Pietrasanta

Today was r day trip to pietrasanta...fun little place however nothing to exciting...didnt learn to much cuz r tour guide was a piece and barely knew anything...just know its an old town and known for alot of sculpture, marble stuff, and mosaics

no caption needed

tiles(glass) used for the sweet mosaics

very nice> I like

some sick sculpture im standing in
keepin this one nice and short...sun is still out and the beach is tons of fun however i have still been unable to body surf due to the lack of waves..however the vball and frisbee have been in full effect...the discotech last night was tons of fun and for sure hittin it up again b4 we leave....note to self: italians r not very good breakdancers...stick to watchin the american mexicans and asians. tmw i believe my cousin Sergio is coming to visit from Chiavari,,should be fun. night, good day wherever ur readin this from..late

headin to cinque terre on saturday..supposed to be one of the greatest places in italy..

LUCCA

Lucca was pretty tight..worth it, only cost 5 euros so glad i went. 4 kilometer town inside the walls...tons of small stores and churches...came across my 1st statue of the famous Giuseppe Garibaldi...pretty sick..definetly got a lot of respect from the ladies
Got my first italian test back...got a 14 out of 15...owning it...tonite were headin to the discotech for some "hip hoppin" should be alot of fun...today me and mio amico stu went to the local supermarket which is like 4 miles away...we got about 16 bottles of wine and like 20 phat bottles of moretti..should last us the rest of the stay cuz were the only ones who seem to throw parties..carried about 40 pounds of wine on my back for 4 miles in the blistering heat..hit up the mediterreanean sea right after for a cool down. and of course i hit up the huge deli meat aisle at the mercato..got some local mortadella, salami, prosciutto cotto and some provolone...bomb..
signed up for my classes in florence the other day...takin history of the italian mafia and modern analysis of italy...my cousin Sergio is coming to visit me on thursday or friday for sure gonna be a good time..mingle with the pure italians and pipe into the social pipeline.

on a side note my ipod has been broken 4 about 5 days...it gave me some bs sad ipod icon when i turned it on...did some research and said to bang it as hard as u can on a flat surface...soo i had nothin to lose so i basically just threw it on the table as hard as i could and sure enough it started workin..greatest thing ever....some great albums have dropped for all u music fans....scary kids, chiodos, and since no of u kno bout them...the neew ben harper cd is sick.....im out hope all is well..Ciao.

I like you peoples

having the time of my life. to be honest i am not feelin Florence at all anymore..i wanna stay here the rest of the quarter..the sun finally came out and the beach is fun as hell. class obviously sucks but its only 3 hrs a day...get my first test back tmw so well see how i did. Ill start with the food. we r provided breakfast and dinner so everyday we need to get r own lunch. obviously i have always been a fan of Focaccia but its seems to be about 10x better here... the deli meats are extremely cheap...prosciutto cotto is my favorite so good...slap that on with some mozzarella and man.what a meal. today i had it on focaccia with cream cheese and lettuce..and of course they toast everything here..soo good. cant wait to get fat..just a matter of time. Last night was the best night so far...we went to a beach party..and it was insane..i walk in and there was over atleast 500 people..the songs were insane..tons of great italian songs and tons of american hit remixes...YMCA was a huge hit..played it atleast twice. yea tons of fun and glad i went...plus it was free..cant get that in greedy america

today i embarked on a laundry excursion with 2 of my buds...Stu and my long lost 3 cousin Paul..seriously. also my first day takin the bus which honeslty is the best public transportation bus..we totally missed r stop and werent sure when it stopped again and went about 3 miles past r destination..so we got off and took another bus goin the other way..finally found the laundry mat did the usual then got a dryer that honeslty had no heat. had to run another load and 7 hrs later my clothes r still not dry. of course during this we had to kill some time, so to pay respects to r italian heritage we bought some birra moretti and waited it out...tmw we head to Lucca which is some renaissance town i believe, but ill find out forsure tmw. take it easy and miss u all. late

note to all the police and future employers: posting of this picture is purely legal as this picture was taken in a foreign country where drinking is legal over the ages of 16+.

