Firenze (Florence) at a glance

Hey from Florence! Quick post today and a couple pictures. Yesterday we saw the duomo, it was awesome. This morning I saw the statue of David by myself, and it was even better. This thing is seventeen feet tall. It dominates the entire hallway it is in. Apparently you aren't supposed to take pictures, but I snapped six before anyone told me. Oops. Headed back to Rome tomorrow. I'll post more then.

Weekend Recap

For whatever reason, pictures were uploading really fast today. I uploaded about eight of the weekend in Sorrento. I'll try and narrarate the weekend's activities below each picture.

This is the convertible taxi we took while we were in Capri. Every taxi on this island is a convertible. The ride wasn't too expensive, five of us rode from Anacapri (the central market in the island) back to Marina Grande, where we rented our boat.

This is Brian, Kelly, and I on the first day in Sorrento. We were winding our way down the mountain towards the coast (on our scooters) and saw a nice spot for a picture. We were impressed that Kelly kept up with us on the scooters and that Andrew, instead of Kelly, got in the scooter wreck. That was a good day.

This is me diving into the blue waters off the coast of Capri. Action shot brought to you by our sponsors, American Eagle (see the outline of my body), and Old Spice. But really, someone took this while I dove in. After this, we swam through the "green grotto" which is a cave where everything around you looks green. We took an underwater camera with us, but have to develop the film on our own. Hopefully those pictures turn out. This was one of the highlights of the weekend. We rented three boats to take about 18 of us around the island. They were comfy and the "captains" spoke very little English. Most people told me it was the best part of their weekend, hands down.
This is at the "English Inn" in Sorrento. We found a bar/pub that plays American music all night, so clearly Dayton people were all over it. I didn't stay here too long, but I did stay long enough to see a sixty year old Italian woman's birthday party. She came over and tried to ask us if we would help take the decorations down, but Andrew decided to give her a birthday kiss instead. It was very funny, and she ended up buying Andrew a bottle of wine. Funny fact, that was the second sixty year old Andrew had kissed that day (he kissed some housekeeping lady by the coast earlier, for literally no reason).

This is me at Pompei. In the background is THE Mount Vesuvius. I was imagining what it would be like to be buried under thirty feet of volcanic ash in this picture. That is my pondering face.
This is everyone who rented the boat with us in Positano on Friday. We got to drive this boat (see me at the wheel in the background!?). It was awesome. We drove out to these three islands off the coast, and they turned out to be the islands called "Siren" from the Odyssey. There's a little nugget for the literary buffs. Anyway, we rented this boat and drove around for a while. No one wanted to jump in except me, so we pulled to a stop in the ocean, only to see that there were a ton of jelly fish around. A girl from UD had already been stung that day, so we moved the boat two or three more times, and at every stop, we saw jellyfish everywhere. I jumped anyway, I'll only be able to do that once. Didn't get stung, and it was incredible.

This is my famous scooter. I got the girliest baby blue scooter they had. Although by the time I was done with her, she was fully intact. This was maybe the smartest fifteen euros I've spent in Italy so far. We had so much fun. Brian took a video of me driving this thing, so maybe I'll try and upload that this week. It was pretty safe (Mom), because they made us wear helmets. Finally got the hang of it after two hours, I'd love to try riding one in the States, where people actually respect the laws.

The final picture is Brian, Andrew, and I at Pompei. Vesuvius is in the background. It was a really beautiful day. We walked around here on Friday morning (with a tour guide who was very informative) for about two or three hours. I was very ready to not walk anymore after this. I learned a lot, and kind of hoped Vesuvius would erupt while we were there. The last eruption was in 1940, and all the experts say that the volcano is far overdue for another eruption.

So that was the weekend. I hope the pictures did it some justice. If I see that other people have better pictures, I'll attempt to put those up. Another week of classes here. A nice thing though is that I only have one class every day. People are talking about going to Florence this weekend, and I might jump on board for that. Haven't seen the pope yet either, maybe I'll see what he's doing tomorrow morning. Gotta go eat, thanks for reading!

Still in Sorento, no pictures yet

After seeing six comments on the post two days ago, I feel bad not posting again.

Today we went to capri. I think I could easily say it is the most beautiful place I've ever been in my entire life. It is an island off the coast of Italy, and is just breathtaking. We got there at 11 am (about 15 of us went over), and took a bus to the 'centro' markets in the middle of the island. We then took a convertible taxi back down to the marina, which was crazy. We rented these two boats to take us all around the island. The boats had beds covered in beach towels, so we could lay on the boat as it took us around for two hours. We swam in a grotto (cave) and Brian took pictures with his underwater camera. I'm loving this weekend trip, but am definitely worn out.

