One final post

This, if you couldn't tell by the title, will be my final post in 'Thoughts from Abroad' . Though I have been back in the States for about a month, I haven't really got around to posting in this.

The truth is, although I was in Europe for about 110 days, I only posted about 25 times. While some of it was due to laziness, a lot of it had to do with the simple fact that I was unable to put some of the things I saw, heard or did into words. A lot of Europe you have to experience for yourself; you can't just be told what it's like to climb the Eiffel Tower or ride a Vespa in Florence or walk down Las Ramblas in Barca. You need to actually be there, and I am greatful that I was.

Truth be told, I miss Europe and London. Two weeks prior to returning, I kept telling myself "I am ready to go back home."Once I returned, I felt relieved and excited to be back, the same sort of feeling I felt when I first arrived in London.

Now, however, I really want to return. Looking back on the trip, it kind of was like a prolonged vacation, even though I still had to attend class and such. Still, the experience was one of the most stress free periods in my life.

And no, I don't feel the same as I was before I left. I have this new-found urge to get up and go and find places I've never been. For example, when my car stopped working in Sigourney, Iowa on my way down to K-Ville, I didn't really mind being stranded in the small town -- it was a place where I had never been before, and I enjoyed exploring it (even if "exploring" means walking a block to Subway).

So now I only have one year left at Truman before I enter the "working" world. It appears as if I will be working somewhere in Chicago, but truthfully, I don't know if that's where I want to be. OK, I can live with my parents for a year and save up some money, but I want to have a change of scenery. So I haven't been all around the Chicagoland area, but you get the idea. I want to gaze at the Rockies, I want to climb the Appalachians, I want to smell a Texas Ranch.

I want to get out and about. And that all begins with getting off of the computer and finding a job.

Paris (and Parents) and Ink!

Rain.

If I had to summarize my trip to Paris in a word, it would be "rain." It rained almost every second of every minute of every hour of every day we were there. I guess it wouldn't have been too bad if only I had brought an umbrella. Silly, silly me.

But don't get me wrong, Paris was a nice city, especially the part my brother's and my hotel was near: the Red Light District. During the evening, nothing but prostitutes and strippers coming up to us on the street offering their services. I was so amazing! (Ah yes, FEEL the sarcasm!)

For the first day, it was just me and the brother. We went to the Louvre among other sites. Of course, we saw the Mona Lisa, which was actually not that amazing. Wasn't that big, protected by glass -- I wonder if I could pull a Mr. Bean by stealing the Mona Lisa and putting a poster in its place?

If there are any people from the Louvre or the French government reading this -- I AM JUST KIDDING.

We also saw the Venus d'Milo, which actually was cool and a bunch of other cool paintings, some bigger than any paintings I've ever seen.

That evening, we went to the Eiffel Tower, which was a sight to behold. It looks a lot bigger in person. I was thinking about going up that night, because it wasn't raining and there were no lines, but my brother talked me out of it, saying I wouldn't be able to see anything. Big mistake.

Because the next day, with the parents, the line was ridiculous and it was cold and raining, and like I said, I had no umbrella. So, needless to say, the Eiffel Tower lost some of its grandeur because of the traumatic experience. But, the Tower was still nice.

Then, we went out to eat at the most amazing steak restaurant in the history of the world. Oh my goodness. It was a set menu, and with your steak you got fries and this AMAZING green sauce that tasted like nothing I had ever tasted before in my life. I need to find the recipe for it, because it was that good. If you're ever in Paris, I highly recommend it. Too bad I don't remember what it's called.

Finally, we concluded our mini family holiday with a boat cruise down the River Seine. This probably would've been the most enjoyable part of the trip (other than the steak) had not it been for the obnoxious Manc sitting across the aisle screaming "'Alo!!!" to everyone on the bridges and shouting "Bonjour!!!" to people she thought were French. I think that the drinking age is 16 in France, but now I understand why it's 18 here and 21 in the States -- because of that girl.

That's Paris in a nutshell.

Speaking of nutshell, I got a tattoo on April 1st. The irony of it didn't occur to me until I told my friend later that night and he said "April Fools, right?" So, I didn't call my parents that day and waited till yesterday to ring 'em. Surprisingly, they took it very well (because I think I sold it well! Boo ya!).

If you want to see pictures of the experience, it's on facebook. Just click on "View more photos of Ross", and you will see them on the bottom.

And to answer your questions about it in advance ...

1. Yes, it hurt, but not as bad as I thought. Only when she got towards the shoulder did it hurt quite a bit. And the coloring in was virtually painless.

