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Final Fling

Tom_Holt — Sat, 16 May 2009 19:13:54 +0000

The Final Fling is the biggest party of the year. It is put on by the university student association and everybody gets into the action.

I first heard about the party from one of my flatmates. I had no idea what it was about so she explained that its just a massive party and I should go to it. It is a theme party, which means “fancy-dress.” We would call that a costume party. There have been many of these advertised all year, but I had yet to get to one and I was looking forward to it. I can’t remember many but one of the past themes of the night was Superheroes. My flatmate also let me know that I’d have to get in line for tickets at least an hour early on the day they went on sale. I couldn’t believe all the hype she was giving the party. It made me want to go….

Eventually they announced the date of ticket sales and the theme: “Born in the U.S.A.” I was not all that happy with the theme for obvious reasons, but I knew it could be fun and tried to come up with something clever. That failed me for a few weeks.

On the morning of the ticket sale, I got to the Atrium at 8 a.m. - what I thought was an hour early. I was one of the first people there and was glad to be in the queue as it rapidly got larger. At around 8:30, I overheard people grumbling about waiting another couple of hours in the line. Turns out they were actually going on sale at 11 a.m. I was clearly not happy with this, because I volunteered to go over alone! Thankfully they started selling tickets early and I purchased 5 of them at 20 quid a pop.

Unfortunately a group of girls were going to Paris on the date of the sale. I tried to get in touch with them before they left, but I was unable to get a hold of them. The day before the sale, one of them finally let me know that they’d want to go too. I was able to get 3 tickets for other people: Christine, Annelise, & Cailene. I figured it would be a good time to go pre-game with them beforehand—so a win-win!

A week or so passed without me getting a costume or even settling on one. I’d run through southern hick, (American) football player, and Abe but none were funny enough for me. Rumors of costumes were circulating around campus. The funny ones: American guy wearing a football (soccer) jersey with the logo crossed out and instead reading “soccer.” Barney Stinson. The offensive ones: Klu Klux Klan member. The two towers with two planes. Black-face. I was really hoping I wouldn’t see any of the offensive ones, but figured that I would.

On the day before the party I settled on a farmer. Kelly would’ve been upset by that choice had it gone through. I actually bought a farmer’s flannel jacket at a local charity shop before I got the idea of way-too-intense frat guy. After Martin checked out a suit for his Al Capone idea we headed over to the mall. I found pique polos for £2.50, and spotted some just god-awful pants. Eventually, in Glasgow, I picked up a light blue and pink polo. I also got a sweet white Yankees cap for £3.

When I got back my costume turned out to be incomplete. It was not nearly horrible enough. I had a quick chat with Kelby and realized that I needed: another polo, those horrible pants with a white belt, and a pair of aviators. The end result was just terrible.

Day of…

The day of the Final Fling, Martin and I headed back into town to complete our costumes. He picked up his hat and I grabbed another polo and my jeans at the mall. At Tesco we found a sweet deal on beer and grabbed my aviators, which turned out to be women’s. I particularly liked the pink case they came with.

Eventually we made plans to do my Disney power-hour at our flat at around 7. When the ladies got there they were surprised to see us already dressed and ready to go. We won that way, but they had already started the party (at 2 that afternoon), so they win in another. Eventually my flatmates showed up and we decided to cancel the power-hour midway through. The ladies left to get dressed and to grab dinner while Martin and I stayed with our flatmates.

I had a great time at the pre-game playing a game that consisted of picking a box up off the ground with your teeth without touching any other part of your body on the ground. Each round we ripped a few more inches off the box until it was nearly flat on the ground. I have to brag about my performance as I made it until the 2nd to last round and I was by far the tallest one there. No big deal.

By 10, Martin and I decided the ladies weren’t going to show up again and at 10:30 headed over with our flatmates and their friends. Once we got there I met up with a lady friend and we danced the night away. Martin and I saw François for about 5 minutes in which time he stole my hat. The significance of this will come in the Amsterdam story. Suffice it to say he was not sober in the least bit. My glasses also got broken while they were being passed around. That pink case for nothing…

Thankfully we did not see the W.T.C. there. I think it would’ve been my responsibility to fight whoever was wearing that costume. However, we did see tons of people in black face and somehow I wound up in a candid picture with somebody who went as a KKK member. I was not happy about any of those costumes. I really can’t believe that people got away with that at a university sponsored event. Pretty disgusting.

