Tivoli (the City outside Rome not the Apartment Complex in Gainesville or Orlando)

My family and I decided to go to the local commune of Rome called Tivoli. Tivoli (the namesake of a popular apartment complex in Gainesville and Orlando) is a small city about 20 km outside of Rome known for its Villas. We visited the Villa D'Este which is known for its multitude of fountains. The fountain in which my whole family is standing in front of is called the Fountain of Neptune (constructed by Bernini in 1661). My other favorite was this set of fountains called the Hundred Fountains which is a long line of fountains that connects two larger fountains on the end.


My dad and I had a field day with all the naked people fountains. Italians like their naked sculptures. Unfortunately, I realized when we got to Tivoli I forgot my memory card for my digital SLR so our pictures were limited to a digital point and shoot camera (which I can't stand anymore).



One highlight of the trip is how we discovered how much guide books like Frommer's suck. In Frommer's it told us to go to one metro station to catch the bus to Tivoli, but in fact the metro station that you have to stop at is the one before the one Frommer's said (luckily I knew that beforehand!). Frommer's also doesn't tell you where to stop once you are on the bus to Tivoli cause if you stay on the bus till it stops it goes about 2 km too far. Frommer's is now on my crap list, just like Mapquest.

We also experienced how confusing Roman public transport could be. For example, when the bus for us to go home to Rome was full we took the next bus that also said to Rome but by a different route. That route somehow goes one direction first and then turns around and backtracks the same direction (huh?). So there was one point where we saw a sign that said Poli one direction and Roma the other. The bus went in the direction of Poli. I've ended up on the wrong side of Rome once already so I didn't want that to happen again. My sister said I looked like I crapped in my pants. Anyhow, we somehow passed the same sign for Poli/Roma and this time went in the direction of Roma. Wheew.

Messa Della Notte al Vaticano

Since we were in Italy, we decided to attend the Christmas Midnight Mass given by Pope Benedict XVI at St. Peter's Basilica. In order to go, I had to reserve tickets for entrance for my family at the Pontifical North American College (the American Catholic Seminary in Rome) about a month ago. The tickets didn't guarantee admittance but you had to have them to get in. We got in line at St. Peter's Square at about 6:30 p.m. The line quickly filled. In essence, I told my parents that this was nothing compared to the nights waiting in line at the O'dome for Gator Basketball. One nice thing was that a few study abroad students were right in front of me in line and they came prepared. So they shared a glass of Chianti with me! At about 10:15 p.m. officials let people into the Basilica. It was mayhem. Right when the gates opened, people started running and some people even tried to run ahead of other people in line. I thought to myself, this is the worst place to skip and be dishonest :). After getting through security, my family and I sat down in our seats and waited about another hour until the ceremony began. It was a beautiful ceremony that was given primarily in Latin and Italian. Instead of translating everything, each part of the mass was given in different languages, even Tagalog! Given that, my family and I (and I'm sure the masses of tourists) did not understand the majority of the service. My mom actually fell asleep during part of the Pope's homily. The event was covered by CNN and I later found out that the homily focused on loving all children around the world (which would explain why the Pope said bambini a lot and why there were kids in native garb giving the gifts to the pope). The service lasted about 2 hours and we didn't get home until 4 a.m.

Getting Medieval on Your Assisi

This post is backwards because my family, Eugenio, and I actually went to the Medieval city of Assisi before we went to Madrid. Anyhow, we all took a day trip to this beautiful city which is most known for being the home of St. Francis, one of the patron saints of Italy. Many of you may have heard of St. Francis through St. Francis House Soup Kitchens in the States. Assisi is a beautiful city which has architecture which is very different from that of Rome. There are at least 5 different churches, the two main ones being Santa Clara (other patron saint of Italy) and St. Francesco. Everywhere in the city, you see many of the characteristic signs of St. Francis, the dove and the Tau symbol. Both come to represent the love and peace which Christianity stands for. I bought a wood Tau cross, which also comes to resemble the typical Christian cross, with my name inscribed into it. The church of St. Francis also had probably the coolest nativity scene I had ever seen. For Christmas, the figures in the scene (shown below) are replaced by real people. Here are a few more pictures below:

