his hostel to ask the receptionist for some help. After much hassle on her part, and appreciation on ours, it was discovered that the restaurant had closed and was set to reopen in ten days inside of a new hotel. So close, but so far. We asked her for some recommendations and decided on one of them – a medieval restaurant that specialized in Swedish medieval food.

It was a good companion to our amazing lunch. No light bulbs, only candles. No chairs, only benches and stools (which hurt the ass a lot). And lots of amazing food: Pheasant, medieval bacon, ribs, apples, kraut, chick pea soup, and our personal favorite (at least in name) was a stew of rooster, which the waitress had translated as a “castrated cock.” What we think she meant was “beheaded” or “decapitated”, but it was just so funny we had to order it. They also had beaver on the menu, but the kitchen was out that day, due to a late shipment. Oh well, can’t have it all. At the end of the meal, the waitress asked us if we wanted any vodka that they made in the restaurant. There were 3 kinds – one with jalapenos, one with something else, and one with something she couldn’t translate. Being adventurous, Massimo and I said bring us both one of the last kind. Turns out, what she couldn’t translate was horseradish, and boy was it potent. The looks on our faces say it all:

The rest of the night, we spent at a local club, dancing it up with local Swedes. It didn’t take long for me to remember how much I hate going to bars/clubs like that. Too many stupid slutty girls, and too many stupid douche bag guys trying to hit on said females. LAAAAME! Seeing as how our flight was at the asscrack of dawn, and we needed to take an hour long bus ride there, we all decided not to even sleep that night, so we stayed out till 3 o’clock, headed back to our hostels, got our crap, and hopped on the 4am bus to the airport. After a few minor hassles at the airport, we were ready to go – except Omar. When booking his flight, and sitting next to other people doing the same, the numbskull booked his return flight for MONDAY morning instead of SUNDAY morning. So he was stuck in Stockholm, or rather at the airport and hour away, for an extra day. Oh well. As we got on the plane, the good weather we had been fortunate enough to experience decided to leave, as the snow started falling in droves. Figure the odds. All in all, a whirlwind, but rewarding trip. Worth going back, but also worth staying longer than 36 hours.

Whew! That’s a lot to catch you up on. And that’s not even talking about the weekend we spent in Rome the week before that. Let me sum that up for you – Rome is beautiful, old, noisy, full of ruins, and full of tourists. Check it out.
Up next on the Itinerary of Ron the World Traveler – Prague, Czech Republic, at the beginning of March: Friday the 6th through Tuesday the 11th. I’ll be going with Massimo, Mike (one of the USAC staff) and Barbara, the woman mentioned in the last post. She studied there last semester, so she’ll be acting as our tour guide.

Anyway, tonight is the Super Bowl, which starts at mid-night here. Massimo’s Italian tongue and my smarts have talked a local restaurant owner to stay open and let us come watch the game. We had a signup sheet to see how many people would be interested in watching the game, and 40 of the 60 people in the USAC program signed up. The reason for that was to make sure we had a large enough group to make it worth the guy’s trouble to stay open until 3:30/4am. His place always shows soccer games, but they also usually close about 12 or 1am, so he said as a favor to us, loyal regulars that we are, he would be willing to consider it if we could make it worth it. We told him 40 people, and he said that would be enough. So I thank myself for the idea, and Massimo for doing the talking. It should be fun.

Anyway, much love to all, and have a fun Super Bowl Sunday.

Peace out,

~Ron

Week One Italy Update

(ed. note - this was originally written 3 weeks ago, and several things have changed, such as the creation of this blog. Original date - January 13, 2008)

Ciao!

