So Fall Break at Michigan is all of 2 days, plus the weekend lol. You study hard for midterms, they reward you with the only break you'll see until the holidays or Spring Break. Here, they gave us 10 days. Was not prepared for that! For Fall Break, me and 5 of my boys, Chris, 2 Matts, Jim and Joe decided to do a lot of travelling, so we hit up Barcelona (Spain), Edinburgh (Scotland), Amsterdam, and Milan.
Before I get into the break, there's a quick disclaimer that will be important as you continue to read. So there was almost a strike on the Italian transportation system the day we left, so to avoid any conflict, we got charter bus tickets to Pisa (that's where our flight left from, good ole' RyanAir). Our flight left at like 6am, so we got the 3:30am bus. Everything in Florence shuts down around 2am, so we were stuck outside the bus station, freezing and giggling because we were so tired. We had 2 extras with us for this flight, Steven and Laura, 2 interesting characters in the Villa. Laura is very loud and Steven is just.....Steven, a corny, chubby, Jewish white guy that sings all the time. So after Laura's failed attempt to make us play "Never Have I Ever", Steven feels the need to make us laugh. He pulls out his computer and starts playing Too Short songs!! I was in tears laughing so hard, especially in the middle of the night. Needless to say, this was the beginning of our adventure.
Barcelona was definitely my favorite city. The language barrier wasn't that bad, even though they speak Catalan mostly instead of Spanish. It was easy to navigate and travel once I got used to metro system, and I mean who wouldn't love a big city with a beach!? Anyhow, the first 10 minutes in Barcelona made the next 3 days just a joy. We had to bus into the city from the airport, and then navigate our way to the hostel we booked. It's early morning in late October and it's still 70 degrees, so I took off my jacket and put on my sunglasses. We're walking down the street and this girl just starts screaming at me in Spanish and I have no idea what she's saying....until I hear "rapper". I was already confused enough as it is because I'd barely slept, but this girl was following me because she really thought I was a rapper! Hahaha so funny! All she had was this marker and I didn't have any paper, so to get her to leave me alone I signed her boob with the marker and kept it moving!! The laughing quickly turned to near tears when I got to the hostel and my debit card didn't work so 1 of the guys had to spot me. Didn't work at atm's, restaurants, nothing. Then we get in our room, it's 6 guys, and it's pink. That kinda made me laugh, and it was good to see one of my friends, Brittany (studying in London) who I invited because it was her birthday. All in all, I spent the next couple of days back and forth with my dad and Faith to get my card and money situation taken care of. Our hostel had a kitchen so I got to make omelettes too, they were so good! All the food we had was good, the beach was great, the sites were great, the clubs were HI-larious, and we had a great time!
Edinburgh was def the most interesting city. There were so many sites, so many things to do, and the people were so nice! It was great to speak English again lol, but the British pound is even better than the Euro, which meant a bigger whole in my pocket. At this point I could use my debit card everywhere except atm's, which still sucked. Our hostel was right outside Edinburgh Castle which was really cool. We found a long walking tour of the city that was free so we did that, and learned a lot about the city and different folk tales and urban legends that surround it. The tour guide was from Chicago but decided to go to grad school and live there. Saw the Elephant Cafe, the spot where J.K. Rawling wrote Harry Potter- that was pretty cool though I'm not much of a Potter fan. We also saw the cemetary that inspired some of the characters and there's a school near it that I guess inspired Hogwarts. The guys went on another tour and a pub crawl the next day, I stayed behind to try to figure out my card situation while I was in an English speaking city lol. They saw Lake Lochness and met Hamish, our new best friend, the highland cow who single-handedly pimped his way into restoring his species! I checked out the city a bit, including a couple of museums that were free. The most interesting thing I saw was Dolly the Cloned Sheep. Great city, but super expensive.
And finally, last and certainly least, was Amsterdam. I don't know what the duece I was thinking going to this place lol. I've heard about it and seen movies portraying it and people talking about it, but actually being there was a completely different story. If you got hair on your peaches and got some silly friends, give it a shot! I would never go back there though, that place is of satan lol. Yes the Coffee Shops do legit hook you up with whatever weed you want, and yes they are everywhere. I learned the difference between being stoned and high my 1st hour of being in the city! I did not smoke at all, but did get high on accident. When you go in coffee shop and you don't smoke, don't buy anything! I bought a sucker because I wanted a sucker, turns out it was dipped in cannabis oil. I was so confused and silly for like 3 hours lol. The Red Light District is a very interesting place as well. Sex everywhere! Chicks standing in the window at all times of day, coaxing you to come in and spend money, down for whatever. No sir. It's kinda sad, but I don't feel sorry for them. The most interesting thing I saw in Amsterdam was Anne Frank's house, which was turned into a museum. The Dutch are nuts, their language sucks, and this was marked the beginning of my homesickness.
Stay turned!