Trip to Madrid

So I wish I had something more interesting to put on this post, but unfortunately the day before my family and I left for Madrid I ate something in Italy that gave me food poisoning (main reason I haven't been posting). So the picture displays how I spent the majority of my family's 4 day trip to Madrid. Anyways, my family did end up having a good time walking through the city and seeing the sights. I did manage to walk around and take a bus tour for one of the days. That day we went through the Royal Palace which had like over 2800 rooms. Usually, eating is one of the highlights of my trips abroad but I hardly ate anything the whole trip and what I did eat was nothing new to most of you, Burger King. When I wasn't sleeping, I did manage to catch up on news (CNN, which I don't have in Italy) and also got to watch the live announcement of the FIFA World Player of the Year Award go to my boy, Italian Captain Fabio Cannavaro.

Family in Rome

I picked up my family succesfully this morning at the airport, despite the massive public transport strike today. I met my parents by taking an early train not affected by the strike and then after he got home from work, my roommate Eugenio drove out to pick us up about an hour after I met my parents. One thing I noticed at the airport was a guy coming out of the international terminal with a Miami Hurricanes sweatshirt. I was so tempted to yell the now ever popular "Go Gators" at him, but I figured he suffered enough being a Hurricane fan this year. I figured I wouldn't ruin the beginning of his vacation. Anyways, my family arrived safely and once they got home we did an early Christmas celebration. They brought many gifts, some which were simply some food from home (skittles, doritos, etc.) and some winter clothes (remember I am from Florida).

After my family slept a bit I cooked them my favorite Roman dish (Spaghetti Carbonara) and gave them the express one afternoon tour of Rome. This quick tour involved the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, the famous Sant Estacios Coffee Place, Piazza Navona, the "Wedding Cake" Monument, and the Colosseum. It also involved eating Ciambella (huge freakin doughnuts in picture below...yeah they are the bombe!), cafe, pizza, and gelato. Off to Assisi tomorrow.

Going to Berlin?

One of my favorite things about doing this whole Ph.D thing is that I get to travel for my work whether it be visiting laboratories, conferences, or simply for PR work (ha). So far my work has taken me to Cocoa Beach (where I've been caught roaming the conference hotel with my surfboard in my wetsuit instead of a suit and tie), Los Angeles, Baltimore, Indy, Cincy, Nashville, Pittsburg, and now Rome. Since I'm in Rome I figure I'd try to take advantage of traveling for work here, too. So I submitted an abstract to make a presentation at the European Ceramics Society Conference in Berlin next June. I've been to Germany plenty of times but never to Berlin. So what better way to get to go than for a conference? I'm hoping the abstract gets accepted and if it really matters to you, I'm really excited about the work I want to present. I know it's been 3 months since I've been here but I figured it was time to actually post something work/school related.

Christmas Visitors!!!

Two days ago my friend Corrado at the lab told me that I looked really happy and he wondered why. I was like, "My family is coming to visit this week!" I'm so happy to have my family coming because the last few weeks have been a bit rough on the friend tip. All the Agape Italia Stint Students had to go back to the States to work out Visa stuff (keep them in your prayers). I lost 8 really good friends from the Rome Stint Team for hopefully only a month and lost some additional "same time zone" buddies from the other team in Salerno. Also December is the time when many of the study abroad students leave since they are done with their semesters. On top of that, I've been a bit discouraged about how little many people try to keep in touch with me (I guess many people were right that in times like this you realize who your true friends are). Anyways I'm glad that my family is coming for Christmas and that Dominic and Amanda are coming right after them to spend New Year's here in Rome. Here's where I'll be visiting during this Christmas Break:

• Assisi, Italy
• Naples, Italy
• Madrid, Spain
• Interlakin, Switzerland.

If I don't happen to be able to catch you from now until Christmas, Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuevo!