Besides the offensive costumes I had a fantastic time at the Fling. The 3 hours we were there flew by for us. The whole tent was packed but you could still move if you wanted to. Beers weren’t that expensive and the lines weren’t too bad to maneuver through. I was very happy I got to go to this event as I now realize how much effort you can put into a costume. Halloween back home is impressive, but these people all go all out. Best costume of the night goes to Laura as Marge Simpson.

Finishing up Italy: Days 9 and 10

Tom_Holt — Fri, 08 May 2009 14:17:57 +0000

The final day of touring Rome was pretty spectacular. We started the day off on a tour of the Coliseum and the Roman Forums. I had just watched Gladiator the night before and was very excited to see everything. We ran into another pushy tour salesmen that we eventually decided to give in to. I think that these guides have been worth it. They give you so much more context than just the signs with short blurbs around the places you’re traveling. We did not get radios this time, which was a little worrisome, but we did get to skip the queues at both places!

Our guide at the Coliseum was very funny and kept picking on one of the girls in the group for demonstrations. She was blushing the entire time as he kept hitting on her in front of the group. (Italian men are simply relentless…) I thought the whole thing was very funny.

Eventually he handed us off to the next guide at the Forums who was not nearly as good. She was abrasive and sarcastic, but she did give us some good information. (She was from Seattle working on some sort of degree, but she did not have a future in tourism.) I had never really heard of the Palatine Hill or the Forums before, and these turned out to be pretty interesting.

Annelise and Christine were pretty worn down by this time in the trip. They weren’t up for nearly as much. Still, they did stick around and wait for me to do stuff, so I thank them for that!

Catching up on blogs…Wow, it has been a while since I last blogged. I didn’t even finish my Italian vacation! I apologize for my absence…

After exploring the Forum a bit we headed over to the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II. This dominated the skyline above the Forums and was incredibly impressive in size. I think they had just completed a renovation or cleaning of the entire thing and the marble was incredibly white—bright almost. The monument also has the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for Italians and, weirdly, they had one armed guard and one who was taking pictures with anyone who wanted one.

At this point the girls were really tired and just went back to the hotel for a nap. I told them I’d meet them out for dinner later in the day and set off on my own again. I wanted to checkout the last remaining sights on the “Top 12” list that was on the back of my map. In order to do so I was able to quickly run through the Trevi Fountain and Pantheon again before making my way to Piazza Navona. As it turned out the ladies didn’t miss much here, but I did get to watch a number of street artists making sketches of people. Generally these artists are very talented and I almost thought of having a realistic one made of myself. I would have done so if I could have gotten a nude.

After a very long walk up the river Tevere, I eventually made it to Piazza del Popolo. (On the way into the plaza, I was very tempted to rent a Segway for an hour or so, but decided I didn’t have enough time before I had to meet Annelise and Christine for dinner.) The ladies definitely missed something here. It was a massive plaza that had another obelisk and a number of interesting entrances. (Twin churches marking the entrance to one street, city walls and entrances on another, and the hill and fountain topping it off.) Overlooking the plaza was a large fountain that you could climb to get on top of a hill for great views of the city. I got a number of good pictures from the top before strolling through a park behind an archeological dig.

At this point I still had an hour or so before I had to meet the ladies for dinner. I decided that my best option was to experience the phenomenon of the fast food beer. I stopped by Burger King outside of the Pope’s plaza and ordered a Heineken. Then I hopped on the subway, made my way to Italy’s very first McDonalds where I ordered another beer. I thought the whole thing was entertaining and I chuckled immaturely to myself about it.

The next day was just a bit of traveling. It was very uneventful and doesn’t really deserve its own post. I know I was glad to be back in Scotland, and the ladies were very glad to be back. I feel for Brian—not having English everywhere is quite a difficulty and gets old quickly!

Pictures Uploaded

Tom_Holt — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 11:50:04 +0000

Just wanted to let everybody know that I have finally uploaded pictures from my Italy trip. I hope you like them!

Italy: Day Eight

Tom_Holt — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:36:20 +0000

After an early morning and a hurried breakfast at the hostel, I hoped onboard the trains and buses to get to Termini station in downtown Rome. We decided to do the Vatican today and I was looking forward to the pinnacle of church visits on the trip.

After getting out of the train at the Vatican we walked past and endless stream of solicitations for guided tours of the Vatican. I wanted a tour, but I figured there’d me more legitimate stores offering these tours. (Mom said that Uncle Kevin and Aunt Susan told her I should get one of these.) We did not find one of these shops by the time we’d walked into St. Peter’s Square though.

