Rest of the Amalfi weekend....

Positano on Saturday. This was such a fantastic place to see. The city was built on the side of a very steep hill in south Italy along the sea. But everything there was so picturesque. We first got there at 11am at the top of the city and had to hike down what seemed like a thousand stairs (maybe more like 700 but my knees were hurting toward the end... then again, I hate going down stairs. But the hike was worth it. When we got into town, we set up shop on the beach (which had black sand... wtf? I guess the rocks had something to do with that). But we pretty much just relaxed in the sun for the rest of the morning and early afternoon until 1:30pm when a group of us caught a boat to go see another part of the island. 

We jumped in the boat, all 23 of us, and set off to go cliff jumping. When we got to the spot, there was another boat there so we went further down to the green gratto. This was very cool to swim in this gratto. The water was about 75 degrees and absolutely beautiful. Some of us initially jumped in and others hesitated cause the waves were a little choppy. I would guess that the waves were about a foot and a half or even just over two feet. This is not something that a beginner should jump into, just those of us that can actually swim (or at least keep themselves afloat on their own). What did two noobs do? Jumped in the choppy waters, swam for about 30 feet, then panicked, causing everyone to get out of the water as everyone thought they were drowning and wanted to help. This pissed me off cause I just got in the beautiful green gratto. Oh well. When we got back on the boat, we went back to the cliffs. 

When we got there, many people just wanted to jump once so they went big (to the THIRTY-FIVE FOOT cliff). At first, even I was a little nervous, I can't believe that of the 16 of us that jumped, 14 went to the bigger one instead of the ten footer. But when we got to the top, ToniAnn jumped first and landed a little awkwardly, but nothing that bad. Next was Olivia and she pretty much sat down when she hit the water instead of doing a pencil like you are supposed to from that height. Next was Stella, then some other people, then me. Unlike everyone else who stood at the edge syking themselves out, I pretty much just jumped on a whim. I was actually sitting on a rock the entire time, then I just said "F*** it, I'm going" and just walked off the edge and did  a perfect pencil into the water. The only bad part of entire thing was that I ended up touching the bottom of the sea (about 10-12 feet deep) with my toes. I didn't injure myself, just got a little freaked out. It was so much fun, I went back up. 

When I got back up to see Clint, Lindsay (Snooks), and Angelica. Finally we talked Clint into going. Then it was the three of us. I wanted to go last to make sure those two went and didn't walk down the jagged ledges as they would hurt themselves. Finally after about ten minutes, Lindsay jumped. She landed a little awkwardly but did fine. Then it was just me and Angelica. Thankfully Matias came up cause I wanted to jump again. Once again, I just said F* it, and jumped. Then Angelica jumped. She was leaning waaaay to far forward and her chest took most of the impact. Thankfully she was OK. After Matias jumped, we headed back to the beach. For the rest of the day, we just relaxed on the beach and then headed back to the hotel. That night we had a small dinner and went walking in the downtown area of Sorento. 

The next day we saw Pompeii and everything it had to offer. It was so epic to see a city that was built before Christ even was a thought. Just everything that Pompeii had before Vesuvius decided to screw the entire city over was pretty awesome - raise sidewalks for crossing the streets, sliding doorways brothels with pictures above each room stating what you would get in that room, and just so many roads to make it actually a bigger city for that time. After seeing Pompeii, we were going to go to Vesuvius to hike it but mother nature axed that idea with thunderstorms. Thankfully we got back into down earlier Sunday because I would have hated walking around Florence with God knows how much in camera equipment on me. Finally home

I know I added this late, but lets just pretend that I posted this last week. Thank Buddha for a good memory.

Weekend in Amalfi

This actually started off on Thursday. I actually made it to Italian class on time for once on Thursday. This was nice because I was late (by like 2-5 minutes) for each class prior, but really the nice part was that I missed the rain that was coming. About 10 minutes into class, we could hear that nasty rain outside and decided to look to see how bad it was (mainly because Matias still wasn't in class). But when we looked outside, there was actually HAIL!!! Pretty exciting for me cause I have only seen hail one other time in my life (in MA when I was in kindergarten (which is a German word) woot woot). But after Italian, in Cinema, we actually watched a really good movie. Probably the only other movie in Italian Cinema that I actually liked.