Natale in Roma

Christmas is definitely in the air in Rome. Christmas stuff was up around the city before Thanksgiving. I guess since they don't have Thanksgiving, there really isn't a day which sets the date in which Christmas stuff can start going up. It seems like every piazza around the city has some type of Christmas market/fair going on. For example, in Piazza Navona there is a market full of shops, game booths, and even a carousel! Instead of coming home for Christmas, my family insisted on coming here to visit me for Christmas so that they could experience an Italian Christmas. I'm glad I get to share with them so far what I have loved about the Christmas season here. Walking around the city at night is always a fun thing, but add all the Christmas stuff and it makes it even 100 times as cool. They even setup a huge Christmas tree out by the Colosseum. Here are a few of my favorite pictures!:

Gators in the BCS National Championship Game & Eric in Rome

I would first like to thank my family, my girlfriend Liz, Abby Theater in Rome, and the guys from the Rome Stint Team for keeping me in touch with my Gators. My family and Liz have made the great efforts of pointing the iChat video camera to their tv's to let me watch parts of the game. Abby Theater is an Irish Pub at Piazza Novona that televises American College Football (that's where I watched the UF-FSU game). The Rome Stint team have a sling box which transmits their cable from Ohio to the internet, and that's where I watched the USC-UCLA game and then the UF-Arkansas game.

Anyhow, I'm writing this to inform everyone before they ask, no I don't wish I was in Gainesville at this time. When people start asking me about that, it makes me start actually wanting to be back there. But actually, I'm perfectly content about being here in Rome during all of it. One is because I was around all the hoopla during the Basketball Championship and Two I love getting to share the Gator Nation with Rome. There are bunch of Gators here in Rome and I love getting to share it with people who don't know the greatness of being a Gator. They just know I'm crazy for my Gators! So trust me...come January 8 (technically January 9), I'll be going crazy for UF and combating the crazy amount of Ohio State fans in Rome. So Go Gators!

Thanksgiving in Rome!

"Do not be anxious about anything,
but in every situation, by prayer and petition,
with thanksgiving, present your requests to God"
Philippians 4:6

Today I got to celebrate Thanksgiving with some friends from the Campus Crusade Stint Team in Rome. I haven't really talked about them in this blog but these friends of mine here are a true blessing. I met them through a friend of a friend of a friend of mine named Andrew Lisi who did a Stint with Crusade in Salerno, Italy. The Stint Team are here for a year sharing the Gospel with students at University of Rome La Sapienza (uniroma1). Many of you know I go to University of Rome "Tor Vergata" (uniroma2).

I've gotten the chance to hang out with these guys and girls from the Midwest region of Crusade a few times and gotten to go to church with them a few times as well. I feel somewhat connected to them because as many of you know I spent a summer in Cincinnati on an internship with G.E. Well they invited me to have Thanksgiving dinner with them and they prepared a really really great meal including Turkey, Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Green Bean Casserole, Sweet Potatoes, Cranberry Sauce, Pumpkin and Apple Pie, and Jello!(See below) I couldn't believe they found a whole Turkey because they aren't so common around here. They found one but had to shell out 55 euro for it. To even make the holiday even more authentic, Joel had American TV streaming via a slingbox and we got to see snippets of the Macy's Parade in NYC and some of the Turkey Day Football Games.

On this Thanksgiving, I was thankful to be able to share it with Americans and to enjoy many of the American parts of it. I was especially thankful being able to share it with other Christians and to have the chance to thank God for everything in prayer while holding hands around the food (as I love to do!).

Buddy Profile #2: Corrado

"It's like Karate or Colorado"

So this is another one of my friends from work, Corrado. I think you can decipher from the picture which one he is. This was taken at a party my roommates and I had for my co-workers. Corrado insisted that he take a picture with my family, who was visiting at the time. Funny thing is like all the Italians wanted a picture with my family. You can see those on Flickr. When I first met Corrado, I had some difficulties pronouncing his name. He then told me it's like Karate, and in another time he said it was like Colorado. Funny as it seems, it makes it really easy to pronounce. For all intensive purposes, he works on developing polymer scaffolds for tissue engineering. Crazy eh? Ok but on to the fun stuff.