Ciao!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Playing Catch-Up (Part 1)
Sorry Mr. Blog for forgetting about you. My laptop charger sparked and almost burned my sheets so computer access has been limited.....
Hello World!
It is absolutely impossible to try to give a play by play of events between Oktoberfest and now. I could write a novel about Oktoberfest to now lol. Things have changed, people have changed, lives have changed (literally), and I'm so overwhelmed that at this point I really wanna go home. Yeah I said it, home. Detroit, Motor City, Murder Mitten, 313 I miss you. Never thought in a billion years I'd say that, but that's how things have turned out.
I'll start with Oktoberfest. I truly believe that was a decision made out of pure curiosity, nothing more or less. I thought I knew what I was getting into, false. The long bus ride (8 hours) was awful, and upon arrival at the camp site I was greeted with a cup of beer by our host Australians. False. I'm here to laugh and take in Germany, not to drink, especially God-awful beer. We bussed to the festival and the games began. I was under the impression that Oktoberfest was a big festival where everyone was drunk and stuff and that wasn't entirely true. It was like a big State Fair.....on drugs lol. Germans everywhere, from little kids to beer maidens to rude/drunk Dirk Nowitski looking dudes. Needless to say, it was an adventure. One of my boys kept getting hammered and leaving the group, and me being the sober one I kept looking for him. I gave up after a while lol, knowing he'd find his way back. It rained (and hailed) the 1st night, so the whole weekend was ruined by muddy wetness all over the campsite. The only thing I got out of Oktoberfest was a chance to go see Dachau (Nazi) Concentrate Camp. It was DEEP. Glad I got to go to Germany? Mmm hmm. Would I go back? Nuh uh.
The weekend after that was Venice. Unlike any place I've ever been in my life. I'm used to cars, electronics, you know modern day stuff. No sir. Italians are late bloomers when it comes to electronics and stuff like that, so I pretty much have to reserve my nerdy side for my return to America. And you don't have cars in Venice, you have a boat. They don't have streets in Venice, they have canals. So you don't cross the street, you cross a bridge. Lol it was so weird and kind of a chore navigating through there. I feel like it would get old after a while. Couldn't live there but would definitely visit. Got to see one of, if not the most, beautiful churches I've ever seen in my life. In America there are megachurches, where thousands of people congregate. It's pretty modern and standard. This church took like a century to build; ceilings were guilded in gold, walls made from marble, the tomb of St. Mark (that's right, Mark from the Bible), it was just overwhelming. Paintings everywhere, then a golden frame structured with every jewel you can think of to symbolize the effort and worth of the place I was in. I promised myself I would write a poem about it, it's gonna question pretty much if people today put effort into their lives the way those that built this church did, the world would be such a better place. Also, for the ladies, I saw a wedding come in on a gondole, which is a long, expensive boat that shows a sign of wealth. The wedding party was escorted around the city, and when they stopped the streets crowded around to see the bride. It's gonna suck getting married, the wife is gonna get all the attention lol. I could wear hooping shorts and no one would notice because they're worried about her haha.
The next weekend, there was hiking in the Italian Alps, not the Swiss Alps. I was lied to lol. It was still cool though, I got to see the famous Marble Mountains. There is a cave and excavation site about a 1/4 mile deep into the mountain, where marble is excavated from and shipped all over the world. Expensive stuff too, I saw a slab of marble worth about 200,000 euro (about half a million USD). It was really nice. Got to hike the mountain, took a billion pics, and had a good time. By this time, my butt was starting to flatten from the hours of bus riding every weekend lol. The next weekend was midterms season, so I grinded out in the library to make sure I did well in all my classes. Nobody believes I'm actually in school because of all this traveling lol, so I plan to burst they bubbles with a 4.0 this semester!
Other than travel, I wrote a pretty good number of poems, had a bunch of laughs and met some really interesting people. I also intern at this local elementary school teaching 4th graders English. They are so funny, all they wanna do is ask questions and play Simon Says lol. Stinkin' kids!
Part 2 gets juicy! Stay tuned!
Hello World!
It is absolutely impossible to try to give a play by play of events between Oktoberfest and now. I could write a novel about Oktoberfest to now lol. Things have changed, people have changed, lives have changed (literally), and I'm so overwhelmed that at this point I really wanna go home. Yeah I said it, home. Detroit, Motor City, Murder Mitten, 313 I miss you. Never thought in a billion years I'd say that, but that's how things have turned out.
I'll start with Oktoberfest. I truly believe that was a decision made out of pure curiosity, nothing more or less. I thought I knew what I was getting into, false. The long bus ride (8 hours) was awful, and upon arrival at the camp site I was greeted with a cup of beer by our host Australians. False. I'm here to laugh and take in Germany, not to drink, especially God-awful beer. We bussed to the festival and the games began. I was under the impression that Oktoberfest was a big festival where everyone was drunk and stuff and that wasn't entirely true. It was like a big State Fair.....on drugs lol. Germans everywhere, from little kids to beer maidens to rude/drunk Dirk Nowitski looking dudes. Needless to say, it was an adventure. One of my boys kept getting hammered and leaving the group, and me being the sober one I kept looking for him. I gave up after a while lol, knowing he'd find his way back. It rained (and hailed) the 1st night, so the whole weekend was ruined by muddy wetness all over the campsite. The only thing I got out of Oktoberfest was a chance to go see Dachau (Nazi) Concentrate Camp. It was DEEP. Glad I got to go to Germany? Mmm hmm. Would I go back? Nuh uh.
