Attakid8: Living in Rome

Last Day...Ciao Roma

2005-08-17T15:00:00.000-07:00

July 18:

Today was my last day in Rome. When I said yesterday that it was going to busy, I didn’t realize how tight everything would be. Because of the train schedules, bus schedule, and the hours the store where I stored my luggage, I didn’t get to see a lot of the things that I wanted to see today. I guess that means I just have more reasons to come back to Rome sometime then J

I was a good day though. I am already almost totally packed. I’m just waiting for my Ipod to get charged and than I will finish packing the rest of my things. I’m going to try to get to bed early tonight so that I can get a good nights sleep because tomorrow is going to be a long day.

My flight leaves here at 11:55 a.m. from Rome. So, in about 29 hours, I will be back in the United States. What sucks is the fact that I have about a seven hour drive after my flight lands…sooo, it is going to be a long and tiring day.

Well, this was an amazing experience. I hoped you all enjoyed reading my blog and seeing my pictures. Talk to you all soon.....CIAO

Last Days

2005-08-17T14:59:00.000-07:00

July 17:

Today was my day to say good-bye to the southern part of Rome. I took the entire day to see the city center. Besides seeing the sights that I have already seen once or twice, I finally saw a few that I had missed. I finally got to sit down and soak in the Trevi Fountain. It was interesting there to say the least.

While at the Trevi Fountain….well, it is important to preface this with the fact that the Trevi Fountain is the largest fountain in Rome and the most popular. You are supposed to throw a coin over you left shoulder into the fountain to guarantee a return trip to Rome, which is one of the reasons I saved the fountain until last and went today….Anyways, there was this lady there (kind of a gypsy) with a pole that had a magnetic tip. I watched here go all the way around the fountain picking out all of the fifty, one Euro, and Two Euro pieces out of the fountain. I don’t know about you but that kind of makes me mad. To me, the money is more that just money when thrown into a fountain but more like a wish or a dream of someone’s. Besides that it was great!!

I finally saw the Baths of Caracalla, which while amazingly big were not as great as I hoped they would be. After seeing the baths, I took a long nap in the Aventine Park (another place I hadn’t been yet). Later, I decided that I would regret not forking over the 10 Euros to get into the Coliseum to see it. And, while 10 Euros is a lot of money, it was really great to see and I am glad that I did it. Plus, the ticket also let me go back to the Palentine Hill and see that again. I saw a lot of other things today too such as the Spanish steps and many other monuments.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you all this story. I got some gelato today and was sitting in a park when I pretty much got propositioned. Now, some of you are probably asking what did she look like….well, French and not a woman but a man. Italian and French men are really weird. Matt really got hit on one day while we were here and I have been hit on (not as bad as today) before too. This French guy walked up on me and asked if I spoke Italian, French, or English. I told him English. He then proceeded to ask me if I was alone and if I was, it would be “no problem” for him to hangout with me all day in Rome. Interesting story to say the least…

Tomorrow will be a busy day. I want to go see the northern parts of Rome again and other things up north that I haven’t seen yet such as the Milvian Bridge. For those of you who don’t know, the Milvian Bridge is a really famous bridge. According to Constantine, it was at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge that he say the Chi Rho in the sky which led him to victory and to convert to Christianity. After which, Constantine officially changed the official religion of the Roman Empire to Christianity. Well, the original bridge was destroyed during the battle but parts of the old bridge were used and Constantine built a new bridge in its place. This bridge is still there so I am going to go see it. On top of seeing everything, I have to pick up my luggage that I have stored and get them back to my hotel and then pack….all in all this means that I have a lot to do on my last day in Rome.

Speaking of it being my last day, CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT I AM ALMOST DONE WITH MY TIME HERE!!!! I never could imagine myself even actually going through with all of this let alone almost being done with it. It was really surreal to walk around Rome today because while I am excited to be going home, I really love Rome and will miss it.

Well, it is off to bed for me. Have a good day everyone and this will probably be my last post before I get home. I am getting home late Tuesday so if everyone will be able to get a hold of me by the end of this week. See you and hear from you all soon….ciao

2005-08-17T14:45:00.000-07:00

Last Day 6

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Last Day 5

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Last Day 4

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Last Day 3

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Last Day 2

Adventures in Como

2005-08-17T14:39:00.001-07:00

July 16:

Things got better with James after I wrote the last post. We got up in morning to eat breakfast and than to go to Bellagio and see the rest of Lake Como. However, it turns out that like the rest of Italy, the public transportation system in Como likes to strike whenever they feel like it. And unfortunately, they decided to strike the day we were there. The buses, boats, and even the cable car down from the mountain were closed. James and I had to walk down Mount Brunate just to get to Como.

In Como, we walked around and looked at some shops. Como is known for its silk industry. Supposedly, Como has the best silk manufacturers in the world and the top designers get their silk from here. After looking around the town for a while, we decided to see if we could just rent a car or scooters so that we could see the lake, but no luck. Instead, we ended up laying on the walls bordering the lake soaking up some sun. Therefore, I really didn’t get to see much of Lake Como and didn’t get to see the parts of it that I wanted to and was looking forward to seeing. But that is just one thing I have come to expect and deal with from Italians.

That night, James and I ate dinner at our hotel which has a really good restaurant. We decided to order a meal that allowed us to get an appetizer, first dish, second dish, wine, water, and coffee. The meal started off a little different. The appetizer was full fished, not anchovies but similar. Needless to say it was weird trying to eat whole fish, bones and all, but I at least ate half of them. However, the first dish (risotto with sausage) and the second dish (veal stew) were absolutely amazing.

Today was a travel day. James and I parted ways (James went up to Switzerland and I went back down to Rome). The day went really smoothly. There were really no major troubles traveling and I got to my hotel in Rome and am now just sitting in my bed. However, I am really hungry. I have only have had breakfast today. With traveling on the trains and waiting for buses, I didn’t have time to eat. I figured that I could find a place near my hotel or in my hotel but there are no restaurants or even stores near the hotel and the restaurant here requires reservations. I about just ordered room service but when I call they weren’t taking orders right then, which I took as a sign that I should probably just go to bed.