Corrado is from just outside of Rome, but far enough to where he says he cannot be called Roman. As Francesco seems to be characteristically "American" by the way he dresses and acts, Corrado to me is the epitome of Italian and I love it. When he met some of my American friends he kissed them on the hand AND gave them a baci. I was like "whateeeever...come on!". :) Corrado and I both really like American music and he sings really well, with an American accent. Che bello! One of my favorite stories was when I first met him I asked him if he liked soccer and if he ever went to a game at Stadio Olimpico. He said he's only been to the stadium once, but for a Depeche Mode concert. I was like..."Depeche Mode...that must have been ages ago??" Crazy, but it was just this past summer. Who knew Depeche Mode was still around? Corrado also writes music and is in a band. He said he was going to hit me up to make sure his english lyrics make sense.

Corrado is also known for getting a bit crazy at the discotec. I have the pictures to prove. Anyways, someone in the lab asked when I will go back to the States. When I responded in September, Corrado asked how long I was going to visit the States at the time. I had to explain I was moving back in September. See, most Italians stay in a Ph.D program for 3 years and Corrado thought I was just starting my 3 years here and staying the whole time. When I explained that I was only here for one year (my 3rd year of Ph.D), I saw a little disappointment in his expression. That actually made me feel good that I know I'm going to be missed when I leave.

Anyhow, one last fun fact about Corrado. He visited Gainesville with Francesco last december to visit the lab of one of the professors in my department. Sadly, I didn't know them back then. Corrado claims he saw the most beautiful girl on the bus in Gainesville on the way to the UF campus.

The Haircut Experience

I keep up with my family pretty often through the video iChat and because of that my mom (Hi Mom!) noticed that my hair was getting a little long and encouraged me to get my haircut. She likes to see her son groomed so whenever it's time to get a haircut, be it in italy or florida, I get constantly reminded to get one. My initial thinking was that I would grow out my hair without ever having to cut it or just shave it off myself to avoid going to a Italian haircutting place.

Anywho, seeing how my hair was getting out of control I decided it was time to venture off to get a haircut. My first option was to cheat and get one of my Italian friends to come with me to translate, but the timing never worked out. Next option: I checked the internet to search for "English Speaking" Beauty Shops in Rome. I found one on a listing and it was in Piazza Del Popolo (a pretty big tourist area). So last Saturday I made the trek over there. It was a few metro stops away from here but it still took about 45 minutes travel time total. When I got there, I figured it would be easy to find since it was a Plaza (meaning a circle) and I wouldn't have to search for a street (which is sometimes hard to find). But no, I ended up circling the plaza like 4 times to find the right building. And by the time I found the building, there was no haircutting place to be found.

So feeling a little defeated, I went on my way back home. I finally decided I would be brave and just walk into a place near my apartment. I haven't been this nervous in some time, but I asked the lady at the reception table if she spoke english. Thankfully she said yes and called her Mom over. From this time on, I knew it was a nice family business. I told her in my best italian that I wanted a haircut but I spoke very little italian. So she introduced me to her son Allesandro and assured me that he would take care of me. That he did! Ok so the place I go to in Jax to get my haircut is a pretty hoity toity place (I would call it yuppy), but I go to the same girl (hey Val if you're reading this!) that my Mom and sister go to. I never really tell Val how to do it...I describe it a little but she just does it. So what was I to do? Luckily my Uni ID has a picture with the way I like it so I showed it to him and he did his thing. It ended up being perfetto and I only had to pay 15 euro. I'm really glad I found a place in my neighborhood because I go back when I need another haircut and I also get to say hello to them when I pass by. I for sure told them I'd be back!

