Paderno del Grappa

I am running on two hours of sleep. Joy and I woke up at 4:30 in the morning and booked it to the metro that would take us to the train station. I was really starting to get worried I would miss my train to the airport, thus missing my flight to Italy. Fortunately, I made it with a few minutes to spare. Unfortunately, I didn't get to have a thorough goodbye with Joy which was sad. I made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare, got through customs with no trouble, and was on the plane to Lyon for my layover. Normally I book an aisle seat so I can have some leg room and be comfortable, but this time I was in the window seat. I normally don't get airsick but for some reason, the fact that I was scrunched up into a ball uncomfortably made me sick for the first time in awhile. The major turbulence didn't help neither. But I touched ground without upchucking and then I got on the plane for Marco Polo airport in Veniza!

After arriving in Venice, I took a long bus ride to Mestre Train Station where I was met by a resident assistant who helped me buy my ticket for the train to Bassano del Grappa. I met up with some fellow classmates and we had an amazing time piling all our luggage into a cramped train. I am sure the Italians are loving us Americans already. After an hour long train ride, we arrived in Bassano del Grappa where we boarded the bus that would take us to our final destination: Paderno del Grappa.

Upon arriving in Paderno del Grappa, I received my room key and headed up to my single room, luckily on the first floor of the dorm. I know I may seem introverted in getting a single room, but being one of few U of I students here, I didn't want to take the chance of getting a lousy roommate. My room is quite nice, small but nice. In my opinion, the bed is smaller than a twin size, but I have all the accomdations I need and I get my own bathroom which is nice not having to share. And I don't have to worry about anyone complaining about the messiness. After settling in and getting situated, we had dinner at the cafeteria which was pretty good for cafeteria food, but I am sure I will get sick of it soon enough as I did with Burge my freshman year at Iowa. We then had orientation which only lasted about forty-five minutes which was good for all the people who were jet lagged to hell. Fortunately for me, I have already been in Europe for about a month, so I am through with my jet lag :)

I felt alone here, being one of the only Iowa students, so I forced myself to meet some other studnets. I've learned that the majority of the students here are from Kansas University. But that makes sense since CIMBA, the program I am studying abroad through, was based in KU until this past fall semester when they moved to U of I. The guys I met were all from KU and all pledged together in the same fraternity. But instead of being cliquish, they were really friendly and we started hitting it off smoothly. We all went to the local bar and got a few drinks along with all the other students which was pretty fun. But with an 8:30 class tomorrow, I figured I better lay low and head back to get some rest.

So tomorrow I start classes, and we have more orientation meetings for the week. Next week we do CAP which is a leadership training camp kinda thing. I've never done anything like it before, so we will see how it goes!

(I know I normally have a picture posted, but my camera is dead, and I am still figuring out how to get my battery recharged without blowing it up, but I will update this blog with a pic at some point).

New Years Eve, Vinapolis, and Italy Bound

I apologize for not writing on the blog for quite some time, but I have been busy with class (I have also been extremely lazy). So for this blog I will have quite a bit of content. I will start with New Years I guess!

New Years Eve here in London was a blast! A large group of us began the night by going downstairs and playing card games. When 10:30 rolled around we decided it would be best if we started to head towards the fireworks before it got too crowded on the tube. After a short ride, we started our trek towards a bridge nearby the London Eye to get a better view of the fireworks to come. I had never seen so many people gathered in my life going in one direction. It was as if we were just a herd of livestock with something mysterious pulling us towards one direction. Needless to say it was very interesting and exciting with all the people. Eventually many of us, myself included, had to stop and use the restroom; however, we had a hard time to actually find a place that would let us use their bathrooms. A few of us ended up going to a pub, and when I reached the doorway I was stopped by the doorman and asked how old I was. Note, this is the THIRD time I have been asked my age. Apparently I don't even look eighteen yet! By that point I was tired of being ID'd and my bladder was close to exploding, so I just looked at the doorman dead in the eye and said I was twenty in a very serious tone. I proceeded to reach for my wallet and asked if he really wanted to go through the trouble of checking. He then said that I was an honest guy and let me in. Yeah that's right...I'm a total bad ass. After using the restroom, we turned the corner and behold: portapotties and urinals (for the men). Everybody else did their duty and then we got on too the bridge. It was packed really tight but at least we weren't cold. A pair of huge speakers hung overhead by some cranes, so we were all able to listen to music while we waited for the new year to come. I think a lot of the locals thought us Americans were pretty strange for the dancing we did. For example, when some song came on telling us to jump came on, only us Americans jumped. But by that time we were too pumped to care, so we continued. An hour later the fireworks finally started, and it was absolutely amazing. I unfortunately forgot my camera so I couldn't take pictures. But trust me they were pretty sweet. After the fireworks we made our way back to the flats and continued the party into the morning. It was a great way to start the new year here in Europe!

The day after new years, a group of us went to this place by the Thames River called Vinapolis. It was a winery/brewery/stillery (don't know if the third one is right..). We were given the chance to do some wine tasting as well as taste some rums, whiskies, and absinthe. They gave us some tickets to taste a variety of the above. We first started with the wine. An employee there gave us a demonstration on how to properly taste wine (the picture is of us all at the lesson, I'm at the top middle). It was a lot more complicated than I thought it was, truly a form of art! After our wine tasting lesson, we entered a room where we were given numerous varieties and options of wine to taste. I myself had some Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, and a very delicious Port. After the wine, we made our way into the area where we could taste some Bombay Sapphire Gin. I normally don't like gin, but I selected a drink where the gin was mixed deliciously with some grapfruit and pineapple juice into a martini glass. The drink was good, but I think I was more interested in the machine where you used your hand to make a virtual model of your own martini glass. Unfortunately, my glass looked more like an ashtray. After the gin, we sampled the absinthe and whisky. Now, after watching the movie Eurotrip I must say I was quite excited to taste my first shot of absinthe. However, what we drank wasn't pure absinthe. When drinking absinthe, you're supposed to take a spoon of sugar, set it on fire, and put it into the absinthe as it carmelizes and add water. This dilutes the absinthe from being around 70% alcohol to like 17%. That was a downer but it was still exciting to drink it. It tasted a lot like black licorice, not my favorite. Next was the whisky which I am not a fan of either. We then moved on into the rum room and sampled some pretty good rum. It burned, but it was good. That concluded our tour of Vinapolis, and then we made our way to a pub to finish off the night and went back to the flats. I think Vinapolis will definitely be my favorite moment here in London. It was a great time to spend with all my friends, got to learn how to properly taste wine, tried my first shots of absinthe, and tasted some fine rum. A very successful night if I do say so myself!

I only have one more full day here in London, and then I will be flying to Rome with some fellow DSPs for three days. I will leave Rome Monday and fly to Strasbourg, France. I will, after a long two weeks, finally get to see my lovely girlfriend. It's been a hard two weeks not being able to be with her but being able to talk to each other through Skype has made it easier. This will be my last blog for my time here in London. Being back in London brought back many memories of my time here last year with Joy. I got to see some of my favorite sites again and some I didn't get the chance to last year. Overall, it has been an amazing time. I got to take a very interesting class with a well-respected professor, saw some great sites, and spent time with my friends from school whom I may not see again for quite a long time. I'll miss em but it's been fun! Italy, here I come!