Roma

This past weekend I, along with two friends (Nico and Shannon), went to Rome for a few days. We also met up with our friend Todd while we were there. (He was there visiting a friend and his girlfriend was flying in too) We took the overnight train on Thursday night, saving some money on a flight. Well, this was an adventure. The train left at about 11:30 PM and arrived in Rome at 7ish. This was a nightmare. There were no beds, and about 6 people in every little car. There were hordes of Middle Eastern men that were standing/sitting in the hallways who were trying to sneak free rides on the train. Every time the police would check for tickets, they would all run off the train, down some cars and then jump back on. They talked, joked, played music and kept all of us up and annoyed for a good 7 hours or so. I maybe had an hour of sleep throughout the whole ride. I just listened to music and sat there. Once we finally arrived in Rome, we went down into the metro to look at a map and find our bearings. We got directions from somenody in the metro and went to try and find the girls' hostel. (I was staying in a different place because I didn't decide I was going on this trip until after the girls had already booked everything. I stayed with Todd in a hostel the first night and by myself in another hostel the second night) We took the metro, walked a little bit and eventually found the place. The problem was that there was a problem with the pipes and so nobody could stay there. The girls had to move to a different hostel that was all the way across the city. It wasn't that big of a deal, just a hassle. They checked in and we put our stuff away. We then walked around for a little bit and ran into Todd. He and I went to check into our hostel shortly after that. The rest of the first day was spent walking around and seeing many things. This trip was very much so one of sightseeing. I don't think I have ever walked so much in a short amount of time. We saw the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the monument for Vittorio Emanuele II and a couple of very nice Plazas. That night I went to stay in a hostel that I had booked for myself and it was awesome. I had my own room and a massive, comfortable bed. It was a little expensive but so worth it for that night of peaceful, undisturbed sleep.

The second day that we were there we woke up and met at a very interesting basilica that was situated in downtown Rome. We then walked a lot through the city to make it to the Trevi Fountain, where we also decided to pick up a nice gelato. From the Fountain, we then walked to the Spanish Steps. We took many pictures from the top of the steps. The rest of the afternoon we spent in the Vatican Museum, touring through hundreds of artifacts, gazing at the Sistine Chapel ceiling and taking many more pictures. Afterwards, we walked around St. Peter's Square for a bit and then walked around a lot more of the city.

The third day, we woke up early and headed to St. Peter's Basilica in order to check it out and tour the top. It was an incredible view of the Square and of the city and it happened to be an absolutely beautiful day. We were leaving in the afternoon so we did not have a whole lot of time to accomplish a lot, but we still did the best we could. We walked to the Borghese park and decided that we would rent a surrey (http://www.google.it/imgres?q=surrey+bikes&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&qscrl=1&nord=1&rlz=1T4GGNI_enUS447US448&biw=745&bih=668&tbm=isch&tbnid=WhpvZ5ZefBHeMM:&imgrefurl=http://www.surreycompany.com/surrey.htm&docid=UFudRq2TlJv1FM&imgurl=http://www.surreycompany.com/images/DSC00683.JPG&w=247&h=262&ei=gJx4T-rtI9DUsgbsm9CtBA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=112&vpy=145&dur=113&hovh=209&hovw=197&tx=126&ty=107&sig=108811358009964459993&page=1&tbnh=145&tbnw=137&start=0&ndsp=9&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0) and ride it around the park for an hour. It was so much fun (and it felt great driving again, even if it didn't have a motor!). We then came back and got the girls' stuff from their hostel and headed towards the train station. We decided to hit a church on the way out and it was very nice. We then parted ways and came back to this lovely city. This past week we went on a cuisine and culture trip but that post will come later. Also, during this spring break, a couple of friends and I are going to London and Ireland. It's a great way to spend my birthday too!