2. It's a tribal sun.

3. No, I won't regret it 40 years from now.

Umm ... I can't think of anymore. Let me know if you have anymore questions ... though I probably won't answer them.

The parents are coming! The parents are coming!

This should be interesting, considering I haven't seen them in about two and a half months. But I am actually excited, because in the scheme of theings, I have been missing them.

My flatmates are equally as excited to meet them -- they have the joy of listening to our telephone conversations, at least from my end anyways. Chris asked if they would come out to the Union bars with us tomorrow, to which I responded simply by saying "No." He laughed.

My dad and I, however, are attending the Chelsea match against Newcastle United tomorrow, where I hopefully can impress him with my chanting and beer-drinking skills. Ah yes, father-son bonding at its finest.

Then on Thursday, after I spend the bulk of the day with the 'rents, I'm heading off to Paris and spending a few days just with my brother until my parents arrive on Saturday. Hopefully, we can get along. And my brother speaks French (which I speak absolutely no of), so maybe my time around the city will be a little easier. Though I do want to ask people "Parle vous anglais," because I'm told my French accent sound really good there ... the French do some weird thing with their throat when they talk, and I guess I can do it when I say that. Sometimes, at least.

But anyways, my attendance at class is requested. So I will leave you with this:

How many frenchman does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

---All of them. One to screw the bulb in, and the rest to brag about how great Frenchmen are at screwing.

Pizza, Italy by the numbers and my 21st pictures

Pizza in Italia was amazing-a. Not really like Chicago-style, but not neccessarily a bad thing. The crust was a lot thinner, but the sauce and the cheese was great, full of flavor. Nothing at all like St. Louis-style pizza, despite what Amy and Stephanie were telling me. The pizza was so good in fact that I had pizza at least once a day, sometimes twice. And surprisingly, I am not sick of it at all. It's just that the pizzas here just aren't the same.

Ok, Italy by the numbers:

21- The age I turned while in Italy

21- The amount of Gelatos I ate in Italy

21- The number of times per hour Amy would say "Do what?"

21- The liters of alcohol I drank on my b-day (at least what it felt like).

21- The number of "tours" Joe took us on.

21- The number of seconds I slept in my bed on my birthday before leaving so that two of our trip mates could "get cuddly."

Finally, birthday pictures are on my facebook site, among others.

Viva Italia!

Wow, so Italy was simply amazing. I don't know if I will ever have a "holiday" as cool as this ever again in my life. Ok, prepare to read the longest post ever ... and you better read it all, because I'm prepared to write it all.

Our excursion began on Thursday night, even though our flight for Roma didn't leave until 6:15 Friday morning. So, we slept in Stansted airport ... that was an interesting experience to say the least. My first experience with the Italians came when we played soccer in the terminal (and they dominated me ... two of them kicked the ball through my legs).

Luckily for me, my next Italian experience didn't have to deal with humiliation. It was Roma.

We spent three nights here. Did all the touristy stuff, like saw Constantine Arch and the Colosseum and went inside, went to the Vatican to see St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel (unfortunately, I did not see the Pope), threw a coin in the Trevi Fountain, walked by the ruins etc. The Colosseum was where it all hit me -- "I'm inside the Colosseum in Rome." I know it's cliche, but I got goosebumps. Think about it: how many people my age actually get the chance to visit Italy. It seemed like a lot of Americans were there, but really, if you look at it by its true perspective, it's not that many.

Another highlight of Rome was the Pub Crawl called Homer's Pub Crawl. I didn't realize it then, but now I know why they call it Homer's Pub Crawl -- Homer drinks a lot of beer, and you will drink I a lot of beer. I drank a lot of beer. I no feel well next morning. Threw up 3 times, but how many people can say they puked in a Roman bathroom? I can, so throwing up was not that bad.

My least favorite aspect of Roman was its dirtiness. I think the word Grafitti is actually Italian -- Grafitti EVERYWHERE. The trains were all covered in Grafitti. The buildings were all covered in Grafitti. By the end of the trip, I would be covered in Grafitti -- but you have to wait for that story. But yeah, Rome is definitely not the cleanest city in the world by any means.

Our three days in Roma flew by and off we went to Firenzie (Florence), known as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and home to the Uffizi collection and Michaelangelo's David. Honestly, I didn't think Florence was worthy of the "one of the most beautiful cities" title. I mean, it was nice, but not "jaw-dropping" beautiful like everyone was hyping it up to be. But, I did rent a vespa for an hour (hit only 1 car and only almost got run over 4 times!) and there were a lot of nice squares to relax, have a drink, eat some gelato ...

