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December 28th, 2005

08:00 am - Leavin' on a jet plane So today I fly back to Rome again. Well, officially I fly to Zurich then to Munich, and I have a 12 hour overnight layover in Munich before my 6:30 am flight the morning of the 30th. I know, not exactly the best way to get back but it was the only option with late notice. So I've got a full day and a half of traveling to look forward to. Good thing I got lots of books for Christmas to keep me busy. In fact, here's a list of the books I asked for and got for Christmas: 1. Lonely Planet Guide: South East Asia on a Shoe String 2. Bret Easton Ellis: Lunar Park, The Informers 3. Chuck Palahniuk: Choke, Invisible Monsters 4. Dave Eggers: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (Which I already owned/read once but left it on the plane on my last trip back to Rome. Let's hope I don't do it again). Therefore I've got plenty to do on the plane ride. And since I'm flying SwissAir there's tons of movies and you can select which ones you want at any time, which is great as well. Alright so wish me luck, come visit me on Spring Break, and have a great New Year's everyone! Don't forget to add 1 second to your clocks this year. Current Mood: energetic Current Music: Planet of Sound - The Pixies

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November 29th, 2005

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October 9th, 2005

12:47 am - Finally done packing ... ... the locks are even on the suitcases. Just gotta measure the guitar case to see if I can squeak it in as a carry on and avoid an $80 charge. That would be excellent. (After only 16 days of visiting in California, i'm starting to get this feeling that flying back to Rome this morning will feel sorta like being plugged back into the matrix. I love it.) Current Mood: thirsty Current Music: throbbing brain. (no, it's not a band)(nor is that an album)

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October 8th, 2005

03:31 pm - I should be packing, but this seemed more important at the time There seems to have been a lack of updates while I've been in town, probably due to two things: 1) My journal updates intend to relate new and exciting experiences I've had, so I can look back at them in the future, so my parents can have some idea of what the hell I do over there, etc. But while visiting home, most of what I've done is the same stuff I did before I left and therefore does not qualify as new and exciting experience. Instead, it's a retracing of past steps, and 2) Reading about travels through distant lands is much more entertaining both to relate and to read, especially when you consider the jealousy it has the potential to garner. And notice I said when you consider it, because I certainly never have. So I'm in San Diego packing up all my stuff now. I'm taking over so much stuff this time because I don't know if I'll be back anytime soon. Plus I gotta prepare for the winter and the snow season, plannin' to do some skiing and/or snowboarding. Since I've left, I've only talked to my roommates, and only a couple of times, so I'm anxious to see everyone else. I'm excited, less than 36 hours til I'm there again. Don't get me wrong, my California trip was a blast. I pretty much split my time between LA and SD, relaxing lots, partying lots, seeing lots of friends, meeting lots of new ones, etc. But overall it simply served as a reminder and reiteration of why I left in the first place. I'm bored of it! And sure, there's plenty of interesting people to meet out here and lots of exciting things to do, but I feel like I've done it all enough and I have nothing long-lasting to gain from it anymore. I will say though, I've probably met more great people in Los Angeles during this visit than all the time I've spent there in the past. And of course my buddy Aaron the Younger (not the Smaller)and I found ourselves in many, crazy, "only in LA" type situations. A couple of examples to give you some idea: Firstly, meeting Zed, a major producer/mixer/engineer behind many huge musical success stories, including Paul Oakenfold - and Z taught him everything he knows. He likes to fly 1940's planes in his spare time and lives on an airport with his own plane and his own music producing studio. Very cool dude. Even better was spending the day with Will De Los Santos, screenwriter/co-producer of the massive indie/underground-film success "Spun". I bet you didn't know that even though the movie grossed between $130-150 million worldwide, Santos received only his initial $27,000 check for writing it and never got any of the royalties promised in his contract. Now he is practically a streetbum trying to get back on his feet enough to sue for his money. But if you've seen the film, you would understand how they've gotten away with it thus far. But living in Italy is vastly more self-edifying/gratifying. For the time being that is. Ok, so wish me a safe trip back. Just take one moment and say to yourself, "Gosh, I sure hope Steve makes/made it back to Rome smoothly and safely." Unless you are one of those jealous types. In that case I implore you, please, stop. My last flight, I can assure, was cursed enough. You did a good job. Give me a break on this one. Put the voodoo plane down. Wow, I'm exhausted. P.S.- I've always noticed I use a lot of commas, and I'm aware of this, though I'm not sure if it's a reflection of how I speak or of how I think, or some combination of the two? I'm pretty sure it's not deliberate, but perhaps it's avoidable. Or commendable. I can see a worthwhile essay topic in this: "The effect of comma usage on readability, comprehension, (... insert long, comma-flooded stream of a sentence here)." Hmm. I wonder what the public, if there's any, thinks? P.P.S.- I'll admit, I've never used a P.P.S. before. But I almost forgot to mention that I changed some minor things on http://www.uweb.ucsb.edu/~soddo/europe/ . There's even a birthday-related Bonus Picture I threw up there that I thought was long lost but was finally sent to me, albeit a couple years later. And thanks to all of you who remembered me on my birthday. I am the absolute worst at remembering birthdays (I am literally unable to memorize my parents' birthdates. I swear I must be missing some gene), so I whole-heartedly (as much of it as this journal can express, anyway) commend those of you who have this special ability. And if you forgot, no sweat, I probably forgot yours too. Current Mood: exhausted