After getting my quiz back (got a 92! woot), I headed back to the apartment to pack and eventually made it to the train station with the other guys. We ended up jumping on a bus and started driving down to Amalfi. I was lucky enough to sit next to Rosetta (/sarcasm.. she is nice and has a crush on me, but the favor is not returned at all). But basically after 2 hours, we stopped at the single most expensive rest stop I have ever seen. I picked up some gummy bears, ate a sandwich, and also come some cookies. After this we continued for the hotel. When we finally made it there (5 hours later and God knows how long on a curvy road), we made it to the hotel. I guess I am the type of guy that does get car sick, atleast when I don't drive. I think this is Nana's fault cause everytime I would ride with her, I would feel sick (miss ya Nana!). I found out that I was rooming with Mark and Clint - both good guys, then again, all the guys on the trip are tight.

Woke up the Friday morning @ 8:10. We were supposed to meet everyone at 8AM to depart for Capri. We rushed outta the room (by rush, I mean took our sweet time, about 20 mins). We ended up meeting everyone at 9am at the boat and made it to Capri with everyone. We immediately took a tour around the island and went into the Blue Gratto. This was cool but very over priced. The guide into the Blue Gratto asked for a tip but he sucked and got salt water on my lens so we didn't tip him.

Next we went up to the main part of Capri where all the shops are. I was actually left behind by the group as I was trying to get my ticket and no one waited for me. This was bullshit because I would have waited for someone, especially if I knew someone still had to get their ticket (thanks Rob). I eventually caught up with everyone, but I still thought it was kinda dick on their part. We eventually walked down to a beach. This beach was very rocky (thankfully smooth rocks that were about the size of a big toe and not sharp pebbles). We went into the very refreshing 75 degree water. This was AWESOME as I missed cool salt water, haha. But the cool part also was that there were many big rocks in the water that we jumped off of. I must admit, I am by far the most hardcore of them all when it comes to jumping, I definitely have the most jumping skills (woot woot) and was showing off (my amazing farmers tan).

We eventually made it back to the main part of the city where I got a lemon slushy (Capri is known for lemons) and then we headed back to the boat back to Salerno. On the boat, I had to fix someone else's camera as they didn't know what they did (hooray for simply fixes like sliding something). When we made it back to the hotel, I took a nice long awesome shower with shampoo and conditioner from the Rome hotel. We ate spaghetti for dinner and then everyone went out. I decided to stay at the hotel as I hate going out to get drunk.

Anyway, off to bed. More later.

Ciao.

Week 4-5 recap

Well I will try to remember as much as I can from this week.

Monday: Made a tomato sauce and gnudi (gnocchi minus the potato) in class, the chef also showed us how to make homemade pasta which reminded me of the Worcester days when Mum made easter ravioli for us. Had a big salad for lunch and then went to Christina's for dinner and stole her free fast internet. 

Tuesday: Woke up late and picked up some fruit on the way to Italian class. In Italian Cinema, we watched Nuova Cinema Paradiso, by far the best movie in the class so far. We went to get Mexican that night (argh!) and had the worst service ever. The food wasn't all that great either.

Wednesday: Cooked some desserts in class which were wicked good. Came home to nap, lolol. That night, went over to Mandy's apartment but before we went over, Jake put on a ton of cologne and I got sick because perfumes and I don't get along.

Thursday: I wanted to kill Jake cause I had to miss a class. I made it to the other class though. We watched another stupid movie (the Postman). Actually it wasn't bad, just it really did appeal to me. Came home and went to bed that night. Also went to 4Leoni again! This place is awesome.

Friday: Slept for 12 hours cause I was sick. Really didn't do anything that day other than watch the movie for my film class and write my review on it. Tried to go to bed at a decent hour, didn't fall asleep until 2:30

Saturday: Woke up at 3:30 sick as hell. Took some Advil and Aleve. Started to feel better and decided to go on the weekend excursion to the Tuscan country side. This was stupid because we spent a total of 6 hours on a bus, toured a small castle, got a few pictures, had a crappy lunch, tasted a few sips of wine, went to another small fort, got a nice view off Tuscany, then went home.. NOT WORTH IT. Watched the USA-England game with some friends and went home and to bed early that night

Sunday: Woke up after 12 hours of sleep again (I love this sleep thing). Worked on a paper for class. Jake went to Pisa so I was alone all day (FINALLY!). I went to some Giubbe Rossi place that was recommended by my cooking class teacher and it sucked. I got a Ravioli dish that was drowned in butter. That night, I went to an Irish pub to watch the Germany-Australia match. Tried Guinness for the first time and actually liked it (got a second pint in the second half). Came home and went to sleep.

Monday: Made some more tasty food in class. Came home and pretty much just rested cause I was still sick. That night, went out to watch the Italy-Paraguay game with Christina and friends at an outdoor viewing party along the river.