This was the city where the group decided that it would be my task to eat 21 servings of gelato by the time the trip concluded. There were a few stipulations -- they all had to be different flavors and the last one had to be a mega 5 scooper. No problem, or so I thought ...

But, getting off of gelato, and getting on to David ... no, you sick bastard, I didn't mean it like that. David was actually bigger than I expected ... a lot bigger. He was probably about 20 feet tall and was craved with such exquisite detail, such as the individual veins in his hands. The only problem I had with "the Perfect Male Form" was he was kind of lacking in the "package area," leading me to believe that Michelangelo wasn't the most endowed person. And according to Liana, "his butt was kind of flat."

What was also lacking in the size department was the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which was our next stop. We took an hour and a half train to see this one site, and upon arrival, my reaction was "That's IT?" OK, it was leaning, and it was a tower, but it wasn't monumental like I thought it would be. And of course, I took one of those crazy pictures of me holding the tower up, but I am going to upload photos later today so you will see that eventually.

Another problem with Pisa was that we had to take a train back to Florence to get on a train to Venice. So, essentially, we were backtracking. Yuck.

But, it was worth it. Venice was the most beautiful city I have ever seen in my life. For those of you who don't know, Venice (or Venezia) is an island, and there are no roads at all -- just these little alleyways and canals. It was so serene and calm, even with the massive hoards of tourists there.

There were two big highlights of the city ... the first was the Gondola ride at night, which really made me fall in love with this city. Close your eyes and try to imagine what you think a gondola ride at night in Venice would be like. What you're imagining is what I saw. Yes, I am that lucky.

Second big highlight was feeding the pigeons in Piazza San Marco. No, I don't have any pictures, but I have friends who were taking photos of it in between their laughter, so you will get to see the hilarity that ensued for the rest of the trip.

I also turned 21 in Venice (thanks for everyone who left me a happy birthday comment on my wall)! And yes, I am typing this, so I must've survived, but I was pretty sloshed. Actually, I was really sloshed. And I had people sign my shirt, and apparently write on my body, which I am not gonna lie, don't really remember. But I do remember Taylor and I dominating in beer pong. Yes, never try to compete with two drinkers in beer pong.

The next morning, I got up with a massive headache, and the only thing I could think about was "Do we have to go home today?" One, because the break seemed to short. Two, because I had a massive headache (think crank and sledgehammer). Three, because I had to eat my 21st gelato today. A 5 scooper. But yes, I did it. My five flavors (which I got to choose) was:

-Chocolate
-Chocolate Chip
-Cookies
-Caramel
-Nutella

I also had flavors such as Watermelon and pistachio ... they were interesting to say the least. But, the trip was amazing (I use that word a lot). Look for another post later today about pizza and maybe some photos.

OK people, stop your complaining ...

Haven't posted in a while because I am currently on Spring Break in Italy, but expect a lengthy one when I get back on the 12th!

Proving them all wrong!

Yes, I haven't posted in a while, because not too much has happened. But Joe, I proved you wrong.

Wednesday, we all went to Oxford, which is like the most insane college town ever. I'm sure you're all aware of Oxford University. However, I doubt you all know that Oxford University is split up into 36 seperate colleges all over the city, so if you ask where the Oxford University is, be prepared to be humiliated.

"It's about two miles north, or 5 miles west, or 1.2 miles southwest, or you're standing in it," would be a typical response.

But wow, we visited one of the colleges call Bernadase (sp) College, and it was just amazing. Every building was built sometime in the 1600s, and traditions the college put in back then are still alive today. For example, every week you have to eat in this one dining room with a bunch of your fellow classmates wearing these gowns ... kinda like the gowns they wear in Harry Potter. Not bad.

I also bought this really cool polo from one of the gift shops, so I can trick people that I went to Oxford.

We also went to Blenheim Palace, which is the home of the 11th Duke of Marlborough and birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. When we were in the room that Churchill was born in, our tour guide pointed out that Churchill had locks of red curls as a boy and showed us a bag they were hanging in over the bed. She then pointed out a picture of him with the curls, which made him look like Raggity Annie. Here are the curls:


I also went to Harrods this past weekend, which is like the most amazing department store you can imagine times 20. Everything you could think of, they had. Literally -- they sold cars at Harrods. And the food halls -- amazing. Everything was fresh and looked delicious. Here's a picture of Harrod's: