When in Rome: Timmy Knudsen

I don’t really know how Irish I am. I’m Irishtalian, which is a combination that mostly leads to people thinking I look German.

For the final stop on our never-ending spring break adventures, we made it to Dublin, Ireland. 

The city of Dublin is one that I highly recommend visiting. Its different. It kind of seems like London, but its not as big, and its not as fashionable. Its home to the famous Trinity College, Guinness Factory and Jameson Factory.

We’ll get back to the latter two later, but Trinity College completely made me feel like I was back at school. I think that’s why its so famous in Europe, it seems completely like an American University. It has a quad, sports fields, student dressed in sweats… It kind of even made me feel a bit home sick.

The Guinness Factory and Jameson Factory may as well be blended into one topic. The lesson we learned here was this: the Irish take their alcohol very seriously. They were both cool experiences, and Dardi and myself were even certified as expert whiskey drinkers… I’m sure my mom and dad are proud!

Grant, on the other hand, did not get certified… Poor guy.

On Saturday we decided to take a tour of the Irish countryside. This was the best decision I think we have ever made. The countryside was the most ridiculously green and beautiful land that I have ever seen. In italy the sheep are dirty (grey) but in Ireland, they look like they are straight from the movies.

We stopped at castles:

The highlight of the trip was the “Cliffs of Moher” outside of Galway, Ireland. You haven’t experienced beauty in land until you’ve seen these cliffs. They legitimately do not look real at all:

We even bumped into friends from U of I while we were there! (the world is becoming crazy small..):

Everything we saw that day was spectacular. Then it was back to Dublin, to have some fun before we had to say goodbye to Grant (back to Champaign) and return to Rome.

The area in Dublin that we stayed was called “Temple Bar” area and was a lot of fun. There were countless pubs all with great live music. We’re talking throwback 90’s live music. Guaranteed good times…

Me, Grant, Joey (remember from London??), Dardi, and Joey’s brother

Dublin was a great time, and my homeland did not disappoint.

Here’s a quick update of what’s going on right now (May 1): The semester is going away, quickly… Its coming to many as a worry, but I am lucky enough to have a couple extra weeks here with my sister. School is trying to get in the way of fun, but I won’t let it. I’m knocking out as much homework as I can tonight, so that I can celebrate the semester’s closure for the next 12 nights. Exhausting, but necessary… When in Rome (…always a good excuse).

Other news: I’m still deciding about a few other journalism opportunities that have come up for my senior year of college, but I WILL be writing for “Impulse Magazine”… The brand new, coolest publication to hit U of I since whatever the coolest thing at U of I is. I’m very excited. You should see this magazine, its unreal. Picture Rolling Stone for Illini.

And on that note (don’t point out my typos)… 

This is what I look like right now:

Awesome right?

Lets take a step back to Spring Break.

MOROCCO!

After Paris we flew straight into Tangier, Morocco. At this point in the day trip, all was smooth and we were greeted at the airport by Aziz, our Rick Steves recommended tour guide. During the ride from the airport he gave us a bunch of info on Tangier, which is on the northern coast of Africa. Morocco is an islamic nation with a pretty depressed economy. We kept passing the most beautiful undeveloped beaches, and I’m not going to lie… I started to see dollar signs.

We passed palaces owned by the emperor and arab sheiks and then we passed hut after hut. We made a stop past the cave of hercules (supposedly where Europe and Africa de-tatched during Pangea) on an undeveloped beach full of camels… This begins one of the coolest moments of my life—Riding camels on the african coast.

Aziz warned us that it would be an extra cost to ride camels, so we happily prepared ourselves to shell out 50 euro a piece. Turns out, to have the exotic experience of riding a camel on the empty Moroccan coast costs 2 euro… I can’t buy a drink at a club in Rome for under 8 euro, and here I was about to do the coolest thing ever for only 2. Felt weird.

Camels are taller even than you’d expect. But their owner was a nice guy, without teeth, and helped us all up. We rode down to the beach, and as tourists do, took a TON of pictures.