Tuesday: After another good nights rest, went to class and gave an oral presentation that I bombed. It sucks when of the 7 other students in the class, only 1 is also learning a second language while everyone else already speaks English and Spanish. Not Fair!!!! Oh well. Italian Cinema was alright again, nothing special. That night, went to an Osteria with Christina since neither of us were formally invited to a birthday party for some bitch. We actually had an awesome dinner even though it was raining. Our waiter was cursing up a storm and gave us free champagne, lol. "Com'e si dice 'lightning' in Italino? fulmine.. and this, this is fucking rain!!!" hahaha. So awesome. But that night, I came home, worked on another paper that was due the next morning. I didnt go to bed till 1:30. Woke up at 2:30 coughing and wanted to leave Italy that moment because I missed the States and Walgreens and actually having a home that as medicine. But I stole some of Jakes night time cough meds and went to sleep. Bastard deserves it for getting me sick.

Wednesday: Cooking class we made some desserts again. This time we made a truffle (with too much cream so they didnt come out right) and biscotti (which had way too much nuts). After class, normally I am not hungry, but this time I was so I got a big ol salad at Cuco again. The Chef there is awesome. He and his assistant were helping me work on my Italian communication skills. The assistant can speak pretty good English but the chef is just as good in English as I am in Italian so it was cool. I got some good recommendations on where to eat from him too. Now I am finally caught up on my blog, I can edit some photos!!!

For the rest of this weekend: AMALFI COAST!!! My 7D is going to get a TON of pictures. Hopefully I can go cliff diving too!

Until then..............

Roma - Giorno 3 - Destinazione: Ovunque ma non qui (Finalmente)

Day three finally arrived and that meant we were finally going back to Florence. We woke up at 7:30am (once again, 3.5 hours of sleep). Ate breakfast and set off to see the capital city again.

This time we started out at the Spanish steps. Once again, I was underwhelmed as I expected more with it being so famous. Afterwards we set out to see a few more monuments including the Trevi fountain where some girl from our group slipped in and got yelled at by the cops and also a few piazze. The biggest thing we saw the Pantheon. This was actually really cool minus the scaffolding on half of the building. The Pantheon is still used today as a church but there is also a massive dome on top. The dome has a big hole in the middle symbolizing god always watching over his followers. This hole is actually open thus exposing the inside to some elements. Our tour guide said one of the coolest things he has seen is the Pantheon being exposed to snow and some of the snow coming inside. While here, I also snapped a ton of pictures of people looking up at the hole but no one took any for me (one offered at the beginning though, thanks Clint). After the tour ended, a few of us got lunch together and I broke a glass (not my fault that the weak glass couldn't survive a fall from 2 inches). 

After a nice lunch, we were walking around and eventually made it back to the hotel after 4 hours. We then just hung around the hotel until everyone had to go to the train station to head back. I was extremely warm on the train as I had the sun beating down on me and Jake was sitting next to me. We finally made it back to Florence and Jake just wanted to stay at home for dinner and ate cereal while I went out to get some food and also enjoyed a half liter of wine. I was quite high to say the least. I actually went to bed at a decent hour last night too thanks to that wine (12:30am!!)

Roma - Giorno 2 - Destinazione: Ovunque ma non qui

I woke up at 6:45am on Saturday morning with just one alarm going off. For me, this is a miracle. I guess it makes sense since we were going to the Vatican that day. Every morning, like most people, when I wake up, I go to the bathroom right away. In Europe, especially in Italy, almost every bathroom has a bidet (an ass cleaner). Well, being right next to the toilet, I was bound to look at it. My wonderful(ly drunk as hell) roommate Jake decided to leave a gift for the maids in the bidet - let's just say when you consume that much alcohol and the same night you have pastas, hams, tomatoes and other stuff, it's going to end up looking like an omelet. It was quite nasty but thankfully did not smell as I would have punched that kid in the nuts. I went down to eat breakfast for 7:15am. I saw a few other students down there and we ate together. Rob and I went back to our rooms after breakfast to wake up our roommates (Rob actually ended up waking both Mark and Jake up, both were still drunk, not even hung over). In the end, only Jake made it down in time to walk with the group to the metro to the Vatican. Mark and Matias had to catch up later on (right before we entered the city actually, lucky for them cause they would have had to pay their own way in).