PISA and 1 week Review

Ciao. Today was the 1st trip. Visited Torre del Lago and Pisa. pretty much the only reason Torre del Lago exists is because the famous opera composer Giaccomo Puccini has a house there..so we got to go see that..pretty cool i guess..then from there it was a 20 minute trip to Pisa. Pisa is nothing until u enter the city walls. obviously the tower is the main attraction but the cathedral there was pretty amazing..overall im glad i got to go see Pisa. really my first encounter with all the tourists here in italy..they were everywhere..felt like i was back in Davis with all the Asians.. the merchants around the tower were insane...just a myriad of africans wheelin and dealin tryin to sell watches, sunglasses, jewlery and purses..all big named brands but just fake replicas

so ive been here a week...heres my WEEK REVIEW

• London was cool, glad i went there...food sucked, and extremly expensive conversion rate..1 pound =2 US dollars . 2 days was plenty ther..saw what i needed to
• Rome to Viareggio is a long ass bus ride after 2 hrs of sleep the night b4
• Viareggio is a great beach town where as of now gets no sun and just rain..but itll be here soon
• the pizza here is amazin as well as the gelato
• wine is the drink of choice
• there is a phenomenal ratio of girls to guys bout 15 guys to over 120 girls
• these africans tryin to sell fake jewelry and umbrellas on the beach r starting to get to me
• i love rippin free internet off an italian family

PEACE

Cin Cin !!!

hows IT?? Viareggio has been epic so far.. HAvent had any nice weather yet rainin like crazy right now but should clear up in the next few days...finally got to the beach yesterday..the waves were huge b/c of the storm..just a flury of red flags and the lifeguards went crazy any time we went passed r waists...water is very warm..beaches here r cool however its just an array of beach chairs and umbrellas for miles...ther is no where to bust out the frisbee except for the ocean..sux but well get by..meetin tons of ppl. Took my italian placement exam and just owned it..im in the top class. i am the only guy and theres 7 girls. i guess its cool i got in the top class..dont kno if i should be tho im just a good test taker but my oral is hurting. My teachers name is Angelina Frontelli from Milano..none of the students speak italian here soo all my good friends r in the beginner class..it would be fun to be with all of them but im gonna be ownin italian in no time. Been drinkin tons of chianti..cant complain it does the job.. However me and my friend Stu finally found a place that had beer. on tap. tbe Beer is called Nostro Azzurro i think and its a new personal favorite. last night was the 1st night we all went to a bar(pub). It was called Sargent Peppers..it was alotta fun..Had my first authentic italian pizza yesterday and it was bomb..just kept it simple with the margherita. Tonite i believe were gonna hit up the local discoteca.so get to see what that was about...i enjoyed seein everyone hurting this morning at classes..specially the chix..just priceless...set to go to PISA on thursday and cinque terre on saturday..keep u updated...once again i feel like i can write tons more but this shall do.

hope ur enjoyin this blog..i sure am..wish things flowed this nicely in english class with my papers..sry the sentences arent organized..just writin wat comes to me