Proof:

We also got to meet a baby camel… which according to our tour guide is a very rare spectacle. Believe it or not this guy (below) is only 7 days old. And baby camels are LOUD. And scary. He sounded like a choking chimpanzee (my apologies, I can’t think of a better simile):

After the camels, our tour continued into town. Downtown Tangier is where we learned that we were NOT in a regular tourist city. The day to day events of the townspeople were all dedicated to their Islamic religion. At one point, Aziz had to go leave us at a restaurant to go pray for an hour. This comment may seem ignorant because I don’t know what they are really doing, but every hour a person at the temple would yell on this speaker to the whole town. It was a crazy experience.

Pictures from town

At the markets:

I don’t want your carpet, its not magic.:

Community oven that locals bring their weekly bread to to cook:

Morocco was an amazing day trip, that was almost A LOT more than a day trip. We had strategically planned our trip to get to Tangier in the morning, and leave in the evening via ferry to Spain.

But the wind was bad, and the ferries were down…

We rushed ourselves to an alternative ferry port around 40 km from town that supposedly was still sailing. Trying to get our tickets… the vibe in this place was that people were trying to escape… the continent. 

It didn’t help that the only television was playing the news (in arabic) on how the U.S. was currently having air raids on fellow north-african nation, Libya. This is a beyond unique situation to find yourself in. I took a picture on the boat and the guard nearly snapped my camera in half… Something was very fishy. Here’s one I got while boarding:

Eventually (five hour delay) the ferry got off for an EXTREMELY choppy ride. Apparently I don’t get seasick, but I’d say about 1 in 5 moroccan’s do… and the scene was gruesome.

It may have been much later, much scarier, and much a better story than expected… but eventually we landed safely in Spain. We ignored our previous reservation, found the nearest hotel and passed out. 

The next morning we all made sure to e-mail and let our parents know we were okay (if only they had known the nights occurrences at the time…) and were heading off to Gibraltar. Gibraltar is a British territory in southern spain. Its home to the rock, home to the monkeys:

They jump right on you… its insane! I’m not a big fan of wild animals, so this was interesting for me. I think I did alright.

The city of Gibraltar felt just like the UK, which was interesting because we were on Coastal Mediterranean. We ate fish and chips there, had the option to pay in the pound, came across accents, it was wild.

Almost as wild as this possible all-nighter is going to be. Homework abroad doesn’t make sense. Or maybe I’ve just lost all of my sense.

Either way, Ireland (homeland part 1) blog will be within the next 80 or so hours.

So friends, family, and random internet viewers… enjoy those 80 (or so) hours

Let’s give this blog thing another shot… I have proven to not be the best blogger, or internet user at that. Once again I had this long blog written out about a week ago, only for it to delete itself because of me leaving the webpage open too long. The amount of anxiety this gave me was quickly cured by some gelato… BUT STILL, I was going nuts. These next few blogs may be more brief because I am going to try my hardest to catch up (a lot has happened since spring break) but I plan on posting a lot of pictures.

We went a lot of places over spring break, and did more than most can imagine in 10 days. My good friend Grant Walther flew in for the festivities all the way from Champaign and Grant along with my typical travel crew (Dardi, Rohan and various others in some cities) all had memories to last a life time.

Let’s start in the city where for many it ends….

#1: Amsterdam

Amsterdam…. What a place. What a vibe. This is the only place I have visited that I have no desire to ever go back to. I definitely had a great time because of the friends I was with, but the city was really strange to me. Its not a Timmy type of city.

Notice anything different about me in this picture?:

I had been busy with my parents the week before, so I put Dardi up to planning our hostel (…mistake). It ended up with six of us in one room, and we basically stayed in a shoe. Not a basketball player sized shoe, but more of an Italian sized shoe. It was a shoe because of its perfect rectangle shape (bedroom) with an ankle (bathroom) and also its smell. There were no windows, and I woke up one night feeling like I was trapped in a coffin. It was definitely the typical study abroad bad hostel experience:

However, we did a few things in Amsterdam that I absolutely loved. The Anne Frank House was probably the coolest museum I have been to in all of Europe. It was interesting because more than a museum, it was actually her real house. They had the originals of a few of her diaries preserved and even the magazine clip outs on the walls of her room were still in place.

Also, the Heineken Factory was an extremely fun time. They take you step by step through making the beer and then lead you to the “Heineken Bar”. This bar is cool because even though you’re there mid-day, you feel like you could be at any crowded bar in any big city on a weekend night. They do an amazing job changing the atmosphere—when you leave, its a strange feeling to walk outside.