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September 25th, 2005

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September 24th, 2005

04:29 pm - In San Diego til the 9th London was fabulous and I could make you all jealous but I will just give the highlight: Front row dress circle seats to Guys & Dolls starring Ewan McGregor and Jane Krakowski from Ally McBeal (the blonde bimbo) and Law and Order: SVU. It was an all star cast all around though and I loved it. When I got back to Rome I did the same ol same ol, but last Sunday was my roommate Trés' 30th birthday so we had a huge party at my house, had to be like 70 people there. Tons of alcohol ingested, caribinieri showed up twice, then broke it up at 4am. The main damage: I lost a pair of black rainbow leather sandals and a single new balance running shoe, one roommate's stereo broken from a beer spill, 2 bottles of alcohol shattered, 1 ceiling light broken by football, tons of ash and spills on the floors, fridge and oven mysteriously moved. All of this = one great party. Now I'm back in San Diego, but not the way or time I was supposed to be. My trip back was not smooth at all, everything went wrong. A 5 -1/2 hour flight delay from Rome caused a miss of any connections back to the west coast from New York. So I was stuck in New York overnight, then put up at a hotel that American Airlines gave me a voucher for even though they had no rooms left. So I got there and had to wait another 2 hours for a room. I eventually got a room at midnight, and even though exhausted, had to be back at the airport at 4:50am for a 6:50am flight to San Diego. Both flights had crying babies most of the way so I didn't sleep much. My can of Illy italian espresso opened in my carry on and got ground espresso everywhere. Unbelievable. Anyway I'm here now, feels good to be back, though a little weird. See some of you soon. Current Mood: drained Current Music: New Kanye West CD - Late Registration. So good.