The island of Capri was gorgeous. Everything was really expensive, so we didn't eat there or anything. We're back in Sorrento now, resting and showering before dinner. The Italian soccer league championship is tonight, and Roma is in the game! We're hoping to find a restaurant where we can watch, but we'll see. Everything is expensive here. I can't imagine how much money I would be spending if I drank with everyone else. I'm glad I don't, I can experience more that way (and remember it!!!) We met a few people from Ohio today, which is always fun. I hope I can post pictures tomorrow back in Rome, I have some crazy ones, and a video of me on the scooter. Madness. I'm being just as safe as the Italians mom. Gramma's Martie and Rose, I'm taking in the sights and taking pictures to tell you all about it when I get back. Grandpa Bob, I'll never forget some of the sights and smells... Never. Trey, if you listen hard enough, I'm yelling from across the Mediteranean, Atlantic, East Coast, and Midwest at you. Stop committing so many errors. You know you miss my aggressive base running. I'd say something here to Andy, but he is clearly too busy in Florida to take a second for a break :)

More on the trip as soon as I can!

Sorrento

Today we got to Sorrento, Italy, which is about 3 hours south of Rome on the coast of the Mediterranean. This place is beautiful. I'm attempting to upload pictures now, but am at a shady internet cafe, so we'll see what happens. We went to the beach (which was rocky) and swam in the sea for a little while. Then we walked back up the cliffs to the city of Sorrento and rented mo-peds, or vespa scooters. It was a ridiculous amount of fun. We rented them for three hours, and it only cost fifteen euros. I didn't crash mine, which was a good thing, and more than I could say for my friend Andrew, who hit a street sign and a wall. He won't tell us how much he has to pay in damages, but I think it was pretty significant. After he wrecked, two of them headed back so Brian and I were left with our scooters. We headed south down the coast towards Positano, and winded through the mountains on our scooters. It was so fun. People here drive like maniacs, there are no traffic rules, everyone passes eachother at will, and you could have cars passing in the wrong lane with no warning or consequence. It was so fun, and after a couple hours, I think we got the hang of it. People are going out to dinner now, so I think we're going to try and catch up with them, this place is gorgeous, I hope the pictures work. More tomorrow, we're headed to Pompeii.

This picture took twenty minutes to upload, but is an aerial view of Sorrento. The mountains in the back are where Brian and I drove the scooters.

More pictures tomorrow hopefully!

Finishing classes and looking forward to the weekend

So it's Wednesday and my third day of classes (and first week) is over. We head to Sorrento (in southern Italy) this weekend as a group. The University sponsors one trip on the weekend, and it's this weekend. I hear Sorrento is warmer than Rome (it's been raining ever since Katie left on Sunday) and there are beaches there.



My roommate Brian and I are talking about renting mo-peds and cruising around down there. We want to fit in, so we're going to try and hit as many Americans as possible (just kidding). My classes are good so far. It's difficult to squeeze two classes that are normally three months long into five weeks. We were in class for 7 hours the first day and 8.5 yesterday. Luckily, we just have 2 and a half hours today, a light day before we leave tomorrow.



Different people are taking different combinations of classes here, so other people have class from 2-7pm today. Luckily, I'm not one of them. I bought stuff to make beef quesadillas at the supermarket. I'm 100% sure that I purchased ground beef, but it looked like it does in America, so we're taking a chance for dinner tonight. Our stovetop is one that you turn on the gas and have to light yourself with a lighter. This has been a constant source of comedy for my roommates. Usually, they come back late and decide to make eggs (scrambled eggs are universal) but cannot figure out how to light the stove. I can hear every word from my room, and it's kind of a nice side entertainment.

We don't have much television here. There is a small TV in our dining room that has maybe five channels. One of them is CNN in English, but it isn't on all the time, a little confusing.

I'm bringing my camera to Sorrento this weekend, hopefully I'll have some visually stimulating images for the blog next week. I feel like after posting pictures, a blog post with just words leaves a little to be desired.

Getting Settled and Saying Goodbye

Today is Sunday in Roma. Come to think of it, I guess it's Sunday in America as well, just not as late... Katie left Europe today, and fittingly it rained as she departed. We barely made it to the airport in time, and I'm not even positive she made it on the flight. Last I saw, she was sprinting off with some guy from American Airlines. I think he took care of her, which is a relief.