We eventually made it into the city and, of course being the awesome Catholic that I am, the first word I said was 'fuck' just because I could. We took a guided tour through out the City. We saw many painting and statues. Nothing extremely famous, but still some amazing stuff. I took many pictures of them and will post them on my flickr eventually. We started off seeing the painting and then the statues. Before the statues though, we were in this field with a giant globe in the center. Now the Italians are very lax when it comes to keeping people out of places they don't want you to go (now if they really don't want you there, that's different). There was only a chain in the way of the people from touching and spinning the globe. Some people (with the bad influence of the tour guide, haha) decided to go and spin the stunning spherical statue. Then after some statues, we finally got to see the Sistine Chapel. Personally, I was underwhelmed by the entire thing as there were too many tourists and I thought that it was going to be much bigger. Plus I hated the fact that we could not take pictures (legally).  Not even two minutes into the viewing, I was yelled at by a guard for taking pictures. This did not stop me of course. Many people were also asking me to snap pictures of them looking at the ceiling and of course I did cause I am a nice guy. After the Chapel, we set out to view St. Peter's Basilica. Personally, I thought it was a selfish and too arrogant of the Catholics on what they did to this beautiful building. Not only did they make it a tourist trap, but it didn't even feel like a place of worship. This is another reason why I sometimes hate being a Christian, let alone a Catholic.

After seeing everything the Vatican had to offer, a group of us set out to eat some lunch. We made it to this one little place near the Vatican. It was honestly the single worst Italian meal I have ever had. The waiters were rude and sneaky, the food was worse than Chef Boyardee canned food, and the prices were just too high. After eating that shit, we set out to walk toward the hotel cause some people wanted to nap. We saw a few sites on the way, but nothing all that spectacular. A castle that we didn't go in because people didn't want to pay and a square (Piazza del Popolo) that was underwhelming. After the Piazza, the rest of the group wanted to head back while I wanted to go up on the hill to see what was up there. You would think that a few people would want to have a view of the city from up there, but no, everyone wanted to head back. Once again, I was alone in Rome. At the top, there was a great view of the city and a very beautiful park. After spending about 30 mins up there relaxing, I decided to head back to the hotel and nap as well.

For dinner, the primo piatto was a pasta dish with a white sauce and sausage. For the secondo piatto, a bit of chicken with potatos. Our dolce was an ice cream dish with mints. Over all, the dinner was the best part so far. Also, for dinner, I initially sat with Evy (don't know how to spell her name) as she was sitting alone. Later on, Stella and Zim sat with us and we had a great dinner conversation.

Later that night, Jake and I met up with some of his friends who were back packing. We saw the trevi fountain at night which was amazing and also went to see the Colosseum at night too. While at the Colosseum, we took some photos of us jumping. There was one photo that I was actually so high that I was halfway out of frame, haha. I guess this white boy still got ups. This was probably one of the best nights on the entire trip and it was so simple yet fun. We eventually made it back to the hotel around 2:30 and went to bed at 4am.

Roma - Giorno 1 - Destinazione - Ovunque ma non qui

Woke up in the morning @ 6:30am after going to bed @ 3am.. F. M. L.

It actually wasn't all that bad. Jake and I had to leave the apartment @ 7am in order to make it to the train station for 7:30. They said that we had to be on time and we were... Too bad we had to wait around for 40 minutes to board the train. When we finally got on the train, there were essentially 9 of us that wanted to sit next together - 6 guys, 3 chicks.  Jake was the first one to go up ahead and he saved a seat for the three chicks. Matias and Mark were next and they jumped into the aisle seats next to them. That left two window seats for three guys. There was no way I was going to sit next to Mark cause hes a big guy and I really didn't want to sit next to Matias, so that left me all alone somewhere else in the train. Not only did someone not sit next to me, but no one even noticed. Pretty fucking lame shit. The 8 of them played cards while I sat alone. Now I am not trying to wallow in my sorrows, but this was a bitch move by everyone. I know that I would have gotten up and sat with someone else if they were alone, but that's me. I guess I have grasped the concept of caring.

Now that I got that off my chest, I can finally move on to Rome. When first got to the Hotel around 10, we couldn't go to our rooms for almost 40 minutes, so we had to wait around the entire time. Once again, I was kinda off on my own. Some people did come chat for a few, but they would only have a short conversation. Jake and I finally got to our room and dropped our stuff off to meet back in the lobby for 11am like we were told. The group didn't end up leaving till 11:30. We walked all the way down to the Colosseum area, about a Km or two away. I found this to be annoying as there was a train that could have taken us down there in about 10 mins instead of walking for 30 mins. We then just looked at some of the ruins in the area while snapping photos. Our 'tour guide' didn't tell us anything which pissed me off. We ended at some building where the other groups 'guide' told us about it. The only problem is that he is very soft spoken and isn't great for leading big groups. We grabbed a quick 30 minute lunch in order to meet back at this building (which I later found out was the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II - Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.) We were supposed to leave @ 1pm but that didn't happen, again. This time we left at 1:20. We set off for the Colosseum to take a tour there. While waiting for a real guide, everyone snapped a few photos. We finally got to go into the Colosseum. Once again, I was in the wrong group. This time I was with a group of people that I didn't know, a group that doesn't talk to anyone but themselves (Bugger off UF). The tour was kinda neat, I guess. We did a quick tour of the ancient building, too quick I think. We spent about 30 mins there and left. I easily could have spent 2 more hours there. We then set out to see some more ancient ruins which was cool. I took a few photos here and there.