late

London over....Italia is here

what up what up...after 2 great but brutal days in the UK i have arrived in Italia..plane flight was great to London...flew virgin atlantic and got hooked up with the lady at the desk... she gave me a window seat and an entire row just to myself... virgin had great movies and tv shows..watched about 3 office episodes and 4 simpson episodes as well as ZODIAC..pretty good flic.. So I arrived in London at 1030 their time and was goin off about 2 hrs of sleep in the past 24 hrs. We stayed at the Gouman hotel which is conveniently located to one of the biggest london attraction: Tower Bridge which is pictured above.. 1st thing i did when i arrived was finding the nearest ATM and gettin some pounds...insanely expensive.... 1 pound - 2 US dollars just rediculous...then we hit up some local cafe's and got some sandwiches...then got back to the hotel and powernapped it for 3 hrs and hit the town around 8. One of the girls I met here had a friend that lives in London and goes to school there....so we got taken all around the city with her and hit up the local pubs...sports bars were sweet...the brits absolutely tear in foosball. The next day we all got up at 8 to go on a bus tour around london...visited St Pauls, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, and Buckinham Palace...unfortunate that the changing of the guard was not in effect.. After the tour we had time to do whatever so me and some friends took about a 3 mile walk wherever...saw tons of street performers and listened to alot of live music...

Picture of Big Ben(not really tho b/c big ben is actually just the bell)

So today and last night were brutal...we had to leave r london hotel at 3am for r 7 am flight to Rome.. never slept b4 the flight...The flight took 2 hrs and then we finally arrived in Rome...Then we had a suprisingly rough 5 hr bus trip to where I am now: Viareggio: beach town to the west of Pisa. yea so all in all that bus ride was extremely rough...

So its 1 here i think now..and im just milkin internet off some italian..everyone else is payin 10 euro for an hr..so i got it good. Tonite we just walked around hit up the gelato bars and drank some vino. Tmw which will come around quick, we start r 1st day of school...Surprisingly barely any students have studied italian, so im one of the few in the intermediate language course...however i still need to take a placement test to pass into the class. my italian is rusty but it should come back come game time...so we got class til 12 then probly just hit the beach for the rest of the day...gonna be alot of fun..

: sorry if sentences r unclear...coulda wrote a ton more however im extremely tired and this is already enough for u to read..should be a great 3 weeks here..keep u updated..Ciao

Journey Begins

headin to the airport...after screwin around with my ipod for bout 30 minutes...finally got it workin and loaded up all my songs....all packed up and bout to pop some airborne for the crusty planes...alrighty talk to u soon from across the atlantic...leave some comments on here if u want to...if not shoot me an email at gstallion10@sbcglobal.net

Almost packed....

So everything is laid out ready to get in the suitcases...too be honest really doesn't feel like that much...but im sure ill have a brutal time fittin all the crap in. It has it the time where i'm sayin all my goodbyes and doin the last of things in America till december...last week i played my last game of golf for 4 months..gonna miss it. tonight i probly played basketball for the last time...i would love to ball it up with some italianos but doubt it will happen...its unfortunate i will be missin the Alumni game this yr, but i got a few to look foward to for the years to come...tomorrow is my last day and night and it will be filled with packin my suitcase, and sayin goodbye to family and gettin my ipod all ready..gonna be the trip of a lifetime..below r a few picts from the packin station


just got contacts and they r sick...downside...i got a shitload of lens cleaner to bring over..that passport is just waitin to get stamped with the italian flag
shoes...shower sandals for the gross crusty hostels...night shoes, sick newbalances to hike/sightsee in/and the reefs

necessary health, hygiene and personal items....body wash, shaving cream, sunscreen for my white ass skin, cologne, mini maglite, hella advil, and of course airborne herbal remedy..
dress shirts for the Firenze night life..and some gey bag i smothered with music stickers
some of the clothes...hella socks and boxers..probly will only pack half of those
over and out

T Minus 2 Days

so I board the plane on thursday..which is 2 days from today...i am pumped although i have not packed a single item and have about 3 hrs of shopping ahead of me to get some last minute stuff....the stress is building up, but excitement overtakes it everytime i think about it. i got 4 great months of "School" to look foward to. need to polish up on some italian b4 i embarass myself

The First Post

Nice, well I guess it all starts here. In the next couple of months I will be updating this from across the atlantic...Hopefully will put some legendary stories on here, as well as some sick pictures if I can find someplace to upload them. I leave in 8 days....August 16th, and have not started packing but the stress is starting to build up...time to get to work..late