The Final Post

welp i guess every great thing has to end sometime. it really had not hit me yet that this experience was ending until these words right now, and i can truly say that i am sad. i know this has been one of the ggreatest experiences of my life and it went by way to quick, these last 23 days especially. before my final thoughts shall we catch up on my final days?

so yesterday and today have been very tranquil and relaxing, my bags r pretty much packed and i must say i did a hell of a job...as far as roamin around the area it is tough as it is cold as hell here...Last night, Fabio, Claudio, fabios friend Francesco and I went to a sweet pub, and had some very nice tasting xmas beer. today Fabio and I went for a ride in the car around gallarate and varese...very beautiful but a disaster as it is close to xmas and thers traffic everywhere and nowhere to park...also i was amazed while in the supermarket i came upon an isle full of crazy fireworks..man its awesome that they sell these, roman candles, firecrackers, m80s, bottle rockets...i had to buy some just to pay respect that we will light tonight...fabio brought up a good point after i told them they didnte sell these types of fireworks in the states...translated in english he said " you americans can buy guns and kill people but you cant buy fireworks"...interesting

...tonight we are having the final dinner with the whole family..after fabio wants to take me out to another pub for one last goodbye drink. i leave tmw at 10 and i realized it will be a jack bauer day for me....exactly 23 hours of travel, possibly more if delays, hopefully none to great.

So it is here where i end this memorable journey and a hell of a journal that i am very glad that i started..like i said before, as far as joes study abroad blog it is over..but who knows i might convert it to Joes blog and keep it goin. thanks for reading and lookin foward to seein you all...ill leave you with this

Closing Thoughts and Statements:

- best experience of my life for now, but I got a lot going for me so things could get better, yes I try to be optimistic

- made friendships to last a lifetime

- im proud to be of Italian heritage

- Italian men are very aggressive with American girls

- I have gained a greater appreciation for photography

- making videos is something I really enjoy doing

- Gypsy’s r harmless

- African merchants r a part of Italian daily life

- I want a vespa

- I want to bring Kebabs to the States

- I gained my freshman 15 two years late, yet I am still skinny as a toothpick, actually probly only like 8-10

- I desperately miss doing athletic activities, mostly bball and cant wait to see how out of shape I really am and what a basketball looks like

-looking forward to having American tv and watching football, the new season of 24 and the continuation of the prison break season.

- also looking to attending my monthly concerts as I missed some good ones when I was gone, including pepper, rebelution, stoopid, the used to name a view.

www.myspace.com/rebelution check em out if u like reggae rock

- I have acquired a taste for vino, as well as coffee which I never used to drink before..however Italian coffee is a lot different than what we have in the states which might lead me into buying an Italian coffee maker and coffee

- Giuseppe Garibaldi is the most recognized figure in all of italy

- Italian soccer plays a huge part in Italian society

- all my Italian cousins are awesome and I hate to leave them

- I do not want to go back to UC Davis as it is full of Asians and all the beautiful girls in my program r gone and the girl to guy ratio is shattered.

- XMAS will be great, hopefully not spending it in an airport

-I would like to thank the family for making this trip financially possible and my 3 years of hard work at andronicos market to buy me a couple rounds of drinks

-lastly, enjoyed the blog, thanks for reading

- goodnight and stay classy, see all of you soon


CIAO da Italia

another fam update

Well tonight i met up with the final relative that i have not seen yet, Vannis daughter Barbara. We went out and had a nice dinner in Sesto Calende and had a good time...she speaks great english as she works for british airways so it was easy to converse and talk crap bout vanni without him ever knowing. it was alot of fun, she has a extremely busy work schedule but i wish i could have seen more of her...however sunday morning when i part, she will be working at the airport so ill be able to see her one last time.