The weekend after that was Venice. Unlike any place I've ever been in my life. I'm used to cars, electronics, you know modern day stuff. No sir. Italians are late bloomers when it comes to electronics and stuff like that, so I pretty much have to reserve my nerdy side for my return to America. And you don't have cars in Venice, you have a boat. They don't have streets in Venice, they have canals. So you don't cross the street, you cross a bridge. Lol it was so weird and kind of a chore navigating through there. I feel like it would get old after a while. Couldn't live there but would definitely visit. Got to see one of, if not the most, beautiful churches I've ever seen in my life. In America there are megachurches, where thousands of people congregate. It's pretty modern and standard. This church took like a century to build; ceilings were guilded in gold, walls made from marble, the tomb of St. Mark (that's right, Mark from the Bible), it was just overwhelming. Paintings everywhere, then a golden frame structured with every jewel you can think of to symbolize the effort and worth of the place I was in. I promised myself I would write a poem about it, it's gonna question pretty much if people today put effort into their lives the way those that built this church did, the world would be such a better place. Also, for the ladies, I saw a wedding come in on a gondole, which is a long, expensive boat that shows a sign of wealth. The wedding party was escorted around the city, and when they stopped the streets crowded around to see the bride. It's gonna suck getting married, the wife is gonna get all the attention lol. I could wear hooping shorts and no one would notice because they're worried about her haha.
The next weekend, there was hiking in the Italian Alps, not the Swiss Alps. I was lied to lol. It was still cool though, I got to see the famous Marble Mountains. There is a cave and excavation site about a 1/4 mile deep into the mountain, where marble is excavated from and shipped all over the world. Expensive stuff too, I saw a slab of marble worth about 200,000 euro (about half a million USD). It was really nice. Got to hike the mountain, took a billion pics, and had a good time. By this time, my butt was starting to flatten from the hours of bus riding every weekend lol. The next weekend was midterms season, so I grinded out in the library to make sure I did well in all my classes. Nobody believes I'm actually in school because of all this traveling lol, so I plan to burst they bubbles with a 4.0 this semester!
Other than travel, I wrote a pretty good number of poems, had a bunch of laughs and met some really interesting people. I also intern at this local elementary school teaching 4th graders English. They are so funny, all they wanna do is ask questions and play Simon Says lol. Stinkin' kids!
Part 2 gets juicy! Stay tuned!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
I'm Goin' In!
Okay so I've made Italy seem like this perfect place (which it kinda is) and America seems like this crazy land (it has it's moments) and Detroit is hell on Earth (as of 2010, yeah). However, there are things that I'm beginning to get pissed about, things I'm still not used to, and things I'm really craving!
I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I already went to bed really late, mostly because I'm stupid, but I figured since I don't have class until 4pm I should be good. False! I got woke up in the middle of a Faith Lucas/Eva Mendes dream to the frickin housekeeper taking the sheets off my bed!!! No lie! I'm literally asleep/in Heaven 1 minute, the next I'm watching Hector or Carlos or whatever his name is yank the sheets off my bed like he's Michael Jackson and I'm Macaulay Culkin! Detroit almost came out ya'll.....but I was so confused and amazed that this was happening, all I could do was sit there, bewildered and violated. I got something for him though. The stupid Italian toilets are like built to hold doo doo stains (American toilets it goes right to the water, here no matter how you sit it's hitting the wall....), so I waited til Bruno finished cleaning my bathroom and lit that joint on fire! Jerk....
That's only the beginning. The food is absolutely delicious, but I'm too spontaneous for it. I need variety. And I need well done meat. I like roast beef, but the keyword in ROAST beef is ROAST, NOT PINK! I don't want hot potatoes, fresh zucchini and cold meat man! That's bass ackwards! We had some pork loin with this prune gravy yesterday, had me on the toilet a record 5 times in one day.....Make funny faces and call me nasty all you want, this is my blog! (pouts) Then there's only so much pasta a brother can eat! Spaghetti is my favorite food, I love lasagna, butterfly noodles, penne, all of it, but can I once get a hamburger!? McDonald's is not gonna do it, I need coney island clogged artery burgers yo. Guess I just gotta get used to it....
Of course, since we're complaining, gotta throw Michigan in there. In one of my previous blogs I spoke about how they charged me tuition though I was in ITALY not MICHIGAN, but whatever. So my refund check hits my account, and hallelujah it's less than half of what I expected to be! This comes a day after I find out I'm gonna be doing more traveling that originally planned because they close the Villa for Fall Break. Can't get a budget increase because I received the maximum amount of money possible without taking out a private loan, can't avoid not spending money, cannot win for losing....go blue.....