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September 9th, 2005

02:08 pm I haven´t done any sightseeing in Stockholm, as I said I wouldn´t, and still plan not to. The first night Pernilla and I went to McDonald´s then to a pub to watch the Sweden vs. Hungary football game, which was boring until 90:51 into the game when Sweden finally scored. It was lucky but it was enough. Yesterday I wandered around the city and saw a large majority of it. I went to the cinema and saw "Wedding Crashers", which, despite all the praise it´s gotten from everyone I know, I found boring and unfunny. I´m sorry, but I guess I just don´t see what people like in these guys. They´re bad actors and when they do act they play the same part in every movie they´re in. Old School was great, as was Swingers, but most of the movies that the Wilson - Farrell - Vaughn - Stiller clan pumps out are retarded, and I worry about the future of comedy if this is what people really find to be humorous. Later I ate a big dinner of Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes that was wonderful. Took a nap, wandered around some other parts of the city I hadn´t been to in the south that looked very similar downtown Los Angeles/Hollywood without many high-rises. Went to bed early. This morning I got up early and asked where I could get some good breakfast, and thankfully it was the best recommendation I had in a long time. REAL AMERICAN PANCAKES. I´m talking big fluffy blueberry pancakes with maple syrup and powdered sugar. If you´ve spent any amount of time in Italy, you´d know that pancakes just do not exist, so this was a real treat. Lingonberry pancakes are not as common as I thought around Stockholm, but I did get some fresh lingonberries with my dinner last night which were delightful. Anyway, I devoured those, walked around some more, and now I´m back at the internet cafe again. You know I actually saw a coffee shop with a cell phone store inside? And no, it wasn´t the other way around. They also have 7-11´s here, and they are expensive according to the Swedes. Haha. So I´ve finally gotten to relax, have some alone time and a friend that isn´t on the pub crawl. The three words I´d use to describe Stockholm are Clean, Modern and Efficient. As opposed to Rome which is Dirty, Ancient and Chaotic. Stockholm is the veritable antithesis to Rome, but it´s not like I prefer one over the other. I love living in Rome and I don´t know how living in Sweden would be other than quite expensive. One thing I do note about Stockholm is the lovely smells everywhere. The scent of Coffee, pastries, cinnamon, and flowers in the air, though I have noticed that about every 10 minutes or so I get a whiff of what smells like Elmer´s Glue. Maybe it´s a plant or something. Strange though. Better than the smells in Rome, let me tell you. I´ve felt much more contemplative and creative here, and I´m sure that´s partly due to the fact I´ve hardly drank anything since Sunday. But in Rome it´s a constant immersion in a social world that just keeps expanding, whereas I feel like in Stockholm it´s more laid back. Maybe that´s because I don´t know many people here, but I kind of get that feeling overall. Rome is much more in your face. Ok, well that´s about enough, my time´s about to expire and I´m going to London tomorrow so I should probably get out of this cafe and do something. Current Mood: accomplished Current Music: Some pop song.

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September 7th, 2005

06:14 pm - Stockholm, Sweden It´s raining here, go figure. So one thing that I forgot to mention in my last update was that on Saturday I attended the free Elton John concert at 9pm in front of the Colosseum. He played most of his big hits, but left out "Tiny Dancer", which frankly was all I wanted to see. My roommate Dave from Belfast and I got wasted at the concert, which had "hundreds of thousands of people in attendance" according to the news. Last year it was less with Simon & Garfunkel, and the year before was more when Paul McCartney played there. It was insanity, but hey, I got to see Elton for free so I´m not complaining. I missed my flight to Stockholm yesterday because I banked on public transportation actually being on time, but I should´ve said to myself "hey, this is Rome, nothing is ever, EVER on time" and taken the RyanAir shuttle. But that´s €8, and by public it´s €1. It cost me in the end though, I arrived 35 minutes before boarding and they require 40 minutes. Bastards. So I changed the flight to today, which worked out ok for me because I ended up having a really good night last night and now I´ll be spending less money on this trip overall. It´s expensive here, but not that much more so than Rome. London will be frightningly expensive but at least I´m staying with a friend so I won´t have to hostel it. The hostel I´m staying at is on a boat on an island and is pretty unique. It looks like this: http://www.svenskaturistforeningen.se/templates/hostel.aspx?id=1987&source=search I´m meeting up with my Swedish friend Pernilla at 7:30 to get a drink and hang out. We worked on the pub crawl in Rome and she goes to school here for Biological Engineering or something crazy like that. Other than that I have no plans to do anything in particular here. I don´t care to see a single museum or visit any historical sites because it all starts to look the same after a while anyway. I just want to hang around the city, maybe meet some people at a local bar, who knows? Ok, well that´s enough for now, bye bye! Current Mood: good

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September 5th, 2005

05:30 pm - More Adventures... So tomorrow I leave for Stockholm for 4 days. Granted, I've been there before, but I have absolutely no memory of it left so it's time I visit it properly. I have a Swedish friend studying there so hopefully her and I will get in touch while I'm there. Then I leave to London for 4 days, staying with another friend that I met while in Barcelona, and also visiting that girl Kelly who I mentioned before as the victim of that con artist bastard. My friend Brad, also of Barcelona fame (which, I have now decided is the absolute best place to meet people that are traveling over the summer) will accompanying me to both places. There's some concert in London on the 11th that we're going to but I'm not sure who yet. I'm sure it will be good. After that, back to Rome. It will be great to just get away for a while and relax. As much as I love the life I've got here, it will be here for me when I come back, albeit for just a short time since I'm leaving for Cali on the 23rd (9 days after this trip). I'm very much looking forward to returning to California and visiting everyone. Plus I'll be attending my cousin Robbie's wedding, celebrating my birthday (Oct. 1st), and eating all the wonderful food that I miss so much. That's one thing about Italy- while the Italian food is fantastic, it's a lot of the same things every day and they haven't internationalized themselves much in this area. They try to do American, Japanese, Chinese, Mexican, etc... food but hardly any of it is good, mostly because it's almost impossible to find the ingredients to make these things properly. But I'll be damned if I can find better, fresher pasta, pizza, sandwiches, ice cream, yogurt, gnocchi and so on anywhere else in the world. Well enough about that, life is still good except for this stupid left tonsil that is slowly starting to act up again. It's not bad right now, and hopefully it'll just go back down again. Gotta stop subjecting myself to so much bacteria, sharing drinks with everyone... and such. Other news, a friend of mine here in Rome that happens to be from Orange County and went to SDSU is moving in with us when I get back from this trip. He'll have my room for the 16 days that I'm gone so we're splitting the room rent for the month, which leaves me some extra spending for stockholm & london. Not that I have that much right now anyway. Bills bills bills. My day to day spending is surprisingly low, but if you throw in credit card minimums, car payment and rent I don't make enough to do anything too extravagant. Oh and by the way, the one way flight to Stockholm one way to London one way back to Rome, grand total = €75. Love these RyanAir sales! Ok, so wish me luck on my adventures and once again, see you all soon! Current Mood: hungry Current Music: Some lame Italian ballad

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August 28th, 2005

04:45 pm So I'm still working for the pub crawl... now my two roommates and I are the top 3 workers out of the whole organization (about 25 of us), which means we gross the most money. Craziness. Doing the crawl every night gets old, but it's still fun to hang out with all my friends while making money in the process. I'm soon going to start training to be a tour guide for a tour group called Romaround, and I also have a possible opportunity opening up at an Irish bar in the city center called Abbey Theatre. So the October-December months which are difficult for foreigners in Rome like me to make consistent money shouldn't be so hard if these things work out. Moving on... I'm planning on going over to either Denmark or Sweden sometime at the beginning of September due to cheap air flights. My friend Brad that I hung out with in Barcelona came to visit here a few weeks ago is now back in Finland, he would meet me in one of those places. Maybe my Swedish friend from the pubcrawl would join me. Should be great. Otherwise, I'm feeling well, money is good and I'm happy. I love living here and meeting so many great people from all the world over, improving my sales ability, learning tons of history, etc etc etc... all the things you would assume go along with living for a long time in a foreign country. Living. Not studying, not a tourist, just making my own way. I want to give a shout out and congratulations to my dear brother Brandon who took the leap from the nest yesterday and moved into his dorm at San Diego State University. He's going to have an amazing time and I'm very proud of him. I miss you all and don't forget I'll see everyone soon. Current Mood: happy Current Music: the beautiful language of Brazilian Portuguese next to me

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August 11th, 2005

07:48 pm - Got an Apartment! So the place I was staying at (on my friend's floor) has an opening on Monday and I'll be officially a roommate there. I am very excited about this because the location is great and I'm friends with everyone there. Plus it's going to be cheap because I'm going to share the big room so it'll only be about 175 euros a month. Sweet. Other than that I'm just doing the pub crawl and hanging out, it gets tiring... nothing particularly exciting going on though. I'll keep you posted when anything interesting happens. I'm excited about coming home! Current Mood: tired Current Music: Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.

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August 5th, 2005

06:49 pm - It's Offical. September 23rd til October 9th. American Airlines. A grand event. ... In other news, I got my wallet stolen from this shady hotel that wasn't the one I booked and it's a long story but in short about €380 was there along with my credit cards and phone cards and driver's license and school ID but thankfully still have my passport. It was my first payday from the pubcrawl and I didn't even have it for 24 hours. I know, it sucks, but things are now progressing in the positive direction.... I'm keeping positive! Still trying to find a place but now I'm sleeping on my friend's floor. Should happen sometime soon. Looking forward to seeing you all for my BIRTHDAY! (Oct 1st, for all you losers who might forget). Current Mood: excited Current Music: Pago - Parlo di Te

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July 31st, 2005

05:04 pm - News I basically just copied and pasted this from an e-mail I wrote to someone because it summarized everything that's going on. So what's new? Well, I've been working for a pub crawl (www.modernights.com) pretty much every day. It's mostly commission based but also has a daily pay if you bring a 4-6 people a day or so. So I spend my days handing out flyers with my friends by the colosseum and around the touristy parts and my nights taking people on a wild drunken bar hopping tour. It's not quite as elegant as working at the resort Estanica, but I have a good time. Most working days I can make about 70-80 €, but it can go as high as you are able to get people. It's a lot harder than it seems though to get people to listen to you or even just take a flyer. The best part is when you officially work the pub crawl (meaning get the 4-6 people), you get free drinks at the preparty and then €40 to work as one of the tour leaders from 10pm-2am. Along the way you get free drinks as well... so you can imagine there's a lot of competition and cutthroat type things going on. I've been doing very well, in my first week I've worked 4-7 days of flyering. Some people take 2 weeks just to get their first people. The worst part is when you've spent all day handing out millions of flyers and talking to tons of people in the humidity and heat, and you get only 1 person (like what happened to me yesterday), it's damn frustrating. It's so damn hot here all the time. Giorgio and I got in an argument and I moved out of his house, well more like I decided I wanted to move out and find my own place, and for that he kicked me out saying I'm a loser alcoholic who has never treated him like a true friend. I don't know what kind of crap that is, because I always do anything I can for my friends and always appreciate help they give me. He literally gave me a few hours to get my stuff out and find a hotel on my own. He was probably the one that was never really a true friend, after doing that- kicking me out in a foreign country with relatively few friends here to help me. I'm in a small hotel now but it's expensive because private rooms in Rome are expensive, and I require a private room to keep all my possessions safe. So now I'm working on getting an apartment here and have lots of options. I have a few places I need to look at, most of them with friends I already know anyway either from the pubcrawl or bars or whatever, so that's good. Plus my other friend said I could sleep at his place until I find one of my own, but hopefully I can do that soon. I'll keep you all posted, it'll be much better having my own place where I can come and go as I please. Since I didn't have a key to Giorgio's place, I basically had to follow him around all the time which was very annoying, since whenever he wanted to go somewhere I either had to go with or stay in the house and not leave until he got back, like a prisoner. Anyway, that's all fixed now and I think it's for the best. Wish me luck! Also, for all your information, I'll be coming back to the states around Sept 23rd til about Oct 9th. 2-1/2 weeks or so. Should be a blast, I want to do as much California stuff as possible (and Vegas, of course). Bye for now, time for pubcrawling. Current Mood: hot Current Music: Some crappy italian pop song I don't recognize