Vanni, Barbara, Me

tomorrow i will prepare my luggage, it should be a tuff one and i expect to leave some unneccessary items behind...tmw night i hope to hit the italian night life up with my cousins Claudio and Fabio but well see, its about 25 degrees here now. 2 more days...its been a good one

mmmmm

so i was tryin to provide some entertainment in this post, due to the boring last one, but couldnt really find anything, no new videos, art, pictures...hmm

So yesterday, the 18th i arrived back here in Gallarate...after a rough train ride and bus ride to chiavari...i was pretty sick last night..dizzy and stuff...but since im a soldier today i am feeling fantastic..some sleep, italian remedies and music i can attribute it too. not really much to do here, cept stay warm (-5 to +6 degrees) so about a constant 23 fahrenheit to 42...yea its damn cold...ice everywhere,...and some small snowage

tonight i met my other cousins...Remo and his family..we had a great dinner at his house


3 days till my departure..expect a closing statement saturday


here we go , how bout a new episode of japanese tetris

Paullo, Milano, Chiavari, Conscenti

December 16, 2007

So I am one week away from leaving my beautiful homeland…sad but exciting at the same time. Heres whats been goin on the past couple days

I stayed with my grandma’s cousins for 4 days in Paullo, Italy…bout 30 minutes outside of Milan, that is without the traffic. It was a great time. Stayed in a very nice house and the family took great care of me. Vittorio, my cousin, is a legend, just like all my cousins, they seriously seem to know everybody and everybody seems to know them. Vittorio probably drives one of the nicest cars in italy, a Mercedes, and gets looks as he drives thru the small congested streets of Italia. Being the Paullo does not offer very much we killed some time by going to Vittorios good friends toy company factory…this company makes small scaled versions of popular cars for kids to ride around in…the electric ones u see at toys r us. Pretty cool, just to see how they are made and stuff and the amount that they sell, specially for xmas.

That after noon, Vittorios daughters husband got off of work early to take me for a ride to the nearby town of Lodi…this was a nice little town that had tons of churches and a phat Christmas market goin on in the town center. It was fun, glad I made it there.

The next day, Thursday (13^th), Guglielmo (Vittorios daughter Romina’s husband) took the day of work to do a day trip with me into Milan. Milan was great, pros and cons.

Short digression: First of all I believe it is the biggest industrial area of Italy…and the 3 days I was there, there was a strike where truckers refused to transport…big surprise as there is seriously some type of strike in italy every damn week. So since the truckers would not work, all gas stations were closed due to no gas for 2 days, and all the grocery stores lacked merchandise…also Italy has a huge traffic problem, never imagined it..there is traffic everywhere you go. Once these trucks got back on the road, it was even worse…bottom line: I did not think italy had so much traffic and that they have strikes all the time

So to Milan, since traffic is terrible we parched at the metro station 15 minutes outside the city, and took the metro in. The metro took us right to Piazza del Duomo. So we first visited the Duomo, and I can say with confidence this was/is my favorite duomo ive seen the entire trip..truly magnificent and beautiful. We took the elevator to the top and got to overlook the entire city and get a view of the cathedral from the top. The inside was spectacular as well with the stained glass windows

After this, walked thru the galleria and looked from the outside of the Scala, world popular theater. We then went to eat lunch at Peck, guess thers one in New York as well. There we met Guglielmos wife Romina and her sister Olivia (my cousins). The food was fabulous. After that Romina and Olivia headed back to work as they work in Milan. Me and Guglielmo continued perusing the streets of Milan, and made r way into a park, then the castello di fortezca…vecchio…and what trip to a big city of Italy would be complete without finding a statue of Giuseppe Garibaldi. After that, we started headin back

Thoughts on Milan:

- beautiful as far as art, churches, etc.

- Dirty as hell, I did not like the metro, the Albanians, and Africans, selling countless illegal merchandise

- Did not like the traffic

- Duomo was amazing

- Polluted and dirty, big downside and one thing i did not like

That pretty much concludes my stay with my relatives from Paullo, good times with family and they, like all other family, took great care of me.

Picture of me and the relatives

Moving on:

So Friday the 14^th, went in to milano centrale station and hopped on a train to Chiavari..train was great, no ticket problems, no delays, perfect..got into Chiavari to meet Sergio waitin for me at the station. Bit to early for dinner, so Sergio took a ride to the town of Zoagli. Small nice coast town, basically just took a stroll long the water. Reminded me of cinque terre. After that headed back to Concenti to sergios house and had a great home made meal. Yesterday, Saturday the 15, Sergio and I headed back to Zerli (hopefully u remember my escapades there last time) if u don’t it is where my grandpa grew up. We went back to my cousins restaurant called Ca’ di Gosita. Giuseppe and Zia Inus prepared some bomb ravioli and canoli for us. After that some beef and potatoes as well as a personal Italian favorite: frasoula(don’t know how to spell it). From that I was stuffed, we then headed down the hill to meet my other cousins, benedetto, Gabriella, and Agnes. They r the son and daughters of one of my grandpas brothers for any of u out there that care. It was nice meetin them and we shared some good family memories.

