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!

Pub Young's

Two days ago was my first day of class, and I didn't think it was too bad. As I said before I am taking Wealth Management, and this is something I am considering making my occupation in the future, so I guess I had better like it somewhat. After class, we took a visit to the British Museum which was right down the street. I was at the British Museum last year, but I didn't get a chance to see much because Joy had gotten us lost, and we were too tired to fully enjoy the historical pieces. That night we went to a Pub close by, and we met our first locals! When we entered, we had no idea what was going on because everybody was dressed up. Turns out, they had attended a funeral commemorating an avid patron's death. However, this didn't stop them from having fun with us Americans. A Scottsman named Danny soon joined us and we were all laughing hysterically at this funny Scottish man. All in all it was a good night. We drank some good beer and got to meet the locals for the first time.

The next day we had class from 9-12 which I was dying by the end of, and then we went to St. Paul's Cathedral. Last year, I had only been able to go to the basement near the crypt because we couldn't afford to actually go into the Cathedral. But this time it was paid for us and it was amazing to see the ancient sarcophagus of many prominent Englishmen. Our group eventually made its way to the peak of the Cathedral which gave us a breathtaking view of London (the picture is from the Stone Gallery, great sunset). Today is the morning of New Year's Eve, and I am off to class. And because it is New Year's Eve, I don't know when I will be able to make my next post ;)

Across the Pond into Jolly Old England!

It is now 9 PM here in London, and I am sitting in my flat relaxing after having no sleep for I believe about twenty-four hours. This will be a short blog, but I the flight was seven hours, but I was unable to sleep a wink. The food wasn't that great, but the flight was relatively smooth for me, but I'm afraid I can't say the same for Jon Kline who was sitting next to me. During the entire flight, I was afraid he was going to upchuck on my lap (fortunately he didn't). After landing, check in through customs had no issues, and we proceeding to get dropped off at our flats called Kamen House. At 3:30 PM we went to the ACCENT learning center for orientation, and then we went to a Turkish restaurant which had some pretty good food. Now I am back at Kamen House, and I am going to bed. Good night.

The Day Before

Right now I am in Chicago at the Sofitel hotel bored out of my mind. But the hotel is very high class, comfy beds, big screen TV, and very clean. Joy was able to drive to Fort Dodge after spending Christmas Eve with her family in Waterloo, Iowa, so I got to spend an extra two days with her which was great! I drove with Joy to Iowa City with my parents following behind in the RAV4. Once we got to Iowa City we went to Pizza Hut for lunch, and I once again had to say goodbye to Joy. But it wasn't too bad because I know I will be able to see her soon in two weeks in Strasbourg after my time in London. After goodbyes, I joined my parents in the RAV and we made our way to Chi-Town. We drove through treacherous dense fog, but fortunately we made it, and now I sit here bored just waiting to get onto the plane. But I thought it would be fitting to write this blog since it will be my last one in the States.

Asian Party

Yesterday for the first time in say...probably eight years, we had an "Asian Party" to celebrate Christmas Eve. Back in the day, the Asian Parties were, as James and I claim, meetings of all the Chinese families who worked at the Fort Dodge Animal Health Labs to discuss plans for Fort Dodge's takeover (that's James and I in the picture acting our natural selves, check out the longer hair). And trust me, pretty much if you were Chinese in this town, you probably worked at the Labs. Now, these parties usually lasted all night, either at somebody's home or at the local Hong Kong Buffet. I remember them being fun times in which we got to eat a lot of good food, play games, watch movies, and play tricks on the younger kids.

But yesterday there was only a total of four families at a colleague's home, and the once young kids are pretty much grown up. My friend Amy's little brother who I remember being a hyper kid is now a freshman in high school and is a heck of a lot calmer. And there were the twin sisters who are now juniors in high school (and I still can't get their names right). Man, I am getting old. It still seems surreal that these kids are not kids anymore, and I am on the way to adulthood...kinda. But despite the small Asian Party it was a great way to reminisce before my departure and catch up with people I haven't talked to in quite some time. It was nice to relive the past and act like a kid again, not knowing when I will be able to again. Oh, and ask James Zhang how I dominated him in ping pong...

Predeparture

I am in a pretty uncomfortable situation right now. I am in the midst of packing, and I have to limit myself to one big piece of luggage and a carry-on. Now, I consider myself a very practical individual (my girlfriend Joy, whom I miss very much, can vouch for this). And although I don't have a large amount of clothing, even this is pushing it for me, especially if I wanted to come back to the states with some souvenirs. The problem is, while I would be able to fly American Airlines with two check-ins from the US to London, I won't be able to fly within Europe via Alitalia with two check-ins (if anyone knows otherwise please let me know).

When I am not packing, I am trying to get together with all my high school friends as much as possible since I will only get to see them for four more days until I leave. But I also do a lot of moping since I am not with Joy (the picture is of Joy and me at Venice when we traveled around Europe for three weeks last year). I am so used to being with her all the time, it's like a part of me is missing. While I will be in London and Italy, she will be au pairing in Strasbourg, France, but she doesn't leave until January 5th. The London program will be done January 10th, but I will be travelling to Rome with some fellow Deltasigs for five days, then I will fly up to Strasbourg to see Joy. So it will be about a month until I get to see her again which pretty much sucks hardcore. Fortunately, I bought her a webcam for Christmas and since my laptop has a webcam and mic, we will be able to talk and see each other, but I still can't wait until I can actually see her in person. Love you Joy!

I am excited though to soon depart for Europe. This is an exciting new chapter to my education in which I have always wanted to experience, and I am glad I am somewhat able to share the experience with Joy while she is in France since I will be able to visit often. As the days go by, my travelers "itch" is getting bigger, and although I will definitely miss all my friends and family in the States, I am pumped for London and Italy!