Overall this first spring break weekend consisted of a LOT of american food that we missed (pancakes, french fries, burgers) and a lot of me being excited for our next destination….

#2: Paris

Unlike Amsterdam, Paris is my type of city. We all absolutely loved Paris. It was a huge help that we were traveling with my friend from U of I, Tom Kostelny, who has spent a few summers in the city. He got us immediately used to the transportation and took us to spots in the city we possibly would never have found in 2 days.

This here is your Delt service chair, social chair, vice president, secretary and president (from right to left) on top of the Eiffel tower:

We saw all the tourist attractions… and fast. I had heard mixed reviews on the Llouvre, but I appreciated the variety of art it houses more than any other art museum we’ve visited in Europe. Even the architecture of the building was amazing.

Us in front of “The Intervention of the Sabine Women”… Violent painting set in good ol’ Rome:

Of all the attractions… It was the Eiffel Tower that blew me away. I didn’t expect it to at all. We went during the day, and then we went again later for one of the most interesting nights of my life…

The Eiffel Tower is comfortably situated on a ton of very green, very relaxing parks. Therefore, as students of Food and Wine, we felt required to buy some Champagne and make our way to these parks to watch the sunset behind the massive tower. Typical frat guy nightlife…. Right?

While sitting down watching the tower with its lights, out of nowhere this French guy on a bike rode up to us. He had a six-pack of Heineken in his basket and insisted to us that we take turns riding his bike around the tower. Normally, we avoid people with beer as their only obvious belonging, especially if they insist to us to that we do something. But he seemed nice enough, so we all gave in. This is how we met Izzy Quest, the first (and greatest) of our handful of new French friends.

Izzy Quest didn’t speak English, but he didn’t need to. Maybe it was his Heineken or our Champagne, but somehow we got to know him well. We all rode his bike around the tower, which was actually a sweet experience:

Having Izzy in our group led us to meet another group of French students in the parks. The weather was perfect, so we basically hung out there for the whole night. Letting down your guard is the only way to make European friends… And in our minds (believe it or not), the French were the nicest group of national people we have met so far in our European travels.

Us and our new friends:

Just like London, the coolest part about Paris were the different neighborhoods. My favorite by far was ‘Monmarte’ which is built on top of a giant hill. Its a neighborhood of tiny streets filled with art galleries and creperies. It was once home to the studios of Salvatore Dali, Monet, Picasso and Van Gogh. It was also the setting of Moulin Rouge’ and has somehow has kept its strong Parisian vibe.

Us in Monmarte (I have no idea who’s glasses I am wearing this time…)

In Paris I had one of the best nights out I’ve had during abroad, without even stepping foot into a bar. I had the best falafel I can imagine ever having, the crepes were superb and overall… I just loved the city. It is definitely a place I hope to spend more time in in the future.

#3…. TO BE CONTINUED

Here is a sneak peak of the wildest day of my life:

Miss you all, and talk to you soon(er) than you probably expect… Next up: Camels, cliffs, monkeys and a Holiday Inn Express.

This isn’t deja vu… I’ve written this blog before. A couple five-hours ago actually. Turns out, I have too much faith in Italian internet that deserves absolutely no faith—when the blog didn’t load it also deleted.

Let’s just hope this time around my blog is even better! (it may be a little more rushed…)

This blog is all about London—Where I spent 4 nights, 3 days of absolute city love.

I’ll start with the now famous “Abbey Road Delts Pants Down” picture (I think the Beatles would be proud):

Needless to say, that one is getting framed.

We (Me, Alex, Andrew=typical travel crew) got to London late Thursday night via the famous RyanAir budget airlines. We were excited to see a 10 persons custom line in the airport, but that excitement quickly died when this guy that had a passport that was literally written in pen and made out of cardboard slowed things down… a lot. The brits are too friendly for their own good and ended up letting him in after much deliberation.