So everyone got this Italian cell phone. I was told pay 40 euros, 20 of it being a deposit that I get back as long as it's not damaged, and I get 4000 free texts within Europe and free incoming international calls. Sounds pretty handy right? False. A week after having the phone I found myself at Esselunga (the market down the street) buying a calling card. Won't be using that very much.
And if I get asked the famous question, "Is it true about black guys...?" 1 more time, I'm gonna whip it out and put it on someone's forehead!!!!
Ok, that wasn't God-like, but it was still funny, so I'll keep it.
There is some good news though. Every weekend after this weekend I'm booked up. Next weekend is Oktoberfest, famous German beer fest in Munich, Germany. Should be hilarious, especially being the only sober clown there. The weekend after that the group is spending the night in Venice. Then there's a hiking trip to the Swiss Alps, I'm in that mug. After that, studying for midterms, and then Fall Break, where it's looking like the crew will be hittin up Barcelona, Amsterdam, and a tba location. Couple weeks after Fall Break is our weekend in Rome, and before I know it I'll be home. Hope I can make it until then.....
Until next time!
Ciao!
I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I already went to bed really late, mostly because I'm stupid, but I figured since I don't have class until 4pm I should be good. False! I got woke up in the middle of a Faith Lucas/Eva Mendes dream to the frickin housekeeper taking the sheets off my bed!!! No lie! I'm literally asleep/in Heaven 1 minute, the next I'm watching Hector or Carlos or whatever his name is yank the sheets off my bed like he's Michael Jackson and I'm Macaulay Culkin! Detroit almost came out ya'll.....but I was so confused and amazed that this was happening, all I could do was sit there, bewildered and violated. I got something for him though. The stupid Italian toilets are like built to hold doo doo stains (American toilets it goes right to the water, here no matter how you sit it's hitting the wall....), so I waited til Bruno finished cleaning my bathroom and lit that joint on fire! Jerk....
That's only the beginning. The food is absolutely delicious, but I'm too spontaneous for it. I need variety. And I need well done meat. I like roast beef, but the keyword in ROAST beef is ROAST, NOT PINK! I don't want hot potatoes, fresh zucchini and cold meat man! That's bass ackwards! We had some pork loin with this prune gravy yesterday, had me on the toilet a record 5 times in one day.....Make funny faces and call me nasty all you want, this is my blog! (pouts) Then there's only so much pasta a brother can eat! Spaghetti is my favorite food, I love lasagna, butterfly noodles, penne, all of it, but can I once get a hamburger!? McDonald's is not gonna do it, I need coney island clogged artery burgers yo. Guess I just gotta get used to it....
Of course, since we're complaining, gotta throw Michigan in there. In one of my previous blogs I spoke about how they charged me tuition though I was in ITALY not MICHIGAN, but whatever. So my refund check hits my account, and hallelujah it's less than half of what I expected to be! This comes a day after I find out I'm gonna be doing more traveling that originally planned because they close the Villa for Fall Break. Can't get a budget increase because I received the maximum amount of money possible without taking out a private loan, can't avoid not spending money, cannot win for losing....go blue.....
So everyone got this Italian cell phone. I was told pay 40 euros, 20 of it being a deposit that I get back as long as it's not damaged, and I get 4000 free texts within Europe and free incoming international calls. Sounds pretty handy right? False. A week after having the phone I found myself at Esselunga (the market down the street) buying a calling card. Won't be using that very much.
And if I get asked the famous question, "Is it true about black guys...?" 1 more time, I'm gonna whip it out and put it on someone's forehead!!!!
Ok, that wasn't God-like, but it was still funny, so I'll keep it.
There is some good news though. Every weekend after this weekend I'm booked up. Next weekend is Oktoberfest, famous German beer fest in Munich, Germany. Should be hilarious, especially being the only sober clown there. The weekend after that the group is spending the night in Venice. Then there's a hiking trip to the Swiss Alps, I'm in that mug. After that, studying for midterms, and then Fall Break, where it's looking like the crew will be hittin up Barcelona, Amsterdam, and a tba location. Couple weeks after Fall Break is our weekend in Rome, and before I know it I'll be home. Hope I can make it until then.....
Until next time!
Ciao!
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Adjustments, Adjustments
Hello hello!
The jet lag has finally filed for divorce. Stayed up late talking to the wife on Skype every night, but my class schedule enabled me to sleep in a bit so I'm good. Things are starting to kind seem like normal, can't believe it's been over a week already. Still no homesickness. I think the more I stay here, the more I realize how truly jacked up America is. There's no tipping waiters in Europe, unless you want to or really enjoyed the restaurant, because tips are included in the wages here. They have minimum wage, but it actually benefits them. Stupid Americans.....