My Italian Research Group Family

So here is a picture of most of the guys and gals of my research group at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. It is a really fun group. So for the technicalities, we work on things such as fuel cells for alternative energy, sensors to detect harmful gases, membranes to produce hydrogen gas, and even materials for biomedical purposes. The group is composed mainly of Italians but we have a little bit of an international mix with one from Egypt, another from Tunisia, one from France, and the two most recent additions Milan from the Czech Republic and me from good ole America. The group has a bunch of intelligent people in it who are at the same time a whole lot of fun to be around. Sometimes I wonder how they ever get any work done because people stay at the lab less than in America, coffee and smoking breaks are a huge part of the day, and there is always conversing going on. Everyone has been really helpful in helping me to transition, especially with speaking Italian. It's awesome because I've already seen an improvement in everyone's English and they say they've been seeing an improvement in my Italian. Milan and I are currently the only ones who can't hold a complete conversation in Italian. We're determined to change that! (if i could only properly say 30 so people stop getting confused that I'm saying 100)

Graduate student "life" is totally different around here. In America, it's not that untypical to see lots of students working in the wee hours of the night and a lot of hours on the weekend. Here the labs close at 9 at night, you need special permission to get in the building on Saturday, and the lab is absolutely closed on Sunday. It gives me a nice chill perspective on doing research and keeping my priorities straight. We do a good bit of hanging out after work too, except for this week which is like our off week since we've been exhausted from hanging out in the previous weeks. In addition, the Italians are busting their butts to finish their end of year reports for our research adviser.

My first trip outside of Italy (Germany baby!)

So this was actually my third trip to Germany in my life. The main reason for this trip (November 3rd to the 6th) was to get out of Italy for the weekend and visit the two cool people seen in the picture, Matt and Ellen. Matt is one of those friends that I've never really lived in the same place with except for the summer (2003) we met and both interned at good ole GE Aircraft Engines in Cincy, Ohio. After that summer we've managed to meet up in random places from Indianapolis, Naples (Florida), Baton Rouge for his wedding to Ellen, and now Germany! Matt is a pilot in the Air Force now stationed in Germany. So I flew up to visit their city, Kaiserslaughten (I knew I messed up that spelling so as the Americans do I'm just going to call it K-town). Ellen, even though we only met once at their wedding, was kind of enough to pick me up at the airport. Once we arrived at their really cool house, we had a quick lunch and packed up to go to Bamburg. Matt has another friend, Joe, from Notre Dame that is in the army stationed up there and his unit just got back from a year Iraq. We took a 2.5 hour drive to Bamburg. One of the reasons we went was cause Joe's unit was having a Halloween party. It was pretty cool, Matt and Ellen had some great costumes. I was a red neck, mullet and all. One of the soldiers even had his parents and younger sister in town so they partied with us. It's nice having Halloween in the middle of the week because you have an excuse to have a party the weekend before, the day of, and weekend after Halloween. It was really cool also meeting a bunch of soldiers and hearing about their experiences in Iraq. I was also asked if I was in the military. :). I think they wouldn't let me have my long hair in the army. We stayed in Bambrug overnight. Other highlights included going to a really good Croatian restaurant and just walking around Bamburg which was like a smaller version of Munich.

The rest of the weekend we all just hung out in K-town. Matt and Ellen took me to their favorite restaurant where I had jagerschnitzel and some good ole german beer! They also took me on base where I was able to buy american groceries and use an atm without an international fee (suck on it Wachovia). I shared a little Italy with Matt and Ellen by making them Bruschetta and Carbonara the way the Romans taught me. Stephano also gave me a bottle of Chianti from his family's winery to give to them. I also was glad Matt had a sling box setup so we could watch american tv at his house. Ellen watched her alma mater LSU beat up on Tennessee. Although I didn't think much of it then (I fell asleep), I failed to realize that the tiger victory allowed UF to clinch the SEC East. Go gators! One final mad props to Ellen for driving me to the airport Monday at 3 o'clock in the morning.

I met the Director of "Swingers" and "The Bourne Identity"!