My sister’s good friend Abby Wilson studied abroad in London when she was my age, and loved it so much that she is back for work, grad school, and her boyfriend Miran. She was kind enough to let us crash at her awesome loft for that first night and then her and Miran took us out on the town Sunday night before our early Monday flight—learning London from real Londoners:

The next morning we checked into our AMAZING hotel in the middle of the city at Trafalgar Square (..thanks priceline):

Friday was a day of being tourists. London is a COOL city. Its cool because its tourist attractions are for the most part sites that have a much superior purpose. Example: Big Ben doesn’t exist to be photographed, it exists because it still houses the whole Parliament. Westminster Abbey is still a place of worship, and Royal Weddings…

On the topic of royal weddings—at one point us guys separated from Kelsey and her friend Torrie. We wanted to take the audio tour of Westminster Abbey and they wanted to keep walking. They got lost, and literally ran into the two princes and Kate Middleton getting out of a mini van to go inside a hotel. There wasn’t many people around, but the one’s that were were supposedly in tears of excitement. But hey, I got to see where the wedding is going to be..

Has anyone seen the movie “V for Vendetta”? Turns out parliament wasn’t bombed..:

Back to why London is a cool city. Its cool because of its neighborhoods. Between Soho, Camden, Covent Garden, Westminster—-you can feel like you’re in a whole different country within minutes of riding the Tube. I don’t think trendy Soho and “posh” Westminster could possibly be any more opposite, yet they are right next to each other.

First evening we went to a pub in Soho for some “bangers” (its like sausage) and meet some very friendly London natives. It was one of their birthdays and they had started the night off early (and aggressively) at this pub. They taught us some english lingo, talked about Glee, and explained to us how they think americans are goofy because a politician like John McCain is still relevant. They were winners on all counts.

Check this one off the tourist photo list:

Later that night we met up with my friend Laura who is studying in London for the semester. I had heard she had made some interesting connections since she had been in London: Dancing at a clubs with soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, pictures of her hanging out with Cee-Lo Green—original singer of “Forget You” from Glee…. You know, typical study abroad stuff… We were very excited to be her tag-alongs for the night.

She brings us to this exclusive club Movida that is having a fashion week party for Seven Jeans. Long story short we get into this club that NOBODY can get into, she brings us to VIP, and the cheapest drink on the menu is a 900 pound (1300$) bottle of Champagne. The most expensive bottle costs $34,000—and we saw people buy it twice. But, we were hanging out with Arab Oil Sheiks and “footballers” so it temporarily felt kind of natural.

Believe me, I think this is all excessive beyond words… But it was very fun to experience for one night. Thanks Laura! (next time I see her we will probably be in Champaign, IL at Kam’s where $15 is an expensive night out)

The next morning we woke up bright and early to get in line to buy some half price theatre tickets. We happily succeed in finding some for ‘Phantom of the Opera’. So we head out to meet up with the U of I—UK study abroad programs who were allowing us to come on their London field trip’s bus tour.

A few delts in front of Buckingham Palace:

After the tour, we do what is supposedly very typical of Londoners. We get fish and chips at a pub and stay there muuuch longer than expected. Oh well, good times.

Phantom of the Opera was fantastic. We weren’t in the last row, we were in the second to last row… But we could see and hear (all that matters).

Outside the theatre:

Sunday we separated. Me and Andrew wanted to go to Tate Modern art gallery, and Alex wanted to tour the Tower of London. Separation is never a good idea when you have Italy phones that won’t work in the UK. Alex never came to our meeting point, and for awhile we thought we’d just see him at the airport to go home… He’s such a stronzo (Italian slang).

Featuring the like of Picasso and Andy Warhol, Tate Modern was my favorite art gallery so far in Europe:

Back to the Alex Dardi Separation. Me and Andrew were freaking out, and the pay phones kept eating our money. It started to rain. It was like a bad joke. We finally found him at ‘top shop’ of all places. I also bought purple pants there. And yes, that’s acceptable in Europe.

Basically, I experienced too much in London to even blog about. I didn’t even mention all the Harry Potter sights we saw/ran into! The bottom line for me was that, tourist attractions or not, I loved the city and I loved the people. I’m already aching to get back, and am plotting out how I can live there for at least a year of my life. 

Crew in Piccadilly Circus:

Big things are happening this week… My parents are coming! Its great timing because I need jeans (rode bikes today… ended up with hole in pants). I’m very excited to see my mom around the Italians that she considers “her people”. 