Anyway, guess I'll start with school. Started on Monday. I'm in Italian 101, European Societies (sociology), and Crusades of the Holy Land. I was also enrolled in Origins and Birth, but the lady talked entire too much about absolutely nothing lol, and there was like a midterm, a final, and a 1000 word paper due every week. She must not know me lol, so to spare her feelings and my own sanity as the only dude in the class, I dropped it and picked up Western European history. I wanted this class called Italy and the Invention of America but I didn't guess I signed up too late, or maybe "The Man" wasn't ready for a black man to know the truth about the formation of America and how we got there. Who knows.
Holy Crusades and Western European history are taught by the same professor. This old man is like 429 years old and talks with an accent at .0007 miles per hour if you can imagine that. No finals or homework, just a midterm and a paper so he can count me in that mug! He's nice and pretty funny. I'm even more interested in Holy Crusades because it's a combination of history and philosophy it seems, and he's kind of challenged religion. I'm always down for defending Jesus! Long as I can stay awake.....
European Societies is cool too. He talks a little bit faster so I can at least stay awake and be interested. We spend most of the time discussing issues that affect Europe economically, judicially, socially, and politically. Only have it twice a week so that's fine with me.
Italian 1 is by far my favorite. Not just because of my interest in the language, but because of how easy it is to learn. Knowing Spanish I thought would help me, but it actually hurts me because I get numbers and phrases mixed up a lot. But we move at a decent pace and I'm able to understand my professor who's really nice.
Marcus, Faith's uncle and my employer the past couple summers because Compuware (ahem) kept dissing me (louder ahem), thought I did such a good job that we worked out a way for me to work for him while I'm over here lol. He does like a billion things within a thousand businesses by himself, and he has me as an appraiser doing Broker Price Opinion (BPO) reports online. Hustling from overseas yo!!! I'm glad we worked that out. U of M's Office of Financial Aid continues to screw me over every semester. It's like they never get tired and are actually angry that I'm going there for free. Not my fault. So after finding out they had the gall to charge me tuition though I'm other side of the frickin world and had to pay for this program, they delayed my refund check until Monday the 13th, which means I've been living off the cash I brought with me. (sigh) I just gotta keep reminding myself I'm in this situation so my kids won't have to be.......
Haven't had gelato every day, but I'm still addicted to it. I haven't liked everything I've tried, like some of the cheeses and eggplant, but I'll say 90% of the food I've had so far is delicious. And surprisingly healthy. We have soup every day with lunch, and today we had potatoes, spinach, and salmon. The salmon was absolutely frickin delicious lol, literally the best I've had. I've been running and doing push-ups and stuff because I don't wanna come home a little piggy. Oh and everyone here drinks wine and alcohol! I've tried so hard to get into wine but it's nasty! So bitter! I heard the older the bottle the better it is, and Asti is sweeter than bitter Brut wine. Water for me please!
A lot of travel opportunities ahead too. Going to Siene tomorrow, Venice the 1st week in October and Rome sometime next month. Oktoberfest (European beer fest) is going on in a couple weeks in Munich, Germany and I got talked into going. It's cheap, and I don't drink so I want pics galore as the only sober man there lol! Might be hitting up Switzerland next month too, depending on how money looks. Time is flying though! I'll be home in no time!
Until next time, ciao!
The jet lag has finally filed for divorce. Stayed up late talking to the wife on Skype every night, but my class schedule enabled me to sleep in a bit so I'm good. Things are starting to kind seem like normal, can't believe it's been over a week already. Still no homesickness. I think the more I stay here, the more I realize how truly jacked up America is. There's no tipping waiters in Europe, unless you want to or really enjoyed the restaurant, because tips are included in the wages here. They have minimum wage, but it actually benefits them. Stupid Americans.....
Anyway, guess I'll start with school. Started on Monday. I'm in Italian 101, European Societies (sociology), and Crusades of the Holy Land. I was also enrolled in Origins and Birth, but the lady talked entire too much about absolutely nothing lol, and there was like a midterm, a final, and a 1000 word paper due every week. She must not know me lol, so to spare her feelings and my own sanity as the only dude in the class, I dropped it and picked up Western European history. I wanted this class called Italy and the Invention of America but I didn't guess I signed up too late, or maybe "The Man" wasn't ready for a black man to know the truth about the formation of America and how we got there. Who knows.
Holy Crusades and Western European history are taught by the same professor. This old man is like 429 years old and talks with an accent at .0007 miles per hour if you can imagine that. No finals or homework, just a midterm and a paper so he can count me in that mug! He's nice and pretty funny. I'm even more interested in Holy Crusades because it's a combination of history and philosophy it seems, and he's kind of challenged religion. I'm always down for defending Jesus! Long as I can stay awake.....
European Societies is cool too. He talks a little bit faster so I can at least stay awake and be interested. We spend most of the time discussing issues that affect Europe economically, judicially, socially, and politically. Only have it twice a week so that's fine with me.