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July 20th, 2005

04:30 pm - Some kind of update Over two weeks no update... so here's what I've been up to. Brother and cousin came and went. We had an awesome trip, other than our Rome excursions which included virtually everything there is to see we went to: Florence & Pisa, Bologna, Venice, Naples and Sorrento. We tried the food all around the country, of which we decided the best was in the south (Naples and Sorrento). Bologna was a great town, one of Italy's oldest universities is there so it had that great student vibe. Venice was amazing but too crowded and almost impossible to navigate without a really good map, which we didn't have, but we managed to see a ton of sights there. The Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice was amazing, they had a huge Jackson Pollock exhibit which was fantastic, and great representation of all my favorite modern artists. Kandinsky, Miró, Dali, Picasso & Braque, Max Ernst, Klee, Chagall... the list goes on. Of them all, my favorite had to be either Dalí's Birth of Liquid Desires or Kandinsky's Landscape with Red Spots, No. 2. Then we came back to Rome and partied it up a bit, but had to get up the next morning to leave for Naples & Sorrento. We were in Naples for about 2 hours and didn't like it at all. Maybe if we had made it over to the beach we would've changed our minds, but it was one of the filthiest cities I've ever been to- everything from the crumbling architecture to the heaps of street beggars contributed to that impression. Luckily, we took the Circumvesuviano (around Vesuvius) train to Sorrento which was full of beautiful coastal and Vesuvius views. Some of the best Italian cooking I've ever had was in Sorrento, a gorgeous town along the Amalfi Coast. The beaches there were disappointing, you had to pay to get a seat and there were tons of people. But still a great place to shop and hang out overall. We stayed at a neat little campsite up on the hill which was decent but cheap, so it worked out. Lots of mosquito bites though. Coming back to Rome, we spent their last day on the beach in Ostia, about 30 minutes outside Rome. Giorgio and I usually go out there for the great outdoor summer clubs on the beach, but it was great seeing the town in the daylight. Beautifully sculpted and tanned Italians everywhere, real sand, warm water... it was wonderful. We had a huge seafood dinner on the ocean that last night, complete with frutti misti da mare (mixed seafood) appetizers, pastas and lobsters. Very excellent. The next morning there was a train and bus strike, so Giorgio had to drive the boys to the airport and we made it barely on time. Everything worked out though. We saw quite a lot for a short period of time, eh? G and I left that evening for Latina, another coastal beach town by Rome, where my soon-to-win-the-venice-film-festival roommate Lú has a house that looks like it was painted by Pollock. Lú's family let him take half the house and turn it into an artistic masterpiece, floor to ceiling paintings on and off the walls. His photography is scattered around the rooms as well, totally cool. There are some great clubs around the beaches there as well, so we spent our days on the beach and nights at the clubs. Definitely the best beach I've been to in Italy was there, clear water at the perfect temperature, beautiful people, some small waves and REAL sand, none of that rocky stuff. Another great seafood dinner was had on our last night there, then we headed back to Rome once again. Since then, I've pretty much been laying low and trying not to spend money. We're thinking of planning a trip in August, but with money being tight as it is, it might have to wait til September. My friend Kai in London decided to call me yesterday to brag about where he was leaving for last night: Non-stop business class flight from London to Rio de Janeiro, where he will spend 3 weeks with nothing to do but scout locations to throw parties next summer. Bastard. But I'm not bitter, I'm having a blast here and it's certainly not worth it for anyone to fly all the way across the world to do the same stuff you could do in Greece or the Spanish Isles which are right next door. Or heck, if you want a bunch of beautiful women speaking portuguese on the beach, why not just fly to Lagos, Portugal... that's my thought, anyway. So that's it really. Just laying low and taking it easy. It's time to start getting serious about a job so I can have a sustainable lifestyle, otherwise my time here will be cut short. I'm pursuing some bartending options and going to start working for my friend Jim's pub crawl... if I can do both then I'll be set. Wish me luck and I miss you all, so drop me a line sometime so I know you're still alive out there somewhere. Bye! Current Mood: accomplished Current Music: Depeche Mode - Music for the Masses