Hope this blog was a decent enough replacement of the original—We had Unofficial St. Patricks Day (U of I tradition) here in Rome two days ago, I’m going to post a picture tomorrow.

Happy Sunday!

Pre-Blog Note: I just got asked about subscribing to my blog… and it works now, so do it! Just push subscribe at the top and write in your e-mail. Also if you want to see more of my pictures just add me on Facebook (I’m not sure how to do a slideshow on this thing yet…).

Its now Wednesday, which makes me a little more prompt on reporting my past weekends events.. I’m getting there. 

Before I talk about my weekend I think the few days before it are worth mentioning. They weren’t what you may think of as typical school. The fun started last Wednesday when my food and culture class did our first wine tasting at a trendy restaurant in the Testaccio hill neighborhood.

Not in Testaccio…. In a tree.

I am officially a wine snob. Well not officially, but now I have the skills to at least pretend like I am. In the great words of my professor: you don’t just drink a wine (…and apparently its not normal at all to drink it out of boxes… Franzia anyone?).

Step one is sight. I now know how to identify a wine’s age via its shading and tears.

Step two is smell. After swirling the oxygen out of a proper red wine “balloon” glass it is important to identify the wine’s aroma. We used our synesthesia imaginations (think simile) to compare the wine’s aroma to a lazy summer evening or a day hike in the woods. Real goofy, but I suppose I have to do as the Italians do.

Step three is taste. And some of these wines tasted damn good (we’re used to 1 euro bottles…).

Artsy pic:

Two days after this wine tasting we took our talents to a vineyard in the Umbria region of Italy called “Castello delle Regine”. Our teachers told us it was 40 minutes away. It took two hours to get there… This is a perfect example of not being able to take anything italians say seriously.

It was definitely worth the ride. The vineyard is owned by a wealthy Italian attorney (add vineyard owner to my future goal). We spent the day learning about how wine is made and seeing the other departments of the vineyard. They are famous for their San Giovese grapes which go into the famous Brunello di Montelcino. They also farm cows….:

After touring the vineyard we were brought to a restaurant in Umbria for a nice lunch and wine tasting. After being the only one brave enough to pet the cows, I definitely washed my hands before eating.

Vineyard Shot:

The Vineyard visits was definitely one of my coolest days abroad. Our professor, Fedderico, is a food magazine columnist on food and wine—therefore, with his taste, we never eat/drink poorly for class. I may or may not have gotten a nice present for my parents at the vineyard… I guess they’ll have to wait and see.

After the Vineyard we prepped for another weekend of traveling. My usual travel buddies (Delts, best friends Andrew and Alex) were off to Naples, Pompei and Sorrento to see some of the Amalfi. Since I’m excited to be doing Amalfi and staying in Positano with my parents.. I found a new (better???) travel crew and made my way to more wine country.

We left Saturday at the break of dawn for 2 days, 1 night, 3 Tuscan cities. It was a relief to travel with a smaller group (5 people), and it was a very solid group. 

We arrived to our first stop, Siena, around 11 am on Saturday and checked into our bed and breakfast (Classy, right?). To add some excitement, we then rented bikes. I didn’t previously know what to expect from the city, but Siena definitely blew me away:

We went on a biking adventure and looked crazy in a pretty non-tourist destination. It was hot outside, and the city is hilly—I’m pretty sure I got enough exercise to make up for the ZERO that I have done while I have been here.

I took this bike pic myself (is it skill…or is it danger?):

After a hot Tuscan day of biking all we needed were showers and naps, then we were good and ready to see Siena at night.

We got some big Peroni’s and did as the Sienese do… Sat in their famous Il Campo (where they hold the horse race) with all the other people our age and took in the scenery.

Bridget, Laurie, Kelsey and myself (only missing Danny) in Il Campo:

We didn’t get to dinner until 10 pm, which I have learned is more of a Spanish dinner time than an Italian one (~8:30 pm) but the restaurant definitely embraced us… 

Our two waiters were both from Naples and asked us about last weekends Napoli v Roma soccer game. My friend Kelsey had gone to the game and sang a song she learned that was blatantly called “Odio Napoli” (I hate Naples). They thought it was hysterical and got real comfortable with us after this.

We stayed at dinner until around Midnight:30 drinking wine with our waiters and some restaurant regulars. One of our waiters served the famous traveler Rick Steves about a month ago and promised us he is going to be featured in next years “Rick Steves: Tuscany” edition.