Italian 1 is by far my favorite. Not just because of my interest in the language, but because of how easy it is to learn. Knowing Spanish I thought would help me, but it actually hurts me because I get numbers and phrases mixed up a lot. But we move at a decent pace and I'm able to understand my professor who's really nice.
Marcus, Faith's uncle and my employer the past couple summers because Compuware (ahem) kept dissing me (louder ahem), thought I did such a good job that we worked out a way for me to work for him while I'm over here lol. He does like a billion things within a thousand businesses by himself, and he has me as an appraiser doing Broker Price Opinion (BPO) reports online. Hustling from overseas yo!!! I'm glad we worked that out. U of M's Office of Financial Aid continues to screw me over every semester. It's like they never get tired and are actually angry that I'm going there for free. Not my fault. So after finding out they had the gall to charge me tuition though I'm other side of the frickin world and had to pay for this program, they delayed my refund check until Monday the 13th, which means I've been living off the cash I brought with me. (sigh) I just gotta keep reminding myself I'm in this situation so my kids won't have to be.......
Haven't had gelato every day, but I'm still addicted to it. I haven't liked everything I've tried, like some of the cheeses and eggplant, but I'll say 90% of the food I've had so far is delicious. And surprisingly healthy. We have soup every day with lunch, and today we had potatoes, spinach, and salmon. The salmon was absolutely frickin delicious lol, literally the best I've had. I've been running and doing push-ups and stuff because I don't wanna come home a little piggy. Oh and everyone here drinks wine and alcohol! I've tried so hard to get into wine but it's nasty! So bitter! I heard the older the bottle the better it is, and Asti is sweeter than bitter Brut wine. Water for me please!
A lot of travel opportunities ahead too. Going to Siene tomorrow, Venice the 1st week in October and Rome sometime next month. Oktoberfest (European beer fest) is going on in a couple weeks in Munich, Germany and I got talked into going. It's cheap, and I don't drink so I want pics galore as the only sober man there lol! Might be hitting up Switzerland next month too, depending on how money looks. Time is flying though! I'll be home in no time!
Until next time, ciao!
Saturday, September 4, 2010
1st Days!
Greetings again!
Things have gotten pretty interesting so far! I'm surprisingly not homesick like I thought I would be, just missing my family and Faith a lot. Anyway, I finally unpacked, my luggage was taking up way too much space in my dorm room. My classmates/new friends have gotten drunk pretty much every night so far. Seeing how I don't drink, I still tag along with everyone, people watch, and have some laughs. My ability to adapt with my surroundings is pretty darn good, I'll say. Being the only African-American man in Florence, Italy thus far is a task I don't think many dudes could handle, at least without getting in much trouble. The way most people
(including some family but I won't name names) look at my situation is I'm a black man on the other side of the world, I'm poor while most of my classmates have fairly wealthy parents, I don't know anybody here, and I have a gf so I can't even mess around with anyone (or I could just don't tell Faith). I'm not that kind of guy though. I was raised to not let anybody or any situation intimidate me, to be confident with humility, and seek the strength of God while pursuing my goals. All that extra stuff- ohh you don't drink or smoke, whaaaat you got a girlfriend, you're black what are you doing here- is absurd! Most of the guys have gf's so we're sticking together lol, I'm very money-savvy now so I can budget pretty well and not look broke, and not only have I not had an issue with being black (yet), everyone seems really interested in the only black kid from Detroit! God brought me here for a reason, and it's not to look foolish!!
Sorry, random tangent. I just don't like people making assumptions or generalizations about things and have no idea what they're talking about. Back to Florence!
The 1st night, after some pre-gaming, a few of us decided to explore Sesto Fiorentino, the town we're staying in a few kilometers from Florence. Turns out it was their independence day, so there was a big concert and people were just hanging out and having a good time. Met some locals, but my Italian sucks so communication was minimal. I passed with a little Spanish though lol. We all gathered at this pizza joint, but the guys ended up leaving and I didn't wanna leave these 2 girls by themselves so I stayed with them and had my 1st Italian pizza! It was delicious! Thin, but doughy is the best way to describe it.
The next day we had orientation so we met all the staff and signed more forms, got a tour of the Villa, and had more free time. I took a lot of beautiful pics, but they really don't do this place justice. that night after more pre-gaming, we went back into Sesto, chilled with more locals, and had more laughs and more pizza!
Yesterday was cool too! After waking up late, had to hurry a shower and get dressed because we had a bus going into Florence for a tour. This place is crazy beautiful! Detroit has old history and monuments and crap, but Florence was built in the frickin Jesus era and it's still sweet! I took so many pics my camera died, then we walked so much I almost died lol. Delicious gelato (Italian ice cream) revived me, and I was able to make it back safely with my new partners in crime. I must work out like every day because at this rate I'm GOING to gain some weight and I really don't want to lol. I should be fine though, with my retarded metabolism. (Sidenote: I was on the toilet and I heard some random noises. Everybody was pre-gaming so I was by myself. I looked on the wall because I thought I saw a tail, and it was frickin lizard, slithering camouflaged on the wall!! I ran with my pants down back to my room after screaming! Do NOT judge me, not used to that stuff!!)