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July 3rd, 2005

09:54 pm - Back in Rome Guess who's back... back in Rome. Yep, I'm back. Giorgio's not (again). Apparently he's busy "working" and doing "business", which really means making "appearances" with his "friends" at big clubs and partying and yes, I'm a bit jealous. But it's ok, I'm still trying to get over my sickness. It's extremely hot in Rome. Had to go out to the airport this morning and get my brother and cousin. Took them around some of the sites today, more liked dragged them since they were pretty jet lagged. We should have lots of fun together. Right now I'm locked out of my house since no one is around and I ain't got a key. Giorgio was supposed to come back yesterday, then today, now tomorrow. Got to go now. Current Mood: rushed Current Music: none

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June 30th, 2005

03:11 pm - Bratislava and Budapest Well it all went Pete Tong (wrong) when I got to Bratislava. Aaron wasn't where he was supposed to be, I didn't get a phone call from him, all the hostels were full, my ATM card wasn't working at any ATM, and to top it off, I started getting sick. So I booked a hotel and got some rest that evening. Bratislava was nice and quaint. It was a lot smaller than I expected, you could actually walk from one side of the city to the other in about 15 minutes. The castle area was cool but there wasn't much to do up there except look at the views. I enjoyed wandering around the old town (Staré Mesto) as there were lots of neat restaurants and squares with lots of history. As with Czech ladies, Slovakian girls definitely carried the torch along nicely, and now that I'm in Budapest, I'm beginning to think it's an eastern european phenomenon: almost all the women are gorgeous. So Bratislava I enjoyed, I hung out with the 10 aussies I I met in Prague, they had a few Slovakian friends there they met in Australia. They took us on a hike through a beautiful forest and at the end was a huge TV tower. About 3/4 up the tower is a restaurant that we ate dinner at with a rotating floor, which gives you spectacular 360 degree views of the whole city. You can even see the fields of Austria in the distance. Other than that, I left Bratislava and trained to Budapest, where I eventually met back up with Aaron again. First, I went to the castle hill which was amazing, not a lot to do there either but there were so many cool things to look at. The basilica up there is neo-gothic style and the inside is one of the most colorful churches I've seen. Much of Budapest is built in neo-gothic and it looks fantastic. This city is definitely in the top 3 european cities I've ever seen, for beauty and for entertainment. There are great clubs here, the baths are posh and awesome (Aaron and I spent 3 hours yesterday at the nicest one). It's relatively cheap here, which is great as well. All in all, Budapest gets a 10 for me. If only I wasn't so sick... Well, make it a priority for your next european vacation. I fly out of Budapest tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be better by the 3rd, because that's when my brother and cousin arrive in Rome. I want to show them a good time, and that'll be hard if I'm still this sick. I'm taking it easy though, so we'll see. Oh, and a bunch of pictures will hopefully be up when I get back. Hopefully. Current Mood: sick Current Music: prince - purple rain

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June 25th, 2005

05:34 pm - In Prague The trip to Prague was straining for many reasons, but once I met up with Aaron everything fell into place. Prague is fantastic. Everything is so cheap and still so good. It's a large metropolitan city but very clean. The public transportation is great, definitely better than Rome's. Aaron and I are in the same room out the boathouse hostel, a quaint little "home away from home" type place. It's not at all the type of hostel I'm used to, it's peaceful and cozy rather than rowdy and festive, but it's a good change of pace. However, one of the guys in the room snores very loud, which makes sleeping difficult. That and the heat. Last night Aaron and I went to dinner at a Cuban/salsa dancing restaurant that was very good. The food was great, their drinks were fantastic and there was a live salsa band. Note the excessive use of positive adjectives in this entry. We were pretty tired so we didn't do much else, just walked around and hung out at a few bars. A popular house music DJ from about 10 years ago called ATB was playing at a club, but the few hits he had were less than compelling reasons to spend all night partying when we were already exhausted. Today we went around the city and spent a few hours at Prague Castle which was pretty interesting. Franz Kafka was born right next to the castle in between the Black Tower and the White Tower. In my opinion it would be a very strange place to grow up. We ate at a restaurant called BarBar in a district outside the main touristy part of the city. We shared onion rings and salmon & cream cheese crepes, he had a filet mignon wrapped in prosciutto with vegetables, I had poached norwegian salmon with pesto and some salad. We each had a pint of beer. Total cost? $20. There are even places where a pint of good czech beer is less than $1. Tomorrow we're going to Bratislava, the capital of the Slovak Republic, which will be very neat. We might take a day trip over to Vienna as well before heading down to Budapest. I'm really excited, yet still so tired and I hope to take a nap before going out tonight. My friend Kai, the english guy I hung out with in Barcelona, is flying over here from London with his girlfriend Kel to meet up with me tonight in Prague. They're lots of fun so the 4 of us should have a good night. However, they're only coming over til tomorrow afternoon since they both have to work Monday. Oh well. Ok, I need to nap asap... bye for now. Current Mood: exhausted Current Music: Arcade Fire, on some crappy headphones in a loud cafe