I’m looking forward for tomorrow. It should be a really good day. I’m going to try to see the rest of Rome that I just didn’t get a chance to see very well when I was here for school. At the same time, it is really hard to believe that I only have two full days left here. The time went by fast but at the same time seems like I have been here forever (if that makes any sense at all). Well, it is time to balance my budget and to get to bed.

2005-08-17T14:39:00.000-07:00

Last Day 1

Florence, Venice, and Como

2005-08-17T14:38:00.000-07:00

July 14:

I really liked Florence. I did accomplish my plans for the day that I previously posted about. James and I went and saw the David in the morning. The line is long, but what line isn’t. However, while standing in line, we started talking to a couple in the late twenties or early thirties from New York. They were really nice. The wife was a third grade teacher and her husband was a consultant. We talked about New York, being a lawyer, and Europe. It helped the time go by pretty fast. Waiting to see the David was well worth it. There really isn’t much in the museum (there are some really great paintings) but the David is worth paying to see. The statue dominates the room once you walk into it. To look at it and think that it was carved out of one solid piece of marble that Michelangelo found in the piazza that he found it in, is simply amazing.

Later that day, after paying a lot (and I mean a lot!!!), for some gelato, I went to the Ufizzi museum. The line for this one was even worse than for the David. It took me over two hours to get in and while the museum was neat, it wasn’t the best that I have been in but at least I saw it. That night James and I went to dinner to, I guess, celebrate my birthday. We decided to go to this one that is off the beaten path, reasoning that it is one that all the locals go to. Well, when we thought locals, we didn’t picture Italian mob. Yep, the Italian mob. Now, I know that you are thinking that I am exaggerating about the place being owned by the Italian mob but I’m not. There is no doubt that it was the Italian mob. Besides that, the food was good but I did get sick from the wild boar that I had which caused me to call it an early night after spending a little while at the outdoor concert.

The next day (Thursday the 13), we headed off to Venice. After a little trouble finding the hotel, we unpacked an headed off to the actual town of Venice (we actually didn’t stay in Venice but a small town near by). Venice was amazing but James has started to get on my nerves. It seems like everything is about him. The days center around what he wants to do and when he wants to do. However, I did manage to see most of the things I wanted to see like the Piazza San Marco and Ponte dei Rialto.

Getting back to the hotel was an adventure. We got on the right bus and started heading home. James had the directions about what stop to get off. We passed two stops that I told him we should get off at because they were close to our hotel but he insisted that we hadn’t reached the right stop yet. Forty minutes later and 10 to 12 miles out of our way, we decided to get off the bus and walk back to the hotel. It took us about two and half hours to walk back to the bus stop that we should have gotten off at and than another ten from there to get to our hotel. However, while it was a long walk, it was nice to see the countryside of Italy and all the small towns that we had to walk through.

This morning we headed off to Como. The traveling and getting to Como went off without any hitches. It was what happened when we got here that has put me in a bad mood and wanting to be home. It took us a really long time to find a person to help us know what bus to take and than about an hour and a half before the bus driver of the bus we had to take to get off his break. But besides the waiting, it wasn’t bad. We got to the cable car to take us to the top of the mountain where out hotel is located when things went bad.

I was standing in line to get tickets when James started walking off to go do his own thing. James likes to do things at his own pace even if that means getting to places late or cutting things really close. He also doesn’t like to plan things out as shown by the fact that he is going to wing his last two weeks here without any train or hotel reservations. Well, he took off to go find an ATM to get money. The cable car was about to take off and I asked him where he was going. He got all pissed off and a fight ensued. He accused me of controlling the entire trip i.e. always having the directions and the tickets and such. A lot of things were said that just put me in a bad mood because everything thing he said was just not true and hinted that he just didn’t like hanging out with me except to help split the bills.

Note:
-The only reason I had the directions and the tickets was because I took the incentive to f@#$ing buy the tickets and find our hotels. If it were up to him, we would show up to the train station try to get onto the train and then spend most of our time walking around trying to find a place to stay. And he had the directions to the two hotels he paid for with his credit card (Venice and Como).

This as just put me in a bad mood but I am not going to allow this ruin my time in Como. If I have to go do things and eat by myself from now on then that is fine. We part ways on Saturday anyways. Well, I did say that I wanted this blog to chronicle my ups and downs while in Italy….this is one of my downs.

I hope all of you are having a great time and I can’t wait to see you and talk to you all again.

2005-08-17T14:17:00.000-07:00

Como 5

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Como 4

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Como 3

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Como 2

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Como 1

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Venice 6

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Venice 5

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Venice 4

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Venice 3

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Venice 2

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Venice 1

First Days in Florence

2005-08-17T14:05:00.000-07:00

July 12:

Well, I have been in Florence now for a day and a half and I have an entire day left here. I really like Florence. It isn’t so much of a big city as Rome is in that there are less cars and less scooters to potentially kill you. We had some trouble finding our hotel because the buss system here is a little different and we got on the wrong bus going the opposite direction but eventually it went in the right direction. The first night here (Sunday), James and I went to walk the city and get something to eat. We ended up running into a free music festival. The band that night was really cool. It was a mix of a lot of different instruments and singers.

Yesterday, I went off by myself to explore the city. I wanted to go to two museums but they ended up being closed for Monday. I did get to see the Duomo and Ponte Vecchio. I got to Ponte Vecchio when they were opening all of the jewelry stores. It was really neat to see that. As I had read, when they open these stores on the bridge, it looks like jewelry boxes being opened. Last night, James and I went to go to a jazz club but instead just ended up going to the music festival again. The band last night was pretty good but not as good as the first nights band.

My plans for the day are pretty simple. I am just going to go the two museums that I missed, find something to get for the last person on my list (Sis, you are really hard to shop for!!), and then maybe just walk around people watch and get something for me considering I haven’t gotten anything for me this trip.

2005-08-17T13:33:00.001-07:00

Florence 5

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Florence 4

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Florence 3

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Florence 2

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Florence 1

Done with School

2005-07-08T03:27:00.000-07:00

I just took my last final and I have to say..... Well, I won't say how it went. I don't want to be one of those people who talks about there tests. However, I am done and now it is my final ten days here starting tomorrow. It is going to be a great time and it will fly by really fast. Here's where I will be and when:

July 9: Still in Rome
July 10: Florence
July 11: Florence
July 12: Umbria and Tuscany by car
July 13: Venice
July 14: Venice
July 15: Lake Como
July 16: Lake Como
July 17: Back in Rome
July 18: Rome
July 19: Leave for Home

Well, there is my schedule and I will be sure to post at least twice during those times; however, I am not sure if I can put up any pictures during that time so I will put those up when I get back.