The square itself was very impressive. Tons of columns, an Egyptian Obelisk, statues galore. They were also setting up for the Pope’s Easter mass the next day. Metal detectors in the rows of columns, hundreds (thousands?) of chairs, big old TV screens, flowers, and what I think was an alter were all being set up. The lines were also very long to get into St. Paul’s cathedral. At this point another one of the tour guides started chatting me up, and I decided that he sounded good enough. I figured if it didn’t turn out to be legit, we’d just walk away.

At this point the tour seller walked us over to the actual guide right by the obelisk. After a solid introduction, we all walked over to a bar where we paid £45 for the tour. After a short wait for people to pay, use the bathroom, and buy water we headed over to another store where we picked up our radios. These were interesting in that they didn’t have headphones, but a tube that plugged into the radio. (The tube is also fun in that if you put it in your ear and run your fingers down it, it sounds like a jet taking off.)

The tour was expensive, but we did get to jump the long queues (yeah) and it got us entry into the museum and the cathedral. These were £20 by themselves, so I’d do it again. The lines were 2 hours long! The guide was good and told us about lots of the stuff in the museum. (Very eloquent.) It was a very long tour filled with lots of statues, paintings, tapestries, ancient maps, every kind of art you can imagine. I was very impressed by all the collections they had there. They told us that they had over 7 km of galleries, but only about 2 km of them are open to the public. We cruised through these shoulder to shoulder with around 9,000,000 other people. I thought the cooler parts were the accurate maps of Italy made long before they could get high and the 3D tapestries. As you walk by them Jesus, slabs, and tables keep looking at you (or move so they look like they’re sticking out at you…). The tour guide told us we don’t know how to make these anymore. I did not believe that at all… They also told us that all of the stuff they have there was acquired through purchases or traded for. I didn’t really believe that one either…

The tour was a little stressful because we were trying to find Christine the entire time. She apparently thought that we were behind her and started waiting for us to catch up. Meanwhile, we continued on the tour with the guide. She then tried to catch up by buzzing though the entire gallery while looking for us. I kept texting her where we were, but she was unable to find us. Annelise eventually tried to call her, a couple of times but was again unsuccessful. The whole time we were trying to get a hold of her it was draining the money on my phone. We kept asking to tell us where she was, but we never really got anything out of her. The one place she did tell us the security guard had never heard of!

We continued on the tour eventually getting to Sistine Chapel. I thought this was cool to see, but it was a little underwhelming. The art was obviously very impressive, but it wasn’t that big and it was just packed with people. I’m glad I got to see it though.

After the chapel, we waited for Christine outside on the way into St. Paul’s Cathedral. After we didn’t hear anything from out messages, we decided to continue through the cathedral. Unbelievable. Huge. Very impressive place. Unfortunately we had to hurry through the church because Christine was trying to call me costing me 10¢ every time she rang. I couldn’t pick up because there was no money left on the phone. I ended up with only one message left and quickly sent it before she could eat it up! I told her to meet at where we started the tour.

Once we were outside we just chilled around the obelisk for two hours. We both hoped that she had gone through the chapel and the cathedral, but really had no idea. She kept texting us where she was waiting for us, but as we didn’t know where she was talking about and were already outside, we had no way of getting to her. She was confused by what I meant by where the tour started (obelisk, bar, radio, or lines), but why she didn’t just check all of them I just don’t know. Eventually, I got a text from Martin telling me he’d topped me up. (I had asked him to top me up, but he wasn’t heading into town that day… Fair enough. But when Christine called all panicked, he relented and topped me up.) I called Christine and Annelise finally was able to find her. All and all I think we waited about three hours. It was good to have her back though!

After that fiasco we walked past Castel Sant’Angelo, an old castle of the Vatican, on the way to the Pantheon. It took a while to get there, but eventually we found it and got a good view of the largest poured concrete dome of the ancient days. It had been turned into a church after its days as a temple to the Roman gods. I was kind of surprised by this; I didn’t expect a Roman temple, but I didn’t expect to see a church there either. The Pantheon was a quick visit before the Fontana Di Trevi (Trevi Fountains).

The fountains had a huge crowd gathered around them so we didn’t stay much longer than to grab a few pictures. From there we went back to the Spanish steps area to grab some delicious takeout pizza and gelato. Good stuff.