Zia Inus, Me, Giuseppe at ther restaurant

Relatives again, doesnt get more italian than this

Today Sergio took me to Genoa. Really enjoyed it despite the 35 degree weather..damn it is cold here. Our first stop in Genoa was the acquarium…although Ive always felt acquariums r gay and for kids, I thoroughly enjoyed my time today, maybe because I haven’t been to an aquarium in about 6 years. Either way I got a kick out of the dolpins, penguins, and those savage sharks.

After the acquarium we headed into central Genoa. Saw some cathedrals, palaces, gypsys, African merchants, it was fun. Tons of commercial stores hungry for customers…xmas season is huge for Italians, there were some big crowds today. We then made r way to the house of Christopher Columbus…yes that is right..hes Italian, not Spanish. After while walkin the streets, we of course ran into a ginormous statue of Giuseppe Garibaldi. “Genoa claims him, but the real Italians know hes from Conscenti” says my cousin Sergio in Italian. I am pretty sure this is true as garibaldis dad had a house in conscenti and I believe now it is converted into a museum. The Ducale also had a huge exhibit on Garibaldi but we did not have time or the patience to see it. It was cold and dark, so we called it a day.

Sergios Dog Nina

Chiavari at night

more to come...if u read all of this and ur not my parents, you have no life

heeyyooo

finally got some stable internet...glad to see this page finally reached 500 hits..however i didnt put the counter up till halfway thru,. soo probly like 800--- I am now in gallarate and got 4 more days...some huge multipart updates will be up tonite, with tons of pictures.

had some sort of sickness last night, but i think ive recovered,. nothin better than true italian remedies from my relatives

out

Relative update

So, finally have internet after a good 5 days..that is why u get pictures and updates. I have been staying with my grandpas cousin Vanni. He is a legend.

I have been staying with him the past couple of days and it has been great.. I can tell that he is just loving me stay with him and takes pride in his American cousin everywhere we go. I obviously don’t speak up to par with his Italian so he tries to help me out with the few English words that he knows..but man the translations r often so off and I just laugh. First off, he doesn’t think we speak English in America…he calls r language "united states". He calls the washing machine “shower” and when he asks me if I like something he says “I love” not “you love”. It is hysterical. he really enjoys tryin to speak english...example..keep in mind he lives in all italian area wher no tourist steps foot....so we went to an Essalunga , grocery store..Vanni could not find an item and he just goes to a worker and asks in english where the product is..it was hilarious..then at the cash register it was 67 euro and he tries to speak in english to the worker, and she actually knew a bit of english..as far as how much it cost..had to be ther moment, sorry for the digression. He is a very good cook and is taking fantastic care of me, cept for the fact that his shower has no hot water and I haven’t showered in 3 days. But he lives the Italian life, not the American, so I just adjust with the culture. Vino at everymeal, coffee after, ect.

Saturday the 8^th I went with Vanni and his 2 friends Giancarlo and Enzo to Switzerland, which is bout 45 minutes north of his town of Sesto Calende. We went to Lugano, very pretty with the mountaintops covered in snow. It has been very cold here and windy..rained a bit for the past 2 days. Sunday, I met Vanni’s sister Angela Budelli and her husband Mario…very nice people and they have a sweet house. Then after we went to Vanni’s friends Giancarlo and Enzo’s house for lunch. Then after we took another car ride to Stresa. It was really nice. Vanni and his friends also get a kick out of all my pictures and all the women in them. i love seeing the look on peoples faces when i show them my pictures..

Now i am with my other cousins Fabio and Claudio who r 25, and 18 respectively..as well as their parents and grandma. I am only here for the night because tomorrow i will go to Milan to visit relatives of my grandma. Tonight we went for pizza, talked italian, skyped relatives, facebook, discussed swear words and music that we like. happy to finally have some internet and have taken a shower..finally

I am currently in the process of preparing a slideshow for my return..its gonna be a good one and that is a guarantee

by the way..this entire post i slipped in a couple italian words and i had to take them out..it just shows that it is italian nonstop and in this atmosphere im forced to speak it and it is easier to learn..feels real good.

anyhow..talk to u all soon, thanks for reading..if u read this that is..as ther is some good eye candy on this blog as well

