Live from Switzerland...

Allright, good to hear from all of you. At this point Ive been writing mostly about waht Ive been doing but it is equally important at this juncture to comment on the people with whom Ive journeyed. Briefly:

Merrick - aka Ricky or Mozart, my roommate and all around great kid, a lot like Webby from freshman year, computer science guy, long hair, that kid who wears hiking boots daily

Eric - aka Big Sexy, tall frat kid, sprained his ankle playing international soccer match, talks like he just woke up 24/7

Jared - fat like me but actually Jewish, spent 73624138 billion at Prada, hates everything, very entertaining

Jason - one time smoked a pack of cigarettes before dinner, wears dress shirts with the chest hair sticking out

Diane - aka Beijing, Korean and possibly lesbian, pertends to like my indie music so much so that I made up a band and she claimed to have seen them - twice

Mike - dates a girl named Kaya, loves to listen to Aqua with me - yes the same band that sang barbie girl, probably the best cd ever

Kaya - alternates between hating life and loving mike, looks like a pirate, came from some European country

Rebecca - aka Pig Vomit, has bangs that crawl down her face like 56 inches, cant hold her pee and makes the bus stop every five minutes

Stacy - aka S.Carter, curly hair, wears a Where's Waldo-esque shirt every other day

Laurel - aka Butterfield, nice, but too boring to discuss, picture a girl named Laurel and thats it

Brian - aka Party Boy, tried to scale our hotel in Florence at four in the morning like Spiderman

Ted - aka Teddy Rockspin or Teddy the Culture Queen, nice kid, add, pertends to know everything about landmarks, sculptures, oxygen, anything he can find

Jean - black girl who is inexplicably thirty-two and "wants a Spanish man"

Kim - eats plain pizza and vanilla ice cream every day

Inessa - aka Moscow, aka ACDC - looks like the lead singer of aforementioned band, onetime sat at expensive restaraunt in Florence walked into the other room and proceeded to forrege for salt in pepper in the cabinets, takes pictures of herself with random inanimate objects that are not scenic i.e. mailboxes, gets lost daily, wears no clothes ever, claims to have done eveything youve ever done...three times

Zach - his real name, like on birth certificate is Zach Morris, cool kid, drinks whiskey

Nick - one time he stayed up past his bed time, but that was a long time ago

Paul - professor, saw him drinking beer at Hooters last night - I was also drinking beer at Hooters

Rusty - aka Restee, bus driver, speaks no english, once douced the bus in gasoline by acciden while attempting ot fill the tank, feeds pigeons incessantly, backs up without reason, looks angry while eating

There are aparently three more but I cant remember who they are.

Hope all is well, just wanted to give you guys a taste, Switzerland is beautiful...finally beer exists, everything costs 348759803 dollars, hotel has a balcony and private river, breakfast consists of toast only, met a kid from San Diego who goes snowboarding here by himself, ate at a rotating restararunt 14,000 feet up in the Swiss Alps that was used in a James Bond movie, exits on the highway are called Ausfahrts, that's funny.

Love and miss you all.

Briefly...Switzerland

This is by far the most beautiful place I have ever seen. Balcony again...Touring the Swiss Alps tomorrow...two kids have sprained ankles...played five on five soccer Team USA vs. local kids in some park and lost one nil in an epic battle...sweat like an Indian...love and miss you all...Pat GET THE TICKETS

Venice...and missing the bus

First of all, thanks to all of you for contributing. Its good to hear from everyone along the way.

Venice is amazing! Everyone hates me and my roomate Merrick because we got a balcony in the first hotel...this time we arrived only to find that again we are the only ones with a balcony, oh, and a private rose garden with table and chairs, and free internet, and a kitchen - none of which is possessed even by our professor.

We took our first test, it was like 74392 questions long and we only had an hour, but it was relatively easy. Last night we took a boat to Venice just in time for the professor to take us to a pub to watch the Champions League soccer match between Liverpool and AC Milan which is supposedly the most important thing in the world. I have a terrible confession here: I enjoyed it. In fact I might like soccer. People were insane. The fans had to fly into separate airports and there were 10,000 police in Istanbul just for the game. The bar was crazy. Liverpool, a huge underdog on a cinderella run went down three nothing and then came back with three second half goals before winning on penalty kicks. Some of us missed the first half though because we had wine and cake overlooking the ocean as a string quartet played. After the bar we kicked it back to the garden for an after-party and may I emphasize that good wine is cheap here. This is where, sorry mom, Merrick and I learned important lesson number two: SET YOUR ALARM. We were not the first kids to miss the bus on the trip, but you cant get anywhere from Venice, so unlike the others who missed excursions on land, the professor told us it was okay and not to bother (hes cool about things like that). Instead he suggested some places to go for the day and we actually read ahead to impress him. According to the other kids, they now hate us more, because the professor didnt even care and in fact apologized to the rest of the group because I guess their trip sucked! We lucked out again.