Also, I have received a few worried emails about me because of the London attacks yesterday. First, those attacks were horrible and the people that orchestrated and carried them out should be punished. Second, I know that you guys are worried about me but I am fine. It was a beautiful day in Rome yesterday, and beside being a little sick, I am doing great. I will be careful during my remaining time here. Third, despite some added security and hassle on my way home to Wyoming, I'm sure everything else will run smoothly and without any problems. But thank you for worrying.

Well, I have to get train tickets now for my travels next week. I already have hotels and such so this is my last thing I have to do. Can't believe I have a little over a week left. Its gone by really fast. Well, talk to you all and will actually see you all pretty soon....

Finals Week

2005-07-07T02:45:00.000-07:00

My roommates and I went out for a good dinner last night, one of the last one before Matt leaves to go home. It was pretty good, but I have had better since I have been in Rome. I have been studying a lot for this last test and I think I know the material pretty well. It is my civil litigation test tomorrow (for those of you who don't know, it is all about procedure) and unlike my professor at UW, I get to take in an outline. The rest of the day is set aside for reading through my outline and maybe to start to pack.

Oh, speaking of packing, I have my plans finalized for my last ten days. I will post those plans tomorrow so everyone will know where I am at. However, right now it doesn't look like I will have a reliable source for internet during those last ten days, so I might not be posting about those last ten days until I get back into the States.

Wow, I almost forgot to tell this story. Woman here get a way way better deal on everything. We were talking to a lady in our class here last night when she joined us for dinner and she was telling us all of these stories. The ranged from having dinners just paid for for them to never paying more than 10 Euros for a taxi. NO MORE THAN 10 EUROS FOR A TAXI!!!! Being a guy, it automatically starts out at 5 Euros for me and than is never less than 15 Euros and more than likely way over 20 Euros. Its amazing but not unexpected that that happens.

Anyways, back to studying....

One down; One to go

2005-07-05T03:19:00.000-07:00

Well, I just got done with my first final. I don't have another one until Friday, which is good because it will give my hand a chance to recover. I had to handwrite my test today....all I can say is that mad props to all of you back at Wyoming who hand wrote there tests this year. I couldn't do it and my grade will reflect that fact. My hand started hurting after about five minutes and my handwriting got steadily worse as the test went on. It didn't help that the test was probably the worst test I have ever taken.

I hated this test because it was how fast you can write. The test was so broad and general that anyone could have done well on that test if they could write fast. I new this stuff inside and out and could have done a lot better if the questions weren't the way they were. Now, I am thrown back into the rest of the class. To give you a general idea about how broad the freaking questions were the last question was, "You are the lawyer for 'said' client who has never done business internationally before but is about to start getting into the international business area. Please describe for your client the process of imports and exports, what laws apply, who are the players, etc...?" All I have to say to that question is..... @#$^$^%*&^*&!@#! That was they worst question ever written and it was the last question on the test which means that everyone was time crunched when they got to it. To give you an idea about how broad that question is, just my outline for imports and exports was twenty pages (and that was a short outline for me) and the applicable law for the question covered about 200 pages of statutes, regulations, and procedures. Needless to say, I guess, all I need is a C to have it transfer to UW so here hoping.

Also, it was extremely differently not being in the US for the Fourth. Oh, I also wanted to so congrats to my cousin, Stacey, who got married over the weekend. (I'm sorry I couldn't be there).

Well, it is back to studying and time to forget about this test that I just took.

Happy 4th of July!!!

2005-07-04T03:02:00.001-07:00

Well, this is one day that I wish that I was back in Wyoming so that I could see the fireworks on the fourth. Well, that and so that I didn't have to study for finals. Anyways, Happy 4th everyone!!!

Finals suck, by the way. Talk about a dose of reality. I have been studying all weekend and while I think I get most of the stuff for my test tomorrow, I still have a long day of studying ahead of me. At the same time, it still hasn't hit me that I actually have a final tomorrow.

This past weekend was nothing special except for the Live 8 concert. It was interesting to go to. We got there about three hours after it started and missed all of the English speaking bands except for two. However, the Italian bands that went on for the rest of the night were pretty good. Some of them were really good even though I couldn't understand a word that they said. At that concert, I saw the most amount of drugs that I have ever seen. Everywhere you looked there were people doing drugs. Which is fine for them, just different for me to see all the time. All in all, it was a good time and something that I can say that I was a part of.

Well, back to studying....

Again, Happy Fourth of July!!!

2005-07-04T03:02:00.000-07:00

Live 8 Concert 5

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Live 8 Concert 4

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For all of you who have been asking for a picture of me in Rome (that means you Nick) here you go.

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Live 8 Concert 3

2005-07-04T02:59:00.000-07:00

Live 8 Concert 1

Almost Forgot...

2005-07-01T03:57:00.000-07:00

Wow, I almost forgot to tell everyone this. I'm sure a lot of you have heard about the Live 8 concerts that are going on tomorrow around the world. If you haven't, well, it is a serious of concerts going on around the world at the same time to help send a message to the members of the G8 the week before the G8 summit to reduce or abolish the debt of the African nations. With the politics aside from the concert, the concerts are being held in the eight countries of the G8 and needless to say, there is one here in Rome tomorrow and I am going!!! The concert is free and is being held at the Circus Maximus. Some of the biggest names in the music business will be at these concerts. The concert in Rome will have Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, other country stars, and many top European bands. So it is going to be a great day tomorrow.

Last day of classes :)

2005-07-01T02:24:00.000-07:00

Today is my last day of classes. It is hard to believe that I am almost done with classes here. I have two finals next week: one on Tuesday and one on Friday. My final schedule works out real nice because it gives me enough time to study and prepare for each test. The only bad thing about finals is that they do it differently here than they do and Wyoming and I don't get to type this exam. My hand is going to get way too tired to do well on this exam. But, I am almost done and than after that, I am off on my ten days around Italy.