First off, apologies for the small amount of contact this first week. As you may be able to imagine, its been pretty hectic, what with trying to get settled in, get my bearings in a new (very cool) strange town, having some sort of orientation almost every day since we got here - allthough i think those are finally over, starting our italian classes, dicking with my schedule, and having to register our presence with the local authorities to recieve our permit of stay. whew!

let's begin with the town of Viterbo itself. its about 60 miles or so north of Rome, close to the region of Tuscany. population is roughly 60,000, which was lower than i initially thought, nearly all of them have no or very little english experience/knowledge. the initiall excitement of being in a foreign, medieval city has slightly worn off, and the other day i had my first real frustration with feeling isoltated and alone, due to the communication barrier. everyday i'm learning a few more italian words/phrases, so its getting better. The main part of the town is enclosed in a large wall that dates back to the medieval times when the town was closed off from outsides attackers. "In the walls" is the center of town, the downtown area, and where i'm living with 3 other guys. as of right now we have no internet in the house, which also accounts for my lack of communication. we're hoping to have some installed in the next week, or ASAP. there are 4 women in the apartment next door to ours who are also students, and we've all agreed to split the cost of installation and monthly net bill, so the hope is as soon as possible we will have access. untill then, i will try to make it to a net cafè, where i am right now, and check my email and other necessary updates.

my roommates, as i said, are 3 other guys - 2 of which are pretty cool - Massimo & Assaf, and the other who annoys me allready - Omar. Massimo's family is actually from italy, so he speaks fluently, and believe me that has been helpful this past week in needing translations and other help. Assaf is actually an Israeli who had been studying in Colorado, and got in the USAC program that way. Omar is just plain boring, and doesnt seem to have much experience interacting with others and doesn't understand the idea of sharing groceries, etc... but i digress.

For the most part i've been avoiding the large groups of Americans that rove around in packs, sticking out like a monkey in a jewlery store (bull in a china shop/ elephant in the room just seemed too clichè). I have met some really cool people though, including one woman who is almost 50 and is from Tennessee. Her name is Barbara and she has M.S., so she walks with a guide dog named Teddy who is a huge, but loveable black Newfoundland dog. i look forward to hearing more of her stories and soaking up knowledge, as she seems to have alot of life experience.
another big thing that takes some getting used to is the pace of life over here, and the hours that the town keeps. all the stores generally close from 1-4:30 or so for "pausa pranzo" or lunch break, giving their employees time to go home to their families or go to lunch at a restaurant, which are the only things open at that time. Then at about 4:30, the streets become packed with people just walking around, seeing others and shopping, or getting a "caffè" or esspresso as we know it. this is the time when the restaurants close down for their breaks, before opening back up at 8 for dinner, which lasts until mid-night or so. certainly different that we're used to in the states, but still cool. oh, and EVERYTHING is closed on sunday. the only exception being the few places (like this cafe) that aren't owned by italians who observe the sabbath.My schedule has changed significantly since i got here. initially i had signed up for:

Elem. Italian I
WWII: Mediterranian and Beyond
Fall & Rise: From the Roman to British Empires
Italy in the Rennesaince (sp?)
Italian Conversation

I choose 5 classes under the assumption that they were semsester long 3-credit courses like we have in the US. I was wrong. Elementary Italian I is only half the semsester and its worth 4 credits. Elem. It II is the second half and it's also 4 credits. So, get rid of Italian conversation and add Elm. II. The WWII and Fall & Rise classes are being taught by a visiting prof who has never done this before and so he brought his upper level 400-level classes here expecting the same requirements as he normally does - 5 books for each class, 5 papers each. NO THANK YOU!!! as much as those topics interest me, i didn't come halfway around the world to sit in my room doing homework the whole semseter. so say good bye to those classes (people are dropping thoses classes left and right). Which leaves Italy in the Rennesaince (sp?). Don't worry, i'm keeping that one. I also added Travel Writing, in order to assure i have the needed 14 credits to graduate. So my schedule now looks like this:

Elem. Italian I & II - 4 credits each for 8 credits total
Travel Writng - 3 crd.
Italy in the Rennesaince (sp?) - 3 crd.
----------------------Total = 14 credits - enough to graduate!!!

so that's basically whats up over here. so far this past week the only classes were the Italian classes, but the rest all start this week. I think it'll be a good semester. Next weekend there is a group day trip to Rome on Friday, but we have the option of staying through the weekend and coming back on our own; we will.

much love and peace out!

~Ron