Luke

My "Sensational" Weekend

So, this past weekend was one of the craziest experiences of my entire life. A lot of us from the program had planned this trip a very long time ago. It was one of our first priorities. The goal for this trip was to go to Sensation White http://www.sensation.com/belgium. This concert took place in a small town, about an hour outside of Brussels, called Hasselt. (In Belgium) There was very little to do in this small town, but they did have a massive arena to house everybody that would attend the concert. (20,000 people ended up going to Sensation) Our flight landed on Friday night in Charleroi and so we had to take a taxi ride. (There were seven of us) The taxi ride was a very funny start to a very fun and interesting weekend. Our taxi driver was a very interesting man, driving us to Hasselt at an average speed of 90 miles an hour or so. It might have been even higher, except that he decided to stop at a gas station to have a smoke and talk to some other taxi friends. We decided this was a good opportunity to try some Belgian beer. We bought a six pack and hung out in the car until the taxi driver was ready to get us to our hotel. Once we arrived in Hasselt, we checked in to the Holiday Inn Express-Hasselt. Now, the only person who wasn't the "nicest person I have ever met" in this entire town, just happened to work the front desk at our hotel. We were planning to have more people stay in our room, but we only booked a twin. The manager was not very nice and wouldn't let all of us stay there. After some debating, some people ended up getting a room across the street for Friday and then on Saturday they would be able to stay with us. (Nobody in the hotel would be worrying about where people were staying) So after we figured everything out on Friday, 5 of us guys left to go get something to eat. The only place that happened to be open was a little place called Hasselt Fried Chicken. It was absolutely delicious. The owner was very nice to us and kept the place open late so that could finish our meal. Afterwards, we headed down the street to a little bar to get a beer. We asked the bartended what his favorite beer was and he served us this beer that was voted the world's best beer in 2010. I can see why. This was probably the best beer I have ever had. It was delicious. The best part about it was that each of us had one beer and there were 5 of us, and the total cost was only 14 euro. In Milan, each beer would average about 5 euro each. Another example of how everybody in Belgium is extremely nice, a man at the bar bought us a round so we decided to stay and have one more before turning in for the night. The next day we decided that we would do something more interesting than just sitting around all day, waiting for Sensation. The event did not take place until 9:00 PM (we ended up going around 10:30 PM) A couple of us decided to board a bus and go to the Netherlands for a few hours. Before we boarded the bus, we ate a burger at a little sandwich shop across the street from the station. The burger had "cocktail" sauce on it, which sounds strange, but was one of the best burgers I have ever had. This sauce was not normal cocktail sauce, but I am very curious as to find out just what kind of sauce it is. We rode the bus for an hour until we reached the town of Maastricht. The busride was very interesting, on account of a man who was very intoxicated, to the point where we stopped on a street and he urinated on some old man's mailbox. Poor old man. The Netherlands is another great and friendly place. The little town square was filled with people walking around, eating food from all over the world and enjoying the day. There were tulips everywhere (but no wooden shoes that I saw). The weather was a little typical of what we imagined it would be-a little rainy, gloomy and about 50 degrees. It was still very nice and we enjoyed a very relaxing afternoon before, what would be, one of the craziest nights I have ever known. So we arrived back in Hasselt after another long busride and hung out in the hotel for a while. At this point, more and more people were showing up to the city and our hotel, many of them dressed in all white. We had many people in our room, spending the last couple of hours before the party. Everybody was so excited for the night and there were so many people from our program there. The time for us to leave for the concert was finally upon us and we all headed out in a giant herd of IES students. I was wearing a white button-up shirt, tucked into a pair of white jeans and white shoes. The outfit actually ended up being pretty cheap. (The pants and the shoes are still there. They were beyond the point of return) We arrived at Sensation, walked in and were immediately blown away. There was a giant lotus-shaped stage were the DJ's were set up that would rise and fall with the music. There were giant light-up balls on the ceiling that would also rise and fall and the lights would do all kinds of things. At times, you would get the feeling that the floor was rising with the way that everything would move up and down. We danced, along with 20,000 other people from about 10:30 to about 6:30 in the morning. After everything was done, we walked back to the hotel and passed out for maybe an hour or so. We then woke up and spent the day in Hasselt. We ate some Belgian waffles and waited for our taxi to the airport and then waited at the airport for our plane. (That is where we also bought some chocolate) The rest of the trip was spent trying to come home, falling in and out of sleep on buses, trains and finally,once reaching home, passed out. I am still trying to catch up on some sleep from the weekend, but it was so worth it. I have not been great at keeping up with the blog lately, but I promise I will try a little better. Midterm week was crazy (I will write another post about that) and I am heading to Rome tomorrow with two lovely ladies (I will right about that too). Now, time for some sleep.

Luke

This Past Week

Life here just keeps on rolling and it is never a dull time. For my first class of the week (Italian 350) we went to a theater to see a concert. The performers were a group of middle-aged men singing Beatles songs and other music from the 60's and 70's. We had the chance to go because the lead singer/guitar player was one of the people that works in our program's office. His name is Walter and he is awesome. (http://www.waltermuto.it/public/) It was a really fun concert because the rest of the audience was filled with Italian middle school kids that knew every word to all of these English songs. On Tuesday I went on aonther field trip to the house of Alessandro Manzoni. Manzoni was a very famous author in Italian history and is credited with being one of the true founders of the modern Italian language. His house has been turned into a museum and is located in the center of the city. It was a very interesting place to visit and more interesting to have a tour in Italian. (Not much room for tuning out) I would have had to go back to the house on Wednesday for a different class but my professor told me that I wouldn't have to go again. (free class period!) I instead walked around the Duomo square and did a little shopping. It was the end of fashion week and there was still a lot of activity in the fashion district. (Not to mention gorgeous women walking all over the place) Last night I stayed in because my throat has been feeling a bit scratchy the last couple of days. It has been so incredibly nice out the last few days. Today we decided to walk around the town and do a little shopping. We went to a big store that had all of the big brands in it. (It is called the Rinascente) We were all wearing shorts and tshirts with sunglasses. The Italians were staring at us all day long because they are still wearing jackets and scarves. One of the highlights of the day was when we went into the Gucci store. They had just opened this store about a week ago, so they were "celebrating". They served us glasses of champagne while we looked around. We all felt quite rich. This weekend is a longer break than usual so I plan and getting a lot of things done. We have a couple of trips coming up in the near future so those will be pretty awesome. I put up a couple of pictures from the last couple of weeks.

Luke