This week kind of went by really fast too. Tuesday night we had our good-bye dinner. It was nice, the food was good. I had baby octopus for the first time. It was weird to eat but actually pretty good. Than on Wednesday, as you can see, I went to the Pope's blessing. Matt and I got tickets to go on Monday thinking that it was going to be a quick blessing, but we didn't realize that it was a big festival and holiday in Rome on Wednesday. You see, Wednesday was the Festival of Saint Peter and Paul. Therefore, the Pope's blessing turned out to be a really big deal. Instead of just a blessing, it was a full mass in St. Peter's Basilica. After the mass was over, Matt and I went outside to see the blessing of the crowd you could not get into the mass. The square was filled with people. When the Pope came out, the crowd went crazy. It was really amazing to see. The Pope gave blessings to the crowd in several different languages including English. It was truly one of my highlights of my trips to see and do.

Besides that, it has just been studying and going to school. This weekend will be devoted to studying. Have a good weekend everyone.

2005-07-01T01:02:00.000-07:00

The Pope from his apartment window blessing the crowd

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All the people outside waiting for the Pope to bless the crowd outside after the mass

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Not that great of a picture, but that is the Pope in the center

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All the people trying to get a glimpse of the Pope

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Inside of St. Peters

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Window above entrance where the Pope someimtes comes out to bless the crowd

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Entrance to the St. Peters

Ischia and Capri

2005-06-28T01:03:00.000-07:00

So my weekend started kind of bad but it ended up being really great. We weren't supposed to get on a train to go to Naples to catch a boat to Ischia until Friday morning but on Thursday evening, we found out that Italy's transportation industry was going to go on strike starting late Thursday night until late Friday night effectively shutting down all public transportation in Italy. So we quickly packed and ran down to the train station seeing if we could get on a train earlier so that we could make it to Naples Thursday night before the strike. Well, after about two hours of waiting to find out information, we found out that the strike was cancelled and the trains would be running as normal. So, we did all of that for nothing and headed back home.

Thursday we headed to Ischia. We got to Ischia at about noon and after checking in, we went and ate, and than sat on the beach for the rest of the day. I wasn't feeling good that night so I stayed in while my roommates went out for the evening. The next day, we got up and hiked Mount Epomeo which is the highest mountain on Ischia. We than went to the beach and later had a big dinner. Sunday morning, we went to Capri in the morning.

After getting to Capri, we went to see how much it would cost to rent a boat from some of the companies there. After finding out the price, we went to go buy tickets back to Naples and think about what we wanted to do. On the way to the ticket office, we were offered to be taken on a small private boat around all of Capri for 100 Euros total. We did that and it ended up being the highlight of the weekend. Most of my pictures down below are from that boat trip. I got to see the Blue Grotto which is probably one of the best sights I have ever seen and got to swim in the sea and much more.

We quickly headed back home after the day was over and got back to Rome late. Well, that was my weekend in a nutshell. I have class early today so I have to go. Have a good day everyone.

Good Weekend

2005-06-27T06:30:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. This past weekend was a great weekend. However, I am tired, extremely hot, and tired right now so I will talk about it tomorrow. I just wanted to let everyone to know that I am doing well still. Oh, this is my last week of classes. I am over half way done with my trip and this week marks me being in Italy for one month.

Have a good day everyone and I hope that you enjoy the pictures I posted.

2005-06-27T05:22:00.002-07:00

View of Capri from the boat 2

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Capri

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View of Capri from the boat

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The Green Cave. We got to swim through this. The water here glows green from the coral on the bottom

2005-06-27T05:20:00.000-07:00

Inside the Blue Grotto. See how the water is glowing blue. That is from the light from the sun outside bouncing off white sand on the bottom, which makes the water glow, light blue in color. It was probably one of the most amazing sights I have ever been to

2005-06-27T05:19:00.000-07:00

Entrance to the Blue Grotto which is the one thing that most people come to Capri to see. You can only get in it through those small boats and have to lay on the bottom so get through the entrance

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We hired one of these private boats for two hours and the driver took us all around the island and took us to some spots to swim

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Capri from the harbor

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A castle that was built on a small island connected to Ischia by a short bridge

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Path we found down from the mountain which took us to another part of the island (James is on the left, Matt is on the right)

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View of Ischia from the hike down from the peak

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Peak of Mount Epomeo

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View from the Top of Mount Epomeo

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Mount Epomeo's peak is in the background. Matt is standing at the top of the picture and James is the one hiking

2005-06-27T05:12:00.001-07:00

James, we hiked up Mount Epomeo which is the highest mountain on Ischia

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Ischia from the boat coming in

Short week

2005-06-23T02:06:00.000-07:00

Well, I haven't posted much this week because there really isn't anything to post about. I have just been doing homework and going to class. Speaking of class, I think my teachers have almost given up on classes too. They are basically reading from the book when they teach the class and there are one or two things each class that I or Matt knew that they didn't. Pretty bad, when I can read the book and know more than they do because they probably are just learning all of this as they go to by reading the book.

Classes aside, IT IS A SHORT WEEK!!!! I have a three day week this weekend. Tonight I am finishing my homework for Monday and than tomorrow morning I am taking off. James, Matt, and I are going to the islands of Ischia and Capri. Capri is a tourist trap and is supposed to be really amazing, but since it is a tourist trap we are staying on Ischia. Ischia is known for its beaches and thermal baths. Most of our time will be spent on Ischia. I think we might rent scooters for a day too. It is going to be a really great weekend hopefully. The only downfall is that we have to go through Naples again. Once again, I hate that town. It is horrible and I hope I don't get killed walking from the train station to the harbor.

Besides all of that, everything is going well. Hope all of you are doing well and are having great summers. Miss you all....have a good weekend and I will post about my weekend with pictures on Monday.

My Weekend

2005-06-21T10:57:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not posting yesterday. It ended up being a long day and I just didn't get time to sit down and type a post.

I finally got to see a lot of Rome this past weekend. On Friday night, I went back to the Vatican and took pictures. I ended up getting rained on again so I don't know how good the pictures are going to be because there were a lot of clouds in the sky. On Saturday, I walked around Rome by myself all day. I went a lot of different places from Compo di Fiori, to Piazza Novono, to the Pantheon. I have already posted some of these pictures below. All in all it was a really good day. I got to see most of all of the final things that I wanted to see in Rome while I was here. There are still a few things that I still have to see but now I know that I will get the chance and time to see them. Oh, I finally tried gelotto on Saturday. I have to admit, that it didn't live up to the hype that was built up about it; however, it still was really really good.