After the tour ended, many of the students wanted to go back and nap while I just want to explore. Thankfully someone came with me this time (Rob). We found a neat little island in the middle of the river. After checking this out, I got a wicked good fruit milk shake at one of the best gelato shops in town. We then found this square with some more ruins but hundreds of cats. Ever where you looked, stray cats. It was cool at first then I got grossed out. We eventually made it back to the hotel after an exhausting hike to the hotel.

Later that night, we had a nice dinner with bow-tie pasta and some hams. After dinner, everyone wanted to get drunk and party while I just wanted to go take night photos, and I did just that, alone again. After seeing the Colosseum and Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II - Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at night, I decided to head back and goto sleep. At 2:30am, I got a call from drunk Jake saying he didn't know where he was. I didn't know either so there was nothing I could do, lolol. I went back to sleep listening to Against Me, again.

First half of week 3

Monday: Made an Onion soup, Risotto, and Beans in cooking class. My group made a mean onion soup that I will actually try to make at home. The beans were pretty good. The risotto was alright, nothing to write home about even though that's what I am doing right now. Later that day I went to the top of the Duomo for a spectacular view of Florence. Nothing else really happened Monday night thankfully.

Tuesday I had class alllll day. In Italian we reviewed for the test on Thursday and also she taught us some curse words!!! This made my day. During the film class, I downloaded "Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo (The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly)" as I am going to write a paper on that film. We also watched Mamma Roma but I missed out on much if it since I was downloading my movie.

Later Tuesday night, we went out to an American pub again. I felt like I was back home (and this is not a good thing). It felt that I was in a college bar in Alabama or at an Old Navy convention. It was pretty sad on how many people were from America. Later, after getting sick of the bar, Jake and I headed to the a bar called Yag. This was a first for me to say the last, a non American bar. Things here were much more relaxed. It was an interesting bar and I couldn't complain at all except it was 5.50 for a beer. The scenery was nice though. We stayed here for an hour then left.

Wednesday: Nothing but studying, procrastination, and blogging.  OH and eating. Jake and I finally went to 4Leoni (Four Lions) for dinner. I had the best meal since I have been here at this place. The prices were not too bad but next time I will spend less and I will not get Filet steak.

Siena

Well I guess I haven't stuck to my word by updating this thing every day. I remember to, but then I don't bother as the internet here is pissing me off most of the time. oh well.

Before Siena we went to a wine tasting at a winery in the Toscana country side. The views here were pretty breathtaking (especially after 4 glasses of Italian wine.) While here, we got a little intro to wine that I did not pay attention to as I was too busy taking pictures of everything and showing off my huuuuge Canon lens, hehe. But afterwards, the owners set up a few tables for us and we sat down and tried a couple wines and some foods. This was one of the first times in a while that I realized how much I hate Americans. The guy just finished bringing out the food all the students just started digging he. He didn't even get a chance to tell us anything about the food. Why do Americans have such bad manners? I hate being American at times, my own people are so damn annoying. The food and wines were very tasty though. It really was just a small sample of meats and cheeses, nothing special, but everything just blended so well.

Well after a few glasses of wine and being quite high off the alcohol, I just started walking around snapping up some pretty damn good pictures. I was expecting some crappy photos when I uploaded them, but almost every photo was a keeper! After everything was said and done, we went back on the bus and headed off to Siena. When we got back on the bus, everyone wanted to start singing but I was tired as hell so I just put on some Alkaline Trio. I woke up about an hour later and pretty much everyone else was finally asleep. Eventually everyone woke up as we just arrived in Siena.

Siena was nice. There were only a few bad things about the place and that really wasn't Siena's fault. Some of the chicks on the trip kept begging me to use my expensive camera. Also, some of the Zeta chicks were just complaining the entire time that they just wanted to go drink (another reason why I hate Siena).

Siena is full of hills unlike Florence. There also were not as many tourist which was nice. There were a few nice places in the city too. In the centre of the city, there is a massive square that they have horse races around every year. Really other than that, there wasn't too much to see in Siena.

We finally hopped on the bus and headed back for Florence. Had a nice dinner with some friends that night and talked about some other students on the trip and how some are just weird and others are cool, the normal gossip shit.

Went home, went to sleep. The next day I didn't really do much of anything either.