PANORAMAS

please click picture for bigger pan

Dam Square

Prague

Lennon Graffiti Wall

Picts from the Dam and Prague

Canals of Amsterdam

DAM Square

The hell if I know what this was..museum or town hall i believe

Prague; BEST BEER I HAVE EVER TASTED...UFLEKUUU

OLD TOWN SQUARE:PRAGUE

OLD TOWN SQUARE again...xmas best time of the yr

John Lennon Graffiti Wall

Prague Castle and St. Charles Bridge at Night

Astronomical Clock in old Town Square

The Czech are assholes

So i wrote my prague post the last night I was in Prague and I thought since i left early the next morning i thought the trip was basically over. WEll it wasn't and it just confirmed my feeling that i had the entire weekend, that the Czechs are assholes. So here is what happened..From my hostel to the airport it is about a 25 minute trip...3 minutes on tram, 5 mintues on metro and the rest on bus. The entire trip I paid for transport tickets..one ticket works on metro, tram and bus. All in all I paid bout 7 dollars for transport, and the entire time I paid, no one ever came and checked I had a ticket. So basically I was pisst the entire time that I paid for tickets yet no one ever checked or enforced. So as I began my trip to the airport I was thinking I do not need a ticket, but then I was like I have extra check currency y not just buy a ticket for a buck 20 ($1.30). so I did and things were goin great, besides the fact I got a late start. So tram, then metro, then the bus ride…bout 10 minutes into the busride someone finally asks to see my ticket. I am all happy cuz I bought a ticket…welp turns out the ticket I bought did not include transferring, and this jackass official had no sympathy for my tourist mistake. I had many locals on the bus speak in Czech to him in my defense yet this guy was determined to fine me. He asked to see my documents and I said there is no reason for u to see them…I also had no more check money..the fine was 500 crowns…=30 bucks. So he stayed right next to me on the bus till the airport where I could withdraw money from the atm and pay his sorryass. The thing that pisses me off the most is that I know many of the other ppl on the bus did not have tickets and it was just unlucky that he got to me first. Also, I had bought a ticket, yet just a wrong one and he wanted me to pay the full fine. I wanted to argue with this douche but as it was I was running late and ide figure he can have my measely 30 bucks. But more importantly, after I gave him my 500 crowns he asked for my documents again, and I was like hell no u don’t need to see them, and he did nothing about it..this guy was a dick to say the least…and after he hands me my invalid ticket and smiles at me with his face screaming “thank you so much for your money you stupid American” and all I did was tear the ticket right in front of his face and walked to my plane…it was a terrible way to end my experience in Prague as I really liked that place, but because this a-hole I lost respect for the country as a whole.

PRAGUE

so couple quick things...1) i am writing this now cuz i dont know when ill have internet..2)i am writing it now cuz i had extra czech money so i wasted it on internet...3) there will be no pictures and it will ruin the quality of the post 4) ther will probly be no more videos due to my lack of camera memory and effort to make a movie.

so here we go, really pisst ther r no pictures but ull see em later

Prague is one of the most beautiful cities i have seen and i see why it is considered one of the prettiest cities in the world and one of the top visited cities in Europe

..left amsterdam on the 4th and arrived in prague at about 11 at night...made it solo to might sweet hostel/hotel called the Czech Inn..nicest place ever banking in at a mere 16 dollars a night...so tuesday night got to the hostel and met Nicole and Claire from my AIFS program and hit the bed

Wednesday we got up and met some other kids (Tim and Kolina) from our program at Old Town Square..this square was recently filled with tons of xmas booths and tons of traditional czech food and a giant xmas tree (wanting to insert picture here)

From ther we walked to St Charles Bridge and up to Prague Castle..quite a climb and when we got to the top we saw the guards and a huge marching band parade..found out due to some type of graduation...Because of this the huge cathedral up top was closed for the day..unfortunate but i have been told i didnt miss much

The top gave some awesome views of the entire city of Prague

after that Tim had been craving subway the entire 4 months, so we went there. After we head to my favorite brewery of all time......UFLEKU...to date i can say it was the beest damn beer i have ever tasted..god it was good..nice and dark, strong, and smooth, so great characteristics to a great beer. man i wish i had one right now infront of me

After that we branched off and headed to dinner, then from ther hit up Old Town Square again as it was packed....this was because Dec 5th is St Nicholas day...1st day of XMAS i guess and ther were alot of ppl dressed up and it was just fun and entertaining to see.