While I was walking around Rome, my roommates went to the beach for the day. So when they got back, we went to a nice dinner. While there, our fourth roommate who has been hanging out with us a little more came and a two of his friends came with him. It ended up being a good dinner....expensive, but good. After dinner, we ended up hanging out on our deck for hours until we finally decided and Steve, my fourth roommate, got more of his friends willing to go out. A bunch of us ended up going to a club. We didn't leave our apartment to go until one in the morning. The club was a very very long ways away. We went to a disco tech club called the Zoo Bar. It was extremely fun. We danced and drank for about two hours and then we decided to head home. By this time our group had gotten separated and it was just my roommates and I trying to catch a taxi. Trying to get a taxi was extremely hard. We were so far south of the city that not many were coming and most of them were already occupied when they drove by. We ended up standing around and walking around for hours until I finally got a cab for everyone. By this time, I had seen the sunrise in Rome for the first time. We didn't get back to the apartment until six thirty.

Needless to say, Sunday consisted of sleeping and reading for class on Monday. However, my roommates went out again Sunday night to a free concert with some really big named bands playing. I didn't go with them, however, because I was getting up early so I could make it to the Vatican Museum.

So Monday morning, I go up early and got to the Vatican Museum a little less than an hour before it opened and the line to get in was already so long that I was about a half of a mile, literally, back from the entrance. Some of the rudest people I have ever met and have met in Rome were in that line and they were al tourists. People were cutting, pushing, and talking rudely about people. It was kind of funny at times because some people didn't think I spoke English and would be like, "Get in front of this guy" or "Make sure he doesn't cut in front of you." It made me laugh because I was just keeping my place in line and these people were fighting to get a foot ahead of me when there was about a thousand people in front of them. However, once the museum opened, the line moved really quickly. This ended up being a good and bad thing. It was good because I got into the museum rather quickly. It was a bad thing because that meant all of those people in front of me and behind me were in the museum at the same time. This made the museum unbelievably crowded. My favorite parts of the museum was the early Christian paintings 1) because they were really beautiful and 2) because they were no were near or along the way to the Sistine Chapel so there weren't too many people there. You see, the only way to go see the Chapel is to go through the museum and so most of the people just run through the rest of the museum to go see it. The tour groups were the worst because about thirty to fifty people including their tour guide would push you out of the way when you were looking at a painting or a statue so they could quickly look at it and move on. I spent about four hours in the museum and like all the museum tours ended up in the Sistine Chapel. To tell the truth, the paintings were really beautiful but the Chapel itself was less than what I thought it would be. This is probably because it was wall to wall people.

Anyways, the museum had its pros and cons but it was still a great time. After that, I went to class and than just relaxed that night because I didn't have any readings to do for today. Well, I think that catches everyone up on what I have been doing down here.

2005-06-20T05:42:00.000-07:00

Pantheon

2005-06-20T05:41:00.000-07:00

Can't remember the name but it is the island in the Tiber

2005-06-20T05:40:00.001-07:00

Compo di Fiori

2005-06-20T05:40:00.000-07:00

St. Peter's Basilica

Back to full force

2005-06-17T02:56:00.000-07:00

As you can probably tell, I got a new battery for my digital camera. I did this just for you guys so you could see some of the places I am going to. I paid a pretty penny too for the battery so you better like the pictures.

Well, I think I said that yesterday was going to be a beautiful day out...well, it wasn't. By the time my class was over, the clouds were starting to build up. I got caught in the rain on the way home. I was thinking about just waiting the storm out in doorway but I'm glad I just hurried back to my apartment. When I got back, it started to come down really really hard and eventually it started hailing. It rained for a really long time and the streets turned into rivers. So, needless to say, I didn't get to do anything last night except for study.

Oh, speaking of studying. Letters of Credit in an international business transaction suck!!!!! It is probably the hardest stuff I have done yet. But I got myself into it so I will just have to figure all of the terms out and what they mean and stuff and how they apply.

Today marks the end of the halfway point of my classes. I only have nine class days left and then a week of finals. Which means that it is Friday!!!! I am going to go see a few things tonight and than tomorrow I am going to go to the Vatican Museum, see St. Peter's basilica, and than head down to the capital to see the Pantheon. Should be fun. I'll post the pictures and post all about it on Monday.

Have a good weekend everyone.

2005-06-17T02:55:00.000-07:00

View of the Bay of Naples. This was right before my battery ran dead. But don't worry, I got three roles of film in my other camera of this place :)

2005-06-17T02:54:00.000-07:00

Ruin I ran into on my walk home. I think it might be the Temple of Saturn but I'm not sure. I'll have to look it up when I get home

2005-06-17T02:53:00.000-07:00

Picture from the Palentine 2

2005-06-17T02:52:00.000-07:00

Picture from the Palentine

2005-06-17T02:50:00.000-07:00

PArt of the Emperor's palace on Palentine

The Vatican

2005-06-16T02:56:00.000-07:00

After getting soaked by the rain on the way home from class yesterday, I waited until the rain stopped and then headed over to the Vatican. I live two blocks north of the Vatican and this was the first time I actually went and walked around for awhile there. I couldn't go inside any where because everything was closed but it was still neat to see. I just walked around for a few hours and looked a everything. It was pretty interesting to see all of it, especially with all the world attention that was there a couple of months ago. I am going to go to its museum on Saturday. It is said to be the best museum in Rome so it should be pretty fun.

Oh, the rain finally stopped and it is a great day outside today. Hot though. I am going to get a battery for my digital camera tonight so I will have pictures again here soon.

Rain keeps getting in the way...

2005-06-15T11:29:00.000-07:00

So for the past two mornings, I have been wanting to get up to go see some things but when my alarm goes off I look out the window and what do I see.....rain. Today, it was a lot of rain. It has been raining all morning and the streets are now flooded. However, the sun is starting to come out and I can just tell that it is going to be hot and humid for the rest of the day. Considering that I have no homework to do tonight, I think that I am going to go see some things this afternoon instead.