So I'm on the metro minding my business on the way to school, and I noticed there is one empty seat next to these bunch of people speaking English (with an American accent). When you hear Italian and English with an Italian accent all day, you can here American English from far away. I call it my Englishdar (English radar). I also noticed one of the girls was carrying quite the nice video camera. So I was like, "uhhh what are you guys doing here in Rome". They responded filming a movie. I'm like OK, must be some small indy film. So the attention got switched to what I was doing in Rome. "I'm an engineer at an Italian University...ya da ya da ya". I finally asked the guy next to me..."is this like a big movie". He's like yeah it's called "Jumper" and it comes out in 2008 because there are a lot of visual effects that require post production. That made me think that this film was legit. So that made me then ask...who is in it? The guy responded "Sam Jackson (as in Samuel L.), Hayden Christensen, and Rachel Bilson from the OC". One of my first thoughts was "whoah, is Samuel Jackson on this motha f***in metro?" So the whole time I still figured it was some of the random crew members because there were just filming behind the scenes clips around rome. The guy who I was talking to actually told me that the guy sitting across from us really liked to ride trains. That should have hit me that if that one guy wanted to ride the subway instead of everything else and made the rest of the crew go on it too (the metro isn't the most luxurious ride around Rome)that that guy was important.

So I get to school all excited that I met Americans first of all, and then 2 that they had something to do with a film. So I found info on the movie through Wikipedia and IMDb. It made me more excited that I found more info on it. Then I decide to click on the director. It comes up with this. I literally shouted out in my office "It's the dude that likes to ride trains!". And then I realized he had also directed "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", "The Bourne Identity", and "Swingers!!!!". OK, most people who know me know that I LOVE "Swingers". The director Doug Liman is lucky I didn't recognize him cause I would have jumped and given him a big hug for giving me "Swingers". Sad thing is I also for some random reason had my camera on me, but didn't know that it was him so didn't think to take a picture. They just got of one stop before mine at "Cinecitta", which is the film studios in Rome. I just casually said "Take it Easy and Enjoy Rome". That made my day though!

Trip to a Winery in Tuscany

So this post is a little overdue, but nevertheless will be one of my favorites. Last Wednesday, November 1st, was an Italian holiday which was All Soul's Day. This is typically a day when Italians go to the cemeteries to pay respect to their lost love ones. It goes back to the Catholic holiday.

Since we were off this day, Francesco told me that his friend Stephano was inviting us and a few others to his family's country home in Tuscany. I thought maybe it was just like a nice small house in the countryside but I soon found out that it was in fact a property that his family owned for the family wine company. This winery was in fact started by Stephano's grandfather and is now run by his Uncle. So Francesco, another friend Massimo, my Spanish roommate Yollanda, and I all drove in a car to this place. It was about a 2 hour drive from Rome, and as we got closer to the house Massimo started pointing to all these grape vineyards and said "Look this is all Stephano's". I was amazed at all the land. We then get to the house on the property and it was so big I started referring to it as the estate and not a house. The place had a nice rustic countryside Italian feel to it. Two of my favorite things about it was the 19th century piano and the sit in fireplace/oven. We spent the day just relaxing, drinking all of Stephano's wine (Chardonnay and Chianti), falling asleep, playing pool, walking around the estate (btw I ate it on some damp cobblestone), and eating dinner at a restaurant nearby for dinner. My favorite part of dinner was that we had to buy Stephano's own wine from the restaurant. Isn't that pimp? By the time it was time to sleep I kept on discovering additional hallways of the house. I kept on saying in my head "where does this house end". It almost had that "Shining" creepiness to it. It truly was a good break away from the city. I even got to bring back a bottle of Chianti for Matt and Ellen, who I visited in Germany the following weekend (subject of next post). The pictures from Tuscany can of course be seen on Flickr Here.