Special Notes -

Mom - In case youve noticed Ive been spending like 50 euro a day on food alone. Sorry, I only had that one expensive meal by accident and everything else is sandwhiches that cost like 10 a peice. Not to mention its 88 degrees here and we walk 8 miles a day so I buy a bottle of water every half hour. (I smell like shit.) Dont even worry about me missing the excursion for the morning. REALLY. In fact, we got to tour the churches and museums here and class is going well. Sorry I havent called. Venice doesnt believe in phones, so Ill call for like a half hour once I get to Switzerland.

Random - Venice smells like shit. It is apparently common for Italian women to date men half their age and mount them in public squares. Once again, no breakfast. We have three TV channels expressly devoted to the WWF. You can buy candles celebrating Pope John Paul at the same stand as an apron with a large penis on it.

Steve - Enjoy, heard thats a good game. Hope the weather straightens out and you can utilize the Proulxs grilling as well. Tell Dave I said hello.

Pat - Nice maneuver around paying more rent. Stew is underrated. Hope the job is going well.

Nicole - I love you and I miss you. I will try and find a way to call but it is an uphill battle in Venice. Merrick says hello.

Europe pt. 3 the legend continues

Patrick, yes it is true I have no followers of this blog, but apparently my mom reads it every ten minutes so Im glad you joined in. Good to hear about the tools in Chicago and about the relative distance to Iowa.

Monday - toured Gucci and Prada, Gucci was amazing, they cut the leather with a fine stream of water to make perfect edges, interesting

Today - made lunch with Italys equivalent to Emerill in a $4 billion Italian villa on a mountain that made the white house look like shit, the wine was more expensive than a night in our hotel, which by the way has a balcony, also saw Michelangelos David

Random Notes: You can only buy one beer at a time in this country, not even a six pack...Our busdriver smells like popcorn...people here do not eat breakfast, but they do hang skinned goats in storefronts that may or may not drip strange fluid onto the floor as you pass them...accidentally spent 60 Euros on dinner due to a misunderstanding, learned very important lesson in the process (ps, I thought the meal was 15...mom, Ill explain later)...I havent bought a damn thing yet...tomorrow nighte Venice

love you all

Briefly...

Today we walked around 68234654 miles whils some guy the professor is friends with inexplicably paraded us through ancient seminaries and lectured us on the progression of three dimensional art in the context of religion. I took 12 pictures of buildings. The people on the trip are cool as shit. My roomate Merrick reminds me of Corey Webster from freshmen year. Hes a great kid and the guys on the trip are cool. Tomorrow to Prada and Gucci. The city is beautiful, the weather is hot, baby I miss you, mom I love you and Im sure the gift certificate is either in my room or in my car. Love you all.

First News From Europe...

Allright...First of all these keyboards are really messed up and I cant type for shit. Flights were good except about an hour and a half into the flight from JFK to Brussels the pilot got on the intercom and asked in five different languages if there was a doctor on board which I previously thought only occurred in movies. Not to mention that the perfect time for a medical crisis is thirty thousand feet above a sea lion with no land in either direction for 1000 miles. Upon arriving here in Florence I immediately realized that all Europeans are skinny, uberfashionable, and drive tiny mopeds at the speed of sound. So I tucked my imitation yellow polo shirt into my jeans and waddled out onto the streets in an effort not to fall asleep. Florence is amazing. Equally amazing is the fact that I somehow discovered a sense of direction that I have been lacking for the first twenty years of life, and found my way downtown, through the merchant quandrant, past many statues of naked men, and back to this internet cafè which is conveniently located in back of my hotel. A note on the hotel by the way, at least for this night I have my own bathroom, balcony overlooking the townsquare (complete with a little table and chair set) and a television that has one hundred channels, 56 of which are the same, and 9 of which are devoted entirely to soccer. I also managed to buy a hot sandwich and a beer for less than 6 euro and finish it off with some gelato. I also found my way to be able to purchase a postcard AND stamp. The only real issue is how to make international phone calls. Baby, if you are reading this and I havent figured it out yet Im terribly sorry and Im trying like no other. Talk to you all soon, all is well!

Europe...

This blog will now serve as a temporary journal of sorts for my month-long excursion overseas. I will be arriving in Brussels tomorrow and Florence later that afternoon. Take care everybody!