The trip back to the hostel was uneventful, but I did make it back for the movie at the hostel. The original movie was Solaris, but we convinced the guy at the desk to re-run Monday’s movie: Gladiator. This was fantastic as we were headed to the Coliseum and the Roman Forums the next day. I had a few Peroni’s, enjoyed the show, and headed to bed.

Italy: Day Seven

Tom_Holt — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:28:21 +0000

Friday was a long day of travel. We took the cheap train to Roma so it took quite a bit longer. The night before, while ladies were figuring out where our hostel was, they realized it was a pain to get to. A train, another train, a bus, and a walk was too much for them, so they booked a hotel that was closer. I thought that they got a room for me as well, but it turned out we had a bit of a miscommunication. On the train, I was still hoping that I’d be able to get into their hotel, but when we got there it turned out they were fully booked. I tried to find another room around their hotel, but, being Easter weekend, there was nothing to be found. So I took the trains, bus, and walk to the hostel through a little run down neighborhood, but when I finally got there the hostel was actually fairly nice. When you’re not lost and it’s daylight, the area really isn’t bad. But, it was dark, I was lost, and I was not really happy about what happened with the hotel…

After checking in, I read for a while and passed out. I had to get up early to be in Roma.

Italy: Day Six

Tom_Holt — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 22:28:26 +0000

Today I was supposed to meet the ladies at the train station at 8:30 to catch a 9 a.m. train to Sienna. While feasting on my delicious McDonald’s breakfast, I got a text saying they were wrong—it’s a 10 a.m. train. This was a bit inconvenient, but I looked into what I wanted to do in Rome while waiting there.

After buying us all tickets, I met them on the train and we were off. They had gone out the night before, and they were in pain. I guess they only got a few short hours of sleep. I felt bad for them, but hoped they’d be up for some walking. Sienna was supposed to be one of the most beautiful medieval towns in Italy.

Once we got there I picked up a map and tired to get us oriented. We walked up to the Palazzo de Campo to take pictures with the other tourists. There is a tower here that is over 100 m high and I was determined to climb it. The ladies didn’t want to, in their state, so I bit them ado while I waited in line. I met a nice couple from London with an adorable daughter while I was waiting. Unfortunately for them, they got fed up with waiting, and two minutes after they left, we were let in. It was €7 to get in, but the view at the top was spectacular. Sienna is much smaller than Florence, and it was cool to see the city walls and countryside outside of them.

When I got down from the top, I texted Annelise and Christine and they met me back in Il Campo. From here we headed over the beautiful church in Sienna that featured layered white and black marble columns. The effect was similar to the green and white on the façades of Firenze, but it was still striking, especially inside. We also checked out the other parts of the Church before heading back to the train station.

Dinner got canceled last night, but we’re headed to Lizzy’s favorite restaurant tonight instead. I’m writing this between the train and dinner with a bit of a hunger pain in my stomach. I hope it’s good, because if it’s not, Lizzy won’t be there to blame. She had to take off on a train tonight to catch a flight to somewhere or other.

Italy: Day Five

Tom_Holt — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 22:10:11 +0000

I woke up late today. The previous night’s debauchery hit me hard. I guess it was the wine.

I decided to try to see the David again and was rewarded with another huge line. This time I decided to stand it in and deal with it. After an hour and a half of listening to four girls behind me do their best Dane Cook impressions, I finally got in. David and the other Michelangelos at the Academia were very cool. I like sculpture more than paintings. I’ve also seen more naked people in the last two days than I’d seen in years. Paintings, sculpture, even advertisements have nudes in them. It might be immature, but as an American you’re just not prepared for it!

The second stop of the day was the Picci Gardens. I didn’t have to wait inline for this one at all! It was a refreshing change. I wondered around these for a long time. You could actually lose people for five minutes at a time, and there were spring flowers everywhere making it smell wonderful. I got a lot of pictures of the gardens and I’ll try to share them soon! Planet Holt is hard to upload efficiently to… I took the night off because I was still tired from the previous night… but we’re headed to Sienna tomorrow!

Italy: Day Four

Tom_Holt — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:10:24 +0000

Lines

Today I took the day for myself. The ladies wanted to “do a little sightseeing and shopping,” which I took to mean too much shopping for my taste. So I got up earlyish and took a look at a map.