The next day Claire, Nicole and I hit up the jewish quarter...saw tons of synagogues and a cemetary..nothin special...

we then saw John Lennon Wall, basically a huge graffitti wall with lennon lyrics and sweeet designs..

tonight i had a huge photography session..time is running out

relatives for the next 2 weeks..prague was great...peace to all

Amsterdam aka THE DAM

hello All, in Prague at the moment chillin in my hostel lounge. Been here for a day but details to be said later, Unfortuanetely probly will not have to many more posts here,,,,internet with the relatives will probly be limited,. also no pictures for prague and amsterdam however they r good and post em later or ull see them when im home..for all of you that r eager of my return.

First off tho, Friday was the last night of the program, the rest of the students that headed home left that night between 230 and 330 am for bus ride to the rome airport. definetly sad times and i made sure that i would see farewell to all my good friends that i met over the past 4 months.

So as u can imagine it was a great and late night,....i had not fully packed or prepared to leave the next morning at 9....sure enouigh i slept in these were hectic in the morning...packed up, left the apartment in a huge rush and sloshed my way to the train station in the rain with all my 4 bags of luggage makin it to the train 1 minute before departure...it was crazy and a bad way to leave the city that some of my greatest life memories had taken place. but watever i was on my way to Milan...at Milan I met up with my cousin Vanni, ate lunch with him and dropped off my excess luggage. Then went to the airport to catch my plane to the DAM...damn easy jet flight was delayed 2 hrs..but watever flight was only 40 euros

so Amsterdam, what a city and some of the most fun i have had the entire trip. This trip i went solo due to some friends backin out and bad communication, however was not an issue

so arrived the first night without a hostel book and called and walked around a few places....decided to call it a night at the BULL DOG, one of Amsterdams most popular hostels and they also claim ther europes 1st 5 star hostel..it was smacked right in the middle of the dirty, legal and iinteresting RED LIGHT DISTRICT. all in all it was an experience. that night it was rainin and i got in late due to the delay..i was goin to meet up with some guys from santa clara but that fell thru...so i called it a night walked round a bit and took some pictures and headed to bed

The next day i woke up early and went to my top choice hostel the FLYING PIG right in downtown amsterdam...they had openings for the next 2 nights so i was pumped.

The mood and feeling in amsterdam was great...an overall friendly and peaceful ambience. more tourists than i expected adn the weather wasnt that great but it was still fun,. im still amazed at the Dutch people...these citizens r fluent in not only dutch but in english, truly amazing..not just like italians wher they no basic words..these ppl r fluent..and all of them...pretty culturally special.

so it is no hidden secret..Amsterdam is a beautiful city with abundant canals and eye catchin scenery but it is wrong to talk abouit the DAM without including its legal Marijuana law and the seductive Red Light District. no lies but Marijuana is the center of Amsterdam and it is highly evident..there are coffee shops on every corner and the smell of marijuana every second of the day. It must be a hell of a business because the city revolved around it...countless weed tshirts, smoking paraphernalia and food munchies. it was just interesting to see. it is also very tough to walk around without having black guys heckle you to buy cocaine, weed, ectasy.. reminded me of the merchants selling purses in florence, but now selling drugs

Red Light District was funny, entertaining, awkward and dirty all at the same time. I went with my newly acquired austrailian and canadian friend who i met at flying pig(SEAN and NICK). seeing these women just standing and dancing in windows selling therselves,...jsut funny and wrong but interesting...some of the women were "attractive" and some were just obviously hideous. it was funny to see the interesting areas of the district..aka the asian, black, indian, fat, ect. either way wierd but memorable experience

as far as sights, ther was alot to do..cept the raining and cold weather effected alot of what i had to do, just as it was tought to walk around, but i made it to the Van Gogh Museum which was pretty sweet...my favorite painting was called i believe "black crows over the wheatield" i was bout to buy a screened copy of it but did not want to carry it with me all around traveling and all.

DAM square was sweet adn also ther was 2 big markets...one was Waterplooin and the other Albert Cuyp..both were like flee markets and food markets...Albert Cuyp is everyday and is the most famous day market..it was pretty nice and definetely a nice place to take a good stroll

the heinekin expereince was closed, but i knew this before going so i paid tribute by drinking heavy amounts of heinekin at the flying pig. cheapest beer in town

im done writing, thats pretty much my trip, thanks for reading and take care..over and out from Prague

late