I'm back at the Residence, waiting to use the stove to cook a hot dog. I don't know how interesting the blog will be if Katie isn't here. I'll update it with pictures of weekend trips, but I don't think I'll update it daily. I can call people more easily now, so I'll try and catch up with some people on the phone...

Some roomates and I are headed to the Hard Rock Cafe to watch Game 7 of the Cavs vs. Celtics playoff series. Should be a good time, I miss American sports a ton...

As a "sign-off" for the trip with Katie, I think I'm going to upload a ton of photos of stuff we saw, stuff we loved, stuff we hated, stuff that made us laugh, stuff that confused us... Enjoy the pics, thanks for reading, pray for Katie's safe travel.

this was taken as we were wandering around Rome, it was a sweet street, and we kept trying to take a picture with Katie on my back, but since we had no one to take the picture, we settled for this pose

my wingspan = a smart car

katie and I at la piazza di san pietro (st. peter's square)

Under the Arc de Triumph in Paris... Derf asked who's Triumph it was celebrating, I heard some British people talking about Napoleon, so I'm gunna go ahead and assume they were right

This is St. Michel church, just up the river from Notre Dame.

Me and the pretty girl found a stranger to take our picture on a bridge over the Seine

This is Katie and a moose... or a deer... or an elk... She asked me not to put this picture online... sorry katie :) I had to

our good friend Mona

For a short while, Katie and I posed like statues for fun

my turn

You lose track of what day it is in Europe.. easily

So today is Saturday, and it's been about a week since I last posted. We left France (which was SO fun) and got to Italy. We stayed at this cool bed and breakfast, but they had no internet, and we didn't really stop to go to an internet cafe, there was too much to see in the city.. I'll post some pics and give some quick highlights to the week.

Before we left France: We went to see Notre Dame and St. Sulpice (from the Da Vinci Code). They were pretty cool. Then we saw the church of the Sacre Couer, or Sacred Heart. It was so beautiful. I lit a candle for Gramma Martie and we watched about three hundred people as they sat on the steps and overlooked the entire city of Paris. It was really awesome.

We then walked around Montmartre, which is supposedly the most romantic neighborhood in Paris. It was really nice, and we stopped for an overpriced dinner. It was ok, not as good as Le Marmite, the best restaurant ever.

We ate some gelato on the steps of the Sacred Heart and then went back to the hotel. The next day was our last day/travel day/craziest day of perhaps my entire life. Long story short, we were late for our plane and they still let us on. Very thankful for that. Before we left though, we went to the Gardens of Touilleries (pretty cool) and the Orsay Museum. At Orsay, we saw a couple famous paintings, including Van Gogh's "Starry Night."

Once in Rome, we went to the Coliseum the first day. We don't really know much about it, but it was cool to see. They charge you a ton of euros to go into any attraction in Rome. The upside to that is that there aren't that many attractions, because the city itself is really pretty. We didn't stay in the prettiest part of the city, so we didn't see "beautiful Rome" until yesterday.

Thursday we went to the Vatican. I would say this was our best day in Rome. We went to St. Peter's Square (Piazza di San Pietro), inside St. Peter's Basilica, up to the top of the dome (where I took pics I'll paste below), and into the Vatican Museums. Part of the Vatican Museums was the SISTINE CHAPEL. You had to walk about an hour and a half through twenty museums before you got to the Sistine Chapel, it's the Vatican's way of making sure you REALLY want to see it. And we did. You can't take any pictures in there, but Katie and I stared at the ceiling for at least a half hour. It was truly beautiful. We've seen nineteen nuns in Rome so far, I've been keeping a close count. I don't want Katie to go, but she insists that her body will shut down if she doesn't have Applebees in the next 48 hours. Ok, so she didn't say that, but I wish I had some boneless buffalo wings right now.

We walked around Rome for five hours straight yesterday, covering at least half of the city. We saw the Trevi Fountain, Circus Maximus, and the Pantheon (we saw a ton of other stuff I can't spell too).

We've eaten loads of gelato, and I had whipped cream on mine last night, it was sooo good.

this is a statue of a baby strangling a duck at the Vatican...
the first car looks like a Tonka truck

this is Katie and I on top of the cupola of St. Peter's Basilica

This is the picture I took of St. Peter's Square, it looks like a postcard

I took this picture for John and Sean, but then Kate asked about speedos, so yes, I have seen a few

This is Katie and I at the Coliseum