The first thing that I wanted to do was get to David, but by the time I got there, there was a huge line that didn’t seem to be moving. I didn’t feel like waiting in line for a long time so I skipped it and headed south.

The Duomo is supposed to be the best thing in Florence, and it does have a beautiful facade. It could use a good scrubbing though. I had to wait in line for probably 20 minutes to get in the Duomo, but it was moving the whole time. The inside of it was massive. Huge. Still, it wasn’t really decorated at all so it didn’t take to long to get in and out.

You can also climb to the top of the Duomo for views of the city from 100 meters up, but I had to wait in another damn line. This one wasn’t really moving at all and I ended up in it for like an hour. At the back of the line a group of American girls were debating whether or not to go up to the top or go to the David. I figured the wait would be better with them in line, so I told them the David line was worse. It worked for a while, but they weren’t willing to wait for the whole line. They chose to climb the tower next to the church with 80 meter views and no line. I only wanted the best.

The view from the top was amazing and I would wait in that line again!

Stop three for the day was the Ufrizze—the world famous art gallery here. I’d never heard of it. Still, it was supposed to be amazing (Michelangelo, Donatello, Rafael… When the ninja turtles are involved you know its good.) This line was another hour and a half, but there were plenty of people to complain with. It is really amazing how many Americans there are here. It is hard to believe we travel this much. I’m sure it’s equally spread between more nationalities, but it does seem like there are a lot here.

The museum was ok. My back hurt from carrying my bag around all day and standing in line, so that made me hurry through a little bit. There were a million people in the museum and I don’t know anything about art, so not a big loss there. I really wish I had a guide walking around with me. I try to listen in on the other English speaking guides and they always make what you’re looking at much more interesting.

After a couple hours taking in beauty, I was in the mood for a little wine. (It’s Italy…) I stopped by a liquor store and picked up a bottle of cheap wine and a cheap corkscrew. When I got to my hostel, I tried to open it, but the corkscrew broke when I tried to lift it up. I was furious, but the hostel had another one so I was able to get the wine bottle open. Once I had killed the bottle and had all my internet withdrawal cured (I finally got the password!), I headed over to Lizzy’s apartment to meet up with the ladies. We played some games then headed out to a bar. The bar they brought us to was a cool place that served beer in giant mugs. I got a few pictures of them, but they are on Christine’s camera so I haven’t been able to look at them yet. Playing at the bar was a decent Beetles cover band. We took off from here relatively early to try to get to bed.

Italy: Day Three

Tom_Holt — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:52:43 +0000

I set the alarm this morning for 6:40 am. When I turned on the TV, I found out that there was an earthquake a little north of Rome sometime during the night. I didn’t feel it myself, but I did survive my second quake! (The first one being the one in southern Illinois a couple of years ago.) After a shower, I headed over to the train station to meet the girls. The station is between my hostel and her apartment, so that made it easy.

The tickets to Venezia (Venice) were expensive at €72 for the round trip, but I figured when else am I going to have the opportunity? I got on the train just a bit before it left as I hadn’t found the ladies yet. We finally met when they jumped on the same car I was on. They didn’t get the round trip, as apparently you can get regional tickets that are slower, but cost a lot less. They got the express for the way there because it was so much faster.

The train ride was rough because they only gave us standing seats. I guess it was too full even for my individual ticket. Still, I think I did manage some sleep sitting on the floor between cars.

Venezia is out on an island. You have to go seemingly a couple miles across the sea before you get there on the train. There’s wood in the bay to designate where boats are supposed to go, like highway markers.

When we got to Venezia we headed to the Piazza San Marco via a water taxi. If you didn’t know, Venezia is a city built on water. There’s a large river running down the middle and a large system of canals cutting through the rest of the city. We took the river snaking through the city until the plaza. After offloading and a few pictures we entered the Piazza and toured the Basillica di San Marco. It was not my favorite church. It is covered in huge mosaics, which I suppose is impressive if you’re into that. I think paintings and carvings are much more impressive. Next, we worked our way out to the square and took more pictures of the thousands of columns that surround the area.

Our original plan was to take the taxi to the square and wonder back to the train station. This turned out to not take nearly as long as we had thought, so when we were about a quarter of the way in only a few minutes, we decided to change plans. Lizzy and Katie (Lizzy’s roommate) wanted to stop to get some food. Christine, Annelise and I didn’t want to take the time for this and we didn’t want to spend the money, so we decided to split up.