Last night, I started planning the rest of my trip. I think I am going to head up to Florence, then Venice, then Como, and then somewhere in France during my last ten days here. Now I just need to get my room reservations, train ticket reservations, and then figure out where I am going to store my big bag so that I will not have to have it with me during those ten days.

On a side note, for all of you who have my cell phone number, I won't be able to use it for a little while. The battery died on me last night and when I went to plug it in, the charger that they gave me doesn't fit the outlets. So I need to figure out how I am going to charge the phone before I will be able to use it again.

Besides all that, there really isn't much else going on right now.

Cloudy and Rainy

2005-06-14T11:53:00.000-07:00

Rome is supposed to be really dry and hot during the summer but it hasn't been that at all so far. Last week, it rained hard during the night and today it is cloudy and raining a little. However, this keeps the temperature down, which is good.

I think I am getting sick a little bit. My throat hurts and I am really tired but that just might be because of how much I am doing and the little amount of sleep I am getting. I tried to get some sleep last night and went to bed at nine but my three roommates were really loud and had all the lights turned on so I didn't get to fall asleep until about twelve but that is the part of having roommates so whatever, I'll just deal with it. I was going to get up this morning early and go walk around the Vatican but the clouds and me not feeling so well made me change that plan and so I just went back to sleep.

On a sad note, it doesn't look like I'll see Katie. She was supposed to arrive this weekend but, unfortunately, she cannot make it. So, I guess that means I will start planning the rest of my weekends and my last ten days now. It doesn't look like I will get to make it up to France or any other country for that matter. Since I'm not getting a chance to see Rome at all, I might have to or will stay in Rome for most of the rest of the time so that I can see everything, but I might swing on up to Florence and Bellagio too for a few days. I'll figure all that out this week.

Have a good day everyone

Pompeii, Sorrento, and more...

2005-06-13T13:45:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a pretty fun but tiring weekend. Thursday night, my roommate Matt and I went down to the forum again and went up to the Palentine hill. This is the hill where all the emperors built their palaces. Most of the emperors just added onto the old ones, so needless to say, the entire hill is covered with the ruins. From the top of the Palentine, I got to see the Circus Maximus and also got to look down onto the Forum. I took a lot of pictures but my camera battery ran out this weekend so I can't post them. I thought I grabbed another one but it turns out that the one that I grabbed was dead. So it might be a little while before I get some pictures back up but I promise that I will.

On Thursday, my class went to Pompeii for the day. We had a guided tour of the city but I kind of wish that we didn't. I never really just got to walk around the city by myself to look around. But it was still amazing to see. The streets and the paintings that are preserved are in such great shape that it really gives you an idea what the city must have looked like. It also helps that I have studied all of it before. I could actually recognize a few things.

After Pompeii, Matt, James, and I headed down to Sorrento. Sorrento is a town on the Bay of Naples. We found a hostel there through hostelworld.com This is a really really good sight. Anyways, we ended up getting a private room for the three of us. Our place was outside of Sorrento and down a long narrow old Roman road. It did have a great view though from their terrace. Also, just down the road was the ruins of an old Roman villa on the edge of this point. But what was really cool was their was a natural bridge from the sea which form an alcove that you could swim in. The villa was built around this and a bridge was built over the natural bridge. It was really beautiful to see. The night that we got there, we went down to this place and just hung out before going to get something to eat.

On Saturday, we went down to the villa and found some rocks to hang out on. We just lounged around all day and went swimming in the Bay of Naples. We even went cliff diving too. Later that night, we went to the town and walked around and had some dinner. After dinner, we went back to our place and hung out on the terrace just talking and looking out at the sea and the Bay of Naples, which is surrounded by the lights of all the cities.

On Sunday, we slept in and then headed to Herculaneum, which is another city destroyed in 79 A.D. when Mt. Vesuvius erupted. We stayed there and looked around the ruins for almost four hours. We then went to Naples to eat and catch our train back to Rome. While in Naples, we walked and around and looked at a few churches. The one church we went in to was absolutely breathtaking. However, I will never and advise you to never go to Naples. The town was horrific. The streets were filled with trash and it smelled horrible. Also, the people did not want to talk to you at all. At dinner, the people wouldn't even say one word to us and would just waive their hand at us and walk away instead of trying to understand us. And was really bad about that is that we were trying to speak Italian to them but they would listen. In Rome, they will smile at you and wait for you to finish stuff before saying something. So I advise you never to go to Naples.

After dinner, we headed off to Rome by train. After an adventure getting home because they shut the metro down three hours early, I went to bed.

Well, that was my weekend and now I have to go and review my readings for class so that if I get called on I won't sound stupid.

Wow, I'm Glad I went to UW for Law School

2005-06-09T05:49:00.000-07:00

I am currently in class (don't worry, I'm not missing anything because we have already gone over these cases in regular Civil Procedure at UW) and I have come to the conclusion that these people don't know as much about this subject matter and even contract law. I have come to this conclusion by the fact that they just don't get personal jurisdiction and basic contract elements. My business class so far is just easy contract stuff like Battle of Forms under UCC 2-207 but 1) the Temple students didn't even cover it and 2) all the other students don't get it at all. Matt, my roommate, seems to get it really well and James, while he didn't cover it, is picking it up fast. I'm not saying that I am smarter than the rest of the class, only that I'm glad I went to a school that 1) taught all of this stuff and 2) taught it to us in a way that makes us remember it. K, just a quick comment so I have to back to paying attention.

Last Day of the First Week of Classes

2005-06-09T03:02:00.000-07:00

Today is my last day of the first week of classes. Yep, I only have four days of classes this week. Tomorrow, the school is taking all of my class down to see Pompey. After that is over, James, Matt, and I are off to Sorrento. The Hostel that we are staying in is more like a bed and breakfast than a hostel. It is overlooking the see too. We are going to make that our base camp for the weekend and then hopefully do a lot more from there. We are going to finish planning what exactly we are going to do later today. As for my classes, they are going ok so far. They are actually kind of confusing so far with a lot, and I mean a lot of information. I have about sixty pages of reading to do a night. And while that doesn't seem like a lot, we are talking about law school pages here. It usually takes about an hour for ten pages. So I haven't gotten to do a lot the last couple of days. However, I am almost done with my readings for Monday so I don't have to worry about doing that tonight, Sunday night, or Monday morning, so I will hopefully be doing a lot more sightseeing in the next four days.