Last night we went into Florence and found this disco/electronica club called Space. Naps. I've never been to a club like that, and didn't wanna be in this ancient Villa by myself, so I went. 6 Euros to get in for students, with a free drink. I gave the drink to my roommate, and we went upstairs. The 1st part of the night was cool, everybody stayed together, we had some laughs, took some pics, and were having a good time. One of the guys is a hip-hop dancer so we had comedy together doing dance moves and stuff. As the night wore on, they didn't seem to get tired! And worst of all, every time I turned around there was a dude! SAUSAGE FEST!! There was like 7 guys for every 2 girls I swear! I do not like that gay junk! I found myself kind of looking out for everyone, mostly the girls, because the Italian local guys were pulling up their dresses and trying to feel them up and stuff. After a long night, got in around 3:30am our time. Skyped with the wife til about 5am, hit the sack, slept like 9 hours lol.
More adventures coming soon!
Things have gotten pretty interesting so far! I'm surprisingly not homesick like I thought I would be, just missing my family and Faith a lot. Anyway, I finally unpacked, my luggage was taking up way too much space in my dorm room. My classmates/new friends have gotten drunk pretty much every night so far. Seeing how I don't drink, I still tag along with everyone, people watch, and have some laughs. My ability to adapt with my surroundings is pretty darn good, I'll say. Being the only African-American man in Florence, Italy thus far is a task I don't think many dudes could handle, at least without getting in much trouble. The way most people
(including some family but I won't name names) look at my situation is I'm a black man on the other side of the world, I'm poor while most of my classmates have fairly wealthy parents, I don't know anybody here, and I have a gf so I can't even mess around with anyone (or I could just don't tell Faith). I'm not that kind of guy though. I was raised to not let anybody or any situation intimidate me, to be confident with humility, and seek the strength of God while pursuing my goals. All that extra stuff- ohh you don't drink or smoke, whaaaat you got a girlfriend, you're black what are you doing here- is absurd! Most of the guys have gf's so we're sticking together lol, I'm very money-savvy now so I can budget pretty well and not look broke, and not only have I not had an issue with being black (yet), everyone seems really interested in the only black kid from Detroit! God brought me here for a reason, and it's not to look foolish!!
Sorry, random tangent. I just don't like people making assumptions or generalizations about things and have no idea what they're talking about. Back to Florence!
The 1st night, after some pre-gaming, a few of us decided to explore Sesto Fiorentino, the town we're staying in a few kilometers from Florence. Turns out it was their independence day, so there was a big concert and people were just hanging out and having a good time. Met some locals, but my Italian sucks so communication was minimal. I passed with a little Spanish though lol. We all gathered at this pizza joint, but the guys ended up leaving and I didn't wanna leave these 2 girls by themselves so I stayed with them and had my 1st Italian pizza! It was delicious! Thin, but doughy is the best way to describe it.
The next day we had orientation so we met all the staff and signed more forms, got a tour of the Villa, and had more free time. I took a lot of beautiful pics, but they really don't do this place justice. that night after more pre-gaming, we went back into Sesto, chilled with more locals, and had more laughs and more pizza!
Yesterday was cool too! After waking up late, had to hurry a shower and get dressed because we had a bus going into Florence for a tour. This place is crazy beautiful! Detroit has old history and monuments and crap, but Florence was built in the frickin Jesus era and it's still sweet! I took so many pics my camera died, then we walked so much I almost died lol. Delicious gelato (Italian ice cream) revived me, and I was able to make it back safely with my new partners in crime. I must work out like every day because at this rate I'm GOING to gain some weight and I really don't want to lol. I should be fine though, with my retarded metabolism. (Sidenote: I was on the toilet and I heard some random noises. Everybody was pre-gaming so I was by myself. I looked on the wall because I thought I saw a tail, and it was frickin lizard, slithering camouflaged on the wall!! I ran with my pants down back to my room after screaming! Do NOT judge me, not used to that stuff!!)
Last night we went into Florence and found this disco/electronica club called Space. Naps. I've never been to a club like that, and didn't wanna be in this ancient Villa by myself, so I went. 6 Euros to get in for students, with a free drink. I gave the drink to my roommate, and we went upstairs. The 1st part of the night was cool, everybody stayed together, we had some laughs, took some pics, and were having a good time. One of the guys is a hip-hop dancer so we had comedy together doing dance moves and stuff. As the night wore on, they didn't seem to get tired! And worst of all, every time I turned around there was a dude! SAUSAGE FEST!! There was like 7 guys for every 2 girls I swear! I do not like that gay junk! I found myself kind of looking out for everyone, mostly the girls, because the Italian local guys were pulling up their dresses and trying to feel them up and stuff. After a long night, got in around 3:30am our time. Skyped with the wife til about 5am, hit the sack, slept like 9 hours lol.