After finding a quick bite to eat, the ladies decided to do more shopping, and I decided to bail on them to explore more of the city. I managed to get lost without a map, which was a lot of fun. I had no idea where I was going, but eventually ended up by the train station. From here I had about a half an hour until I had to meet up with everybody again so I started to forge a new path back to the meeting area. I got lost again, but eventually worked my way back to the bridge we were meeting at just on time. The dining ladies ended up being late, so I win. (My navigational theories were not tested here as I deliberately chose new ways to go. Once I did run into where I had been I was back in a few minutes.)

I had broken out the travel book again and suggested that we go to the Doge Palace, which they recommended. Katie and Lizzy took a pass on this (to go shopping…), but Christine and Annelise were in, so we split up again! We took some pictures by the sea overlooking some other giant buildings in the distance and took in the fresh sea smell of the area. I forgot to mention that it ended up being about 22 C (75 F) and sunny. It was beautiful weather. Once Christine (Dodge) had a picture with her building (Doge), the ladies had to take off for their train. I had another hour and fifteen minutes after them, so I went into the Palace.

While expensive again, the Palace was amazing. It had a great courtyard with massive statues, and beautiful marble everywhere. The Doge’s (Mayor of Venezia) quarters were alright, but the city chambers and senate were glorious. The most impressive part was a massive room that I think could’ve easily held a football field. This was where all something or other in the city, regardless of their wealth met every Sunday to vote on policy. I think it was designed to hold 2000+ people, and I could believe it. On one of the walls is the largest oil painting in the world. This broke off into another, slightly smaller but still huge, room. At this point I was worried about making my train, so I quickly cut through the rest of the palace. If you ever make it to Venezia, you should spend at least three hours there. I just wish I could’ve had more time there. It took a good hour to speed through the suggested route at the place.

I love Italy, but I think I like traveling in the UK more. There are bars and pubs that are easy to grab a pint at. It really shouldn’t be difficult to find one, but I had trouble in Venezia. I could’ve just stopped at a restaurant, but that’s just not a pub. The bars do serve beer, but it’s weird sitting down at them as they serve gelato and other food too.

Throughout the day everyone of us got a call from our parents, worried about us dying in the earthquake. Mom and Dad were last. Well played! I would’ve sent an email or called, but I have no money left on my phone, and I don’t have the password to the wireless in the hostel yet. Sorry ’bout that.

Thanks for reading!

Italy: Day Two

Tom_Holt — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:17:15 +0000

I tried to wake up early today because we had planned on meeting at 12. I thought that was late, but when the alarm went off, then went off again, I reset it for an hour or so later. I was really tired from the lack of sleep the previous day. I had planned on stopping by a museum that I saw on the way to the hostel last night about Galileo, but sleep took precedence.

After another shower, I headed over to Lizzy’s place at around 11. I took the entire twenty minute walk without a map or directions, proving once again that I can’t get lost in a place I’ve been before. Mom and Dad will reluctantly attest to this. I was still there early, so I started wondering around the area where she lived. I found a ton of great statues, buildings, and shops, but I had no idea what they were. I tried to get some pictures of all this, and I’ll get those up soon. Turns out they were all quite famous.

At 12, I texted the ladies, but they told me they’d be another forty-five minutes. I decided to grab a panini and took wondered around some more before finally meeting them outside their place at 1ish. We went to grab some more food, as they hadn’t eaten yet.

The rest of the day we wandered around the city going to both of the markets and spending lots of time at them. I was fairly bored at these, but we’re here for a bit of time and we did get to see a lot of the city. We’re planning on doing the more touristy things later in the week. I was amazed at the number of shops and things to buy in the markets. Four blocks long and branching, they were pretty impressive.

We did stop to get some gelato, which is not only everywhere in Firenze, but absolutely delicious. It is their own ice-cream. If you’re here it will be hard to resist anyway, but you should absolutely grab a cup or two of it.

It was amazing how many Americans were here. I don’t know if there were that many, or if they just stood out by speaking English, but they were seemingly everywhere. We’re also easy to pick out.

I was wearing my Jägermeister shirt (That I got free at a bar…) today mostly because its one of the few warm weather shirts that I have. I was aware that it was ridiculous the whole day, but on the way back to the hostel, some Italian people stopped me and complimented me on the shirt. I was pretty happy about it.

Let’s go Michigan State! God, I hate the Tar Heels. Don’t you love how everybody hates the Big Ten? When will it stop? I guess when we win again…