The group:

From here we went to a bar that one of our waiters had recommended to us. Caffe Corso is a cappucino bar by day, and open door dj club by night. We hung out with a lot of Italians, probably more than we have in Rome during our whole trip. Siena is by no means a small town (I’d say pretty Wheaton-sized), but this trip definitely showed us how comforting a small town nightlife can be compared to that that is Rome’s.

We woke up early on Sunday, had the breakfast that was included with our beds (didn’t realize that’s how bed and breakfasts worked… BONUS) and were to make our way to the famous Tuscan hill town of San Gimignano. But then we missed our train. So we quick walked back up the hill to Siena, got distracted by a cool clothing store, and all made purchases. Then we made our next train. It was bound to happen once.

Turns out the train to San Gimignano goes to a town called Poggibonsi because San Gimignano is waaay up in the hills, surrounded by absolute countryside. We split a taxi bus with some students from Spain, and I quickly realized that my spanish speaking skills have decreased drastically since I started learning Italian. Next semester at U of I can hopefully fix this. The countryside around San Gimignano is the epitome of the romantic Tuscan Countryside that everyone fantasizes about. 

For half a day we explored this Medieval Town and saw everything it had to offer…. Including a Carnevale celebration parade.

San Gimignano is like no city I’ve ever seen before, and I’m very happy I made it there. I’m kind of liking hitting up a few destinations that are atypical to the regular study abroad student. 

San Gimignano:

Before going home to Rome, we stopped by Pisa for 1 hour… Legitimately we were only there for 60 minutes. This was enough time to see the leaning tower, take a few pictures (it was dark so we kind of failed…) and get a falaffel for dinner.

Yeah I know that picture kind of stinks… But you get the idea. Picture it in daylight with a camera that wasn’t low on battery. The tower was amazing! Trust me.

I really enjoyed this one night, 2 day trip. I felt like a traveler, which is a way different feeling than that of a tourist. My travel group was great, and it won’t be the last time our group of five goes somewhere together.

Kara?!?:

Right now, I’m debriefing from a day of two tests. Who knew we would have tests abroad??? I know you don’t feel bad for me.

I leave for London tomorrow and am beyond excited. It was the number one city I wanted to visit, and the city I almost spent this whole semester in instead of Rome. I am almost as excited to go to London as I was the day before I left for Rome. The fact that we made a last minute bid on priceline.com and got a 4-star hotel in the middle of Soho for 65% off makes it an absolutely perfect situation. I’ve listened to strictly Beatles music all week and am going to watch Sherlock Holmes on my computer tonight.

Bloody good blog to come….

I’ve been really bad at this blogging thing as of late. My time has been consumed with planning trips, trying to figure out if we have homework (its a harder task than it sounds) and walking around Rome aimlessly. Still eating a lot of gelato, still embracing the nightlife and still trying to meet Berlusconi (who as of today is being taken to court, Italian politics might get reeeal interesting pretty soon). They REALLY don’t like him here. They also protest a lot, and even though U of I made me sign something saying I’d never partake in any sort of political-based rally overseas. This was number 2/3 I found myself joining in. Switch that—For the sake of my academic standing, let’s not say I was trying to join, lets just say I got lost:

Topic change, crazy fact I just learned: My bus stop on the way to school has some random ruins that we call the “cat farm” because of all the wild cats that live in it. Turns out this “cat farm” is the sight where Julius Caesar was assassinated by Brutus and the other senators. Only in Rome could this sight exist without constant attention.

Two Fridays ago I finally went to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum!! We went for my class “Layers of Rome”. My professor who teaches at Oxford in England (and is just look Snape from Harry Potter) was definitely a good tour guide. Check me:

The Colosseum may be a “touristy” destination, but now I understand why so many people want to see it. It is unreal. Same with the Roman Forum. Out of all the history I’ve learned in my life, the amount that happened within half a mile radius of the Historic Area of Rome is astounding. From Caesar to Gladiators to Vestal Virgins to the Rape of the Sabines to Hercules’ last task to Romulus and Remus and many more—its all right there, super wild.

Crazy fact #2: They used to fill the Colosseum up with water like a giant pool and have boats battle eachother.