Well, considering I will not have internet this weekend, I will not be posting until probably Monday. But I can guarantee that I will have some pictures and some things to write about when I get back. Oh, and for those of you who need to call me, I will actually have my cell phone turned on and with me this weekend (I know that has probably been hard to get in touch with me but I don't like having that one with me because it doesn't have a silent button so it is really loud).

So, I guess I will post here in a few days.....have a good day and a great weekend everyone

Classes...and Food

2005-06-08T11:34:00.000-07:00

Classes seem to be going ok so far. I am trying to keep up with my readings and I have already started my outlines already. Yep, that's right, I have started my outlines already instead of waiting until the last week. I figured since there are only four weeks of classes and this week is almost already over, I really need to get things way ahead.

Oh, I said that I would tell about my visit to the Roman forum yesterday. It was really amazing to see. I got up early and got down to the Coliseum so that I was there before any of the crowds were there. I walked all the way around the Coliseum and took a lot of pictures. Some of them are posted below. After seeing the Coliseum, I walked around the Forum and looked at it and took pictures. Eventually, I went inside the Forum and walked around. What is really cool about the Forum is that they let you walk around the ruins. This means that I was actually standing in the Roman Forum on the Via Sacra. All of the places that I studies for so long were all around me and I was standing on one of the two most famous roads in Rome. It was an amazing experience. I got to see a lot of ruins that I remember studying about. I got to see the Rostra, a reconstruction of the Curia, and the Temple of Vesta. It was also really cool to see the Palentine hill with the emperors palace on it. For those of you who do not know, Rome was supposably founded on that hill by Romulus. You could walk up to the top of the Palentine and overlook the Forum but I didn't do that yesterday. It cost money and I just didn't have enough time that morning to walk up and stay there long enough to really appreciate the view and the history.

Last night, James, Matt, and I went out to eat. It was a pretty good restaurant. What I have to get used to here is that you order to meals. You usually first order a pasta meal and the a meat dish. Now it sounds like a lot of food, and it is, but it really isn't too bad. Plus all the walking that i am doing hopefully is allowing me to get into a little better shape.

Tomorrow marks me being abroad for a full week. It is already starting to feel like this trip is going to fly right by but I still have a lot more things to do and a lot more things to see. And then you add my readings on top of it. Speaking of things to do, James, Matt, and I are going to Sorrento this weekend after our school trip to Pompey. We are getting in with the guide for our trip of Friday in Pompey so that he might take us to see some new Villas that they just discovered by Pompey. We are also going to go to Herculaneum and hike up Mount Vesuvius. Plus, we are going to hang out at the beach for an afternoon. (And just for you Matt, I am staying at a Hostel in Sorrento this weekend)

2005-06-08T03:07:00.002-07:00

Via Sacra with the Coliseum in the background

2005-06-08T03:07:00.001-07:00

Temple of Vesta with the Palentine Hill in the background

2005-06-08T03:07:00.000-07:00

Trajans Market

2005-06-08T03:06:00.002-07:00

Forum and the Palentine Hill

2005-06-08T03:06:00.001-07:00

Coliseum 3

2005-06-08T03:06:00.000-07:00

Coliseum 1

First Day of Class

2005-06-07T03:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the first day of classes. I put off my readings for that day until the morning because I figured I had plenty of time to finish it by three. However, the reading for my business class took forever and I actually didn't finish my reading for civil litigation. But I finished them after dinner and did my reading for the today. I am about to go to my first class of the day today and I am actually prepared for it....I think. I think that I am going to read at night and travel the city during the morning. I did that today and it was really nice to do that. This morning I went down to see the coliseum and the Roman forum. I have pictures I will post but I haven't put them in my computer yet so i will do that later or even tomorrow morning and tell you all about it.

2005-06-06T05:43:00.001-07:00

View from Titignano

2005-06-06T05:43:00.000-07:00

Dinner at Titignano

2005-06-06T05:42:00.000-07:00

View of Todi

Trip to Todi

2005-06-05T22:56:00.000-07:00

Today was an amazing day. We had to get up early and get onto the buses to head to Todi. Todi is a hill town in Umbria. The town was beautiful and the views were breathtaking. Todi is about two hours away from Rome. When we got there, we were given two and a half hours to walk around the city. James, Matt, and I walked around and saw the Catholic churches and all of the other sites in the town too. The churches were really cool inside. What is really cool though is that Matt and I found a different site that wasn’t on the map that they gave us. It was the old cisterns from the old Roman forum that was later built over the top of. I guess they had just recently found them and have been researching in after taking the water out of them. We got to go down into them for only two Euros. I also bought some olive oil and some spices there too.

After our two hours were up in Todi, we loaded the bus and drove to Titignano. This was a really cool old castle thingy. At Titignano, they had set up a really big dinner for us—one of those three and a half hours one that had a ton of courses. That was actually really cool and the food was excellent. We also had free unlimited wine there too. After dinner, the buses drove us back to Rome and I have just been hanging out in my room the rest of the night trying to get enough motivation to read for my classes tomorrow. However, there was no such luck with the reading and I am now going to bed and am just going to read tomorrow.

First Full Day

2005-06-04T15:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was an interesting day. I made it to the residence pretty easily, all considering. In fact, the only problem I had (and I’m ashamed and mad to admit it) is that I really got ripped off by the taxi driver. You see, my ride over cost close to fifty Euros (way to high to begin with when I could have taken the metro for a Euro and then walked for about five minutes). Well, I handed him a fifty, he walked away and turned around and told me that I only gave him a ten and gave it back to me. Well, I didn’t think about it at the time because I was tired and stressed and just wanted to get into my residence, so I apologized thinking that I had grabbed the wrong bill (possible considering I really haven’t gotten the grasp of the Euros colors) and so I gave him another fifty. Well, later that night we had an orientation meeting and the instructors talked about how we need to be careful for pickpockets, it was then that I realized that he had switched the bills on me trying to get more money from. How do I know that he did this…well, thinking back, I had counted my money that morning and all I had was fifties, so he screwed me good and made 90 Euros off of me. Now that sucks and I am pissed to admit that but it is all a learning experience.