More adventures coming soon!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Getting to Florence
So this is my 1st time doing anything like this, forgive me for being too detailed or just random lol. If anyone asks, Faith made me do it lol :)
So 1st, got to the airport around the time I expected to, but I wasn't expecting to be bombarded with hugs, handshakes, and good lucks from extra people lol. Thought it was just gonna Faith, Camille and my parents, but grandparents and uncles were there too haha. It was cool though, I wish Auntie and the Kids could've been there. Get to baggage claim to check my bags, thinking it would be around $35 per bag, no biggie. The lady gone say it's free for the 1st bag, $50 for the 2nd and $200 for the 3rd, + $150 for bags over 50lbs. Needless to say, had my crew with me, so we fixed it so I only had to pay $55 and carried my bag of toiletries like a purse lol (don't judge me). Got through security fine (got complemented on my ps3 and excellent packing skills haha, stinkin wife) and boarding my 1st plane traveling overseas. 1st stop- Amsterdam!
The plane was HUGE! I was seated in the middle of the plane, in the middle row, but thank God I had an aisle seat so at least my left leg got to breathe. Sat next to this black lady too, I thought that was pretty cool. With my luck, of course, the little circlely (don't judge me) fan at my seat didn't work, so she laughed and told me I could use hers because she gets cold. Naturally ended up making small talk, her name was Star and she was a pediatrician from Cali traveling to Nairobi to teach with some Harvard doctors, showing people how to use ultrasound machines. I thought that was pretty cool. She wasn't bad looking either, so I got her email address (watch out TC!). I randomly noticed every seat has it's own personal screen and remote control, and there was a map showing where we were (when I discovered this we were just over the coast, about to hit the water, music, movies, games like Bejeweled, and even email- which was the only thing we had to pay for. I went to the movies section thinking it was gonna be some lame garbagy crap like The Devil Wears Prada or with my luck Deep Impact, but man they had Ninja Assassin, The Green Zone, Kickass, and the Karate Kid, among others! Karate Kid was funny and actually pretty good, I was hype then a mug watchin Ninja Assassin while everybody was sleep, dozed off during Kickass and didn't feel like rewinding and got through half of Green Zone before we landed. The food was trife as expected lol, and I tried this bitter red wine that tasted like cherry nyquil and vodka, but the water and juice helped keep me full since security threw away my Bob Evans's turkey club wrap my dad bought me :(
The Amsterdam airport was pretty standard, nothing extravagent but still better than Detroit. They had some pretty interesting stores that kind of reminded me of a mall, had a lot alcohol and tobacco shops, and their signs were funny (toilets in restrooms and lifts instead of elevators). Found the gate to my next flight ok; they speak english over there but with an accent (throw sounds like "trow"). I heard it and like naps. Took a couple pics but didn't have much time between my flights to really hang out and see some stuff and people watch around the airport. Next stop: Paris!!
......I slept through this entire flight lol. I pulled my bags up top, put on my seatbelt, and before I knew we were landing and I don't even remember taking off. Terrible......
The Parisian Airport is the biggest I've ever seen in my life! Their terminals were so big, I actually had to take a shuttle bus from where I landed to where I had to go. It's easily like 4 of Detroit's airports. No exaggerations. Got my boarding pass and showed the lady at the gate. She said some gibberish French junk and smiled, so I politely smiled and said "Merci" and kept it moving lol. Got to the end of the little walkway thinking I'm about to board the plane, we getting on a bus to take us to the plane! Bumps dude.......after like 15 minutes of riding around, we finally made it to the plane. Once we got on the flight, I was starving, they served some nasty egg sandwich with peppers on it. I ate the banana, drank the O.J., snuggled up with my Shekinah Glory banging on my PSP and went to sleep. And woke up in Italy......
Because my seat was like row 8, I actually got off at the front of the plane like they do in the movies. That made me feel important for a hot sec, lol. When we got off, the 1st thing I will never forget seeing is the mountain of Florence in the distance. I immediately grabbed my camera and snapped a couple shots. I unknowingly sat next to this white girl on the plane that kept smiling at me. I started to fart to turn her off.....thank God I didn't. Her name is Christina and she actually goes to U of M and is in the same program as me. Her Italian is a little better than mine, so we helped each other get our luggage, exchange some cash for some euros, and we shared a cab to the Villa. The cab driver spoke no English, but he was nice and understood the situation. Got to the Villa safely, checked in, paid this dumb 80 euro deposit that nobody told us about, got a little mini tour, and here I am!! Met my roommate, pretty cool white guy from Wisconsin-Madison, name is Chris. Room wasn't quite what I expected, but I mean that place was built in frickin 1502, and they made some modern updates like to to the bathrooms, plumbing, Wi-fi and stuff, but most stuff here is pretty old. It's gonna be death on a stick trying to unpack this crap, but I got a nice view though! Until next time!
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