Two days later I left for Florence with most of my group. Our train was at 6:30 in the morning so we got there pretty early and had the whole day to explore and spend one night. The city was very cool, even just to walk around in. We saw Michelangelo’s David (which I illegally took a picture with):

I have know previous education on art, but I can easily say that the David was one of the coolest things I have seen in my life. All the way down to the detail in the veins in his arm, the statue is perfect.

From the David we went to see Florence’s Duomo and then to the Uffixi Gallery. I enjoyed both, but maybe am not enough of an art enthusiast to enjoy the Uffixi-which is one of Europe’s biggest art galleries. I knew I was around the priceless work of genius’ like Garibaldi, Da Vinci, Carravaggio… Yet I couldn’t stop thinking about how good the Florentine style of balsamic vinegar was.

For the night, my roommates and I stayed with my good friend Kelsey Simpson from high school. Two of my roommates in Rome were friends with two of her Florence roommates (who all go to Indiana) so it worked out perfectly. They were great hosts:

I had previously heard that Florence has no nightlife, but this was definitely proved wrong…

The club we went to was called “Space”. The club’s gogo dancers (male and female) were dressed as football players. The guy dancer had a helmet on, but no shirt. I don’t know why anyone would play football in this attire. Seriously though, the club seemed like it was straight from the “Stefan” skit on Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update”. If you haven’t seen this skit, you should.

Wild-card Timmy move: I left Florence having a bought a new messenger bag that cost more than my whole trip. Its some of the best leather in the world, and I couldn’t pass it up. While I’m in Rome, it will help me look more European. While I’m in law school it will help me look more scholarly. While I’m in my senior year at U of I, it will help give my friends something to joke about. I don’t have a picture yet—but trust me… Its sweet.

I highly recommend Florence as a must-go city to anyone coming to Italy, even if just for a day. My camera battery died half way in so its not my best picture trip, but this one does the job:

During the most recent weekend, I stayed in Rome and hosted my U of I roommates Ben, who is studying in Granada (white scarf) and Barry, studying in Milan (green scarf). My good friend Jenna also came from Granada. Barry kind of moved in with us and stayed from Wednesday-Monday. We think he ate all of our other roommates’ nutella… All of first semester this year he ate my hummus, so I won’t put it past him:

I enjoyed staying in Rome for a weekend, and it was also good to have my friends. We tried out a few new restaurants, and showed them all the sights that we could fit into their short stay. I’m starting too think that there is no end to the list of sights worth seeing in Rome.

We had a great time and I am extremely surprised that we didn’t get any noise complaints from the apartment building. Here’s to hoping that they haven’t just not told us yet.

I got to see how impressed and shocked my friends were at everything they saw in Rome, and it reminded me not to ever get used to the beauty. Always need to appreciate it.

Side-note: Dogs are cooler here:

List of day to day things going on: I finally got a perfect on an Italian quiz. My apartment key broke in half when I tried to open our door (definitely not because I’ve been working out). I made a hamburger and french fries for Valentine’s Day dinner. My parents will be here in a month. I thought about getting my ears pierced with my friend Ben, but then held back (could still happen…).

Tomorrow my food & media class goes to wine tasting in the trendy neighborhood that we go out at night in a lot—Testaccio. We’ve had a few seminars and I can officially read a wine bottles label and put different grapes into different regions in Italy. On Friday, my class goes to a vineyard which is going to be an amazing experience.

To top off all of this week’s wine culture: this weekend me and four friends are doing the best of Tuscany. We’re spending Saturday in Siena, biking the city and the Chianti countryside its located in. We’re going to eat in the countryside and are staying the night at a bed and breakfast. This is opposed to at U of I where I eat at Chipotle and stay the night at my frat house when its too cold to walk to my apartment. Some how, I really like the idea of both though…

Sunday morning we go straight to the crazy-scenic town of San Gimignano (the setting of many famous Tuscan based movies) and then take a pit-stop in Pisa to see the leaning tower. Busy schedule, fun times—predicting very good pictures.

I’ll definitely be more prompt in my blog post next week, let’s just hope I haven’t lost my readers (the D.I. would be ashamed). I hope you all are doing great, still miss you, and enjoy the good weather that I hear is on its way!