My apartment actually is a lot better than I thought that it would be. It has two bedrooms with two beds in each (I have three roommates: James, Matt, and Steve), a huge balcony that wraps around, and, the best thing out of all that, we are the only apartment here that has air conditioning. So that is great!!!

My roommates are pretty cool from what I can tell so far. James, Matt, and I have hung out the entire time so far. Last night, we went on a thing call the pub crawl. It is actually for foreign travelers and Italians aren’t allowed. You have to be invited on it from the people who run it and be given a ticket which states the time and place to meet. Last night, the meeting place was in a piazza overlooking the Coliseum. That was my first thing that I have thing that I wanted to see and have studied about and it was absolutely amazing. It was at night and it was all covered in lights. The pub crawl was ok, not as fun as I thought it would be though. What it involves is that all these people meet and you drink as much free beer as you can (after paying the fee to be there) for an hour, which includes some drinking games, and then everyone walks to five bars. At each bar, you are given a free shot as you walk in the doors and then have to pay for everything after that. So, it ended up being a little expensive yesterday all considering and now I can’t spend that much for the next couple of days.

In fact, on the money issue. It is going to be hard to afford all of this as far as I can tell. The Euro makes the dollar not too far and things are even more expensive here on top of that, which makes all of it a doubled edge sword about stretching my money out. I’m doing better today though and have only spent money for lunch. When looking at it all, I probably will not eat another meal today and only one meal a day for most of the time so that I can make this work. But we’ll see.

I was tired this morning and had a really boring history lesson class today as well so I came back after lunch and took a nap. So, I think I’m going to go walk around for a little bit right now before I come back early to go to bed. I have to get up really early tomorrow to leave for Todi. Todi is a small town in Umbria where some of the best wines in Italy are made. I guess, the school has a big lunch planned for us there too which is free tomorrow (that will help me out on my money situation). On top of that, I have 60 pages of reading to do for Monday….

….talk to you all later

Finally (Sigh) I'm Here

2005-06-02T23:09:00.000-07:00

Well….(gigantic sigh)….I am finally in Rome and still scared out of my mind. I really don’t know what I am doing here. I don’t think that I am smart enough to figure things out for myself. I mean, I will be fine after I do figure things out or see someone do something but just to do something for myself the first time by myself, I just cannot do.

Oh, my trip still hasn’t gotten any better. I got into Rome a little after nine o’clock local time. By the time I got through immigration, got my bags, and made it through customs (which was surprisingly easy), I couldn’t find the free shuttle to my hotel. I walked around outside looking for it but it was not there. Come to find out, I missed that last shuttle by about twenty minutes. (Oh, and dad, the bus wasn’t green. In fact, I saw it parked outside the hotel and it does not even say holiday in on it and it just looks like a normal bus) So I had to take a taxi. OH MY GOD!!!! They really screw you when they get you from the airport. Come to find out too, there are many holiday inns close to the airport and mine was is actually halfway between the airport and the city. It took ten minutes is all to get to my hotel and it cost me forty Euros with a tip. THAT SUCKS!!!! I don’t know how I am going to have enough money for this trip.

Well, I need to get to bed so that I can get up in the morning and figure out how I am going to get to my residence.

Stuck but Still on My Way to Rome

2005-06-02T16:22:00.000-07:00

So, hi everyone. As my family can attest, I was freaking out when I left for my trip. In fact, I wasn’t very excited about leaving at all. I know that I will have fun but I’m just extremely nervous about everything that I have to do by myself over here for the first time. And, to top everything off, it seems that thing after thing, event after event, keep happening to me on this trip so far and I am not even in Rome yet even though I am supposed to be and probably would be through customs and on my way to my hotel by now.

First, the financial aid office at the University of Wyoming messed up everything and told me the wrong things about what I still had to do in order to get my financial aid check. Considering I started doing all of that clear back in March in makes me really mad that there were any problems at all. In the end, I had to go down to Laramie on my way down to the airport to try to figure things out. The lady that I needed to talk to was supposed to be in at twelve and so my dad and I went there to talk to her at twelve. We ended up standing outside her office waiting for her to show up until after one. She was nice in the end and actually helped get my check released but I still have to deal with some things through email with her while I am on this trip. After that was done, my father and I headed off to Denver.

Everything else was fine until I got to the gate in Denver. It was then, I checked the board and my boarding pass and noticed that my flight was delayed fifty minutes. They could have told me this when I checked in considering that it was even posted on my ticket. What is distressing about this is that I only had two hours at Hethrow in London to get from the terminal my flight arrived at to the opposite side of the airport to another terminal. We didn’t even make up anytime in the air and I was stressed that I wouldn’t make my flight. I rushed as fast as I could and I was glad when I got through security pretty fast. I went down to the international lounge (before this point there was no postings about plane times and gates) and looked for what gate my flight was supposed to leave from so that I could run and catch it. And there it was flashing on the board. CANCELLED. Yep, that’s right, my flight from London to Rome was cancelled!!!! No I’m freaking out because I have no idea what to do, whether I would have to stay in London over night, or when I could get another flight. Hethrow is kind of a mess, to some degree, and I couldn’t find any information counter. Finally, I asked a security guard and I ended up having to go back out and through security again and then right on the other side of security, British Airways had some desks. I did this and got a new flight but it doesn’t leave until 5:50 p.m. from London. This meant that I had over four hours to sit around in the international lounge.

It hasn’t been too bad actually though. I took about a two hour nap, walked around, and did some people watching. However, I am starting to get bored and I still have an hour until I leave and about thirty minutes until they even tell me what gate I leave from. So, I decided to take out my computer and right this post. Well, I guess I will go back to being bored. Hopefully, nothing else will go wrong today or for the rest of my trip.

Later….

Attakid8: Living in Rome

2005-05-16T14:38:00.000-07:00

K, this is just me getting this started but this is an offshoot from my other blog. I am moving and going to be living in Rome this summer!!! This will my little traveling journal while I am there. I will hopefully post pictures and stuff. So all of you, please feel free to leave comments on this blog and to write me too. I will need all of the connections to home that I can get....if you know me, you know how true that statement truly is.

So, I leave June 1 so I will be posting on this after that. Until then....