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June 24th, 2005

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June 22nd, 2005

04:17 pm Yet again it's been a long time since I've updated, which doesn't really bother me. Though I know I should at least run down what I've been up to and what my plans are, for future reference, because I know I won't remember a lot of the things I do on this trip unless I write them down. Barcelona, all in all, ended up being fantastic. I ended up staying 12 days instead of 5. I missed my flight on the 11th day due to lack of effort, so I changed it to the following day which worked out great. I was able to get out to Montserrat which was incredible and had a fun night with my friends with that extra day. Giorgio picked me up from the airport and we've been hanging out since. There was a free music festival on Sunday literally right outside my front door in Piazza San Giovanni. The headliners were Duran Duran and Beck, but James Blunt (yes, the Vodafone commercial guy) and Elisa also played. Duran Duran proved that they still kick major ass. What a phenomenal show. I'd forgotten how many hits they had, and they played them all. Giorgio and I saw Batman Begins yesterday, which I had mixed feelings about. The story was quite bizarre for a Batman film, in my opinion even more so than Burton's Batman Returns with the penguin. It kind of fell apart for me after Bruce Wayne's birthday scene with the return of the samurai warrior guys that really don't belong in a Batman film. Granted, it was all in italian which didn't make it easier to follow. I was impressed with Christian Bale's performance but with a dubbed film you can't hear his actual voice, so that might change my opinion. But it was definitely well directed and had all the things you'd hope to see in a Batman film. Ok, now that I've wasted time discussing Batman instead of my life-altering experiences abroad, I should move on. I got my hair cut today. Finally. They did a decent job considering I couldn't really explain what I wanted properly. Oh yeah, and Giorgio left this morning for Florence to attend some fashion convention representing Cow! collection clothing. We were supposed to go together yesterday but he slept in and I didn't go with him today because I would've had to come back tomorrow. Why is that? Well, because I'm flying out Friday to PRAGUE, where my roommate and good friend from Santa Barbara will be meeting me. I'm SO excited about this. We'll be in Prague for 2 days, then we're training to Olomouc, Auschwitz, Krakow, then Budapest. I fly out of Budapest on the 1st back to Rome. Then on the morning of the 3rd Giorgio and I will pick up my brother Brandon and cousin Nicholas from the airport. I've arranged them a room at the fabulous Alessandro Palace Hostel. They'll be here for 12 days so I'm going to be entertaining them, showing them the sights, etc. I booked their first 3 and last 3 nights in Rome, and in the middle we'll plan some trips around Italy. This should be great as well, because I haven't seen many of these sights yet (ehem, including the colosseum, which is 3 blocks away from me...). I'd really like to get out to Venice. Ok well, I've neglected to finish this entry for about an hour now, and I don't really know what else to say. I have lots of pictures I need to post but I'm waiting for Lú to come back with his computer. They're worth the wait. Bye for now. Current Mood: hungry Current Music: Gwen Stefani - Hollaback Girl... get out of my head!

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June 9th, 2005

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