Coke Light and Mentos

Many of you might have seen the ever popular videos on YouTube of what happens when you mix Mentos with Diet Coke. So the Italians have seen these videos and wondered how it worked. So before we went to Francesco's house on the Med, we stopped by the supermercato to pick up some food. When we were at the drinks, Massimo was holding a bottle of Coke Light (we don't have "Diet" Coke here) and asks me "is Coke Light the same thing as Diet Coke in America". And I was like, "I don't know but I prefer regular coke". Massimo then said "Have you seen the mentos thing?" My thought was, "YES! LET'TRY IT!" Actually my 31 year old sister (yes 31 year old adult) had already done the trick and so I wanted to see it, too. It didn't work this time but this video documents the fun we had messing up. Actually my sister gave me the proper directions for the next time cause yes there will be a next time. :)

Download the Video Here

A Sunday on the Mediterranean

Now imagine me with a glass of wine in my hand. This is how I spent yesterday. My friend Francesco has a house right on the Mediterranean right outside of Rome. We went here with his friends Stephano and Massimo and my roommate Yolanda. It was a really relaxing day and we ate a ton of food and drank a lot of wine. After dinner we just chilled a bit on the coast watching the sunset and being lazy. I thought about getting in the water but it was a bit cold and I had no wetsuit to pee into. Oh btw, we also tried to see if the mentos/diet coke thing worked with mentos and coke light. Expect a video soon of that experience. Here are a few more pictures from the afternoon (For all the pictures Click Here):

Champions League Baby!!

So my goal when I got to Italy was to attend at least 3 soccer matches: an Italian International Game (which I already went to 3 weeks ago), a Serie A match, and a Champions League game. Well as you can see I bought my ticket for the Champions League Group Stage Match for AS Roma vs. Olympiakos FC. For those of you who don't know the Champions League is a tournament of all the best club teams in Europe. Italy has 3 teams in it this year, one which happens to be my favorite...AS Roma! Because I now have been to a game I had a good understanding of where the good cheap seats were. So I managed to get really good seats for 15 euro each. My Italian is getting pretty good so I can actually buy tickets speaking mainly Italian. Two of my friends (and native Romans), Antonio and Francesco Alto, are coming along. So I'm pumped. The game is on Halloween night, which is good because November 1st is an Italian holiday.

Tragedy in Rome

I've been learning a lot while I've been in Rome and God has definitely been putting a lot of things on my heart in my new home. Today was definitely no exception. Many of you in the United States may be slowly reading the news about the metro accident here in Rome. For me it is the first time that a world news story has happened so close to home and that I've been in a sense directly affected by it. If you haven't heard the news, during the morning rush hour two trains underground collided killing 1 and injuring another 60, about 10 seriously. For good reason, many people panicked that the occurence was due to terrorism. Although terrorism was not the cause, the exact reason for the accident is still not certain.

I take this specific metro every morning to get to my University. Fortunately, I take the metro south from my closest station. The crash happened at 9:30 am about 4 stops north of my station, in the heart of the center of Rome. I got underground at my station at about 10 am and I noticed a rush of a lot of people. I figured it was just a bunch of tourists that were lost because many people travel north on the metro from a smaller airport. I went to the line where the metro travels in the the direction of Ananigna, the last stop close to my University. Some lady told me the metro for Ananigna was on the other side, which is usually for metro in the direction of Battistini, the last stop on the other side (north). So from my little Italian knowledge, I gathered that due to some malfunction near the center, the metro was only traveling between my stop and Ananigna, which was fortunate for me. It wasn't till I got to my desk at work and turned on the internet that I realized the severity of the malfunction.

In a sense, I was overwhelmed. Because of the generosity of Italians here, I feel like Rome is very much my city as it is theirs. On the metros everyday, you see all kinds of people from the very young to the very old, to the rich to the beggars of the city. My heart ached for the people with whom I usually share part of my day with on the metro. Seeing a very elderly woman being rolled off on a stretcher just made me sad. The event allowed me to understand how people felt in NYC, Madrid, and London. All day, foreigners especially received phone calls from their family and friends to make sure all was OK. I'm very glad that the result wasn't worse. I'm also glad that the time here is ahead of the United States so I was able to e-mail and message friends and family before they would hear of the news on tv or the internet. All in all, I am safe and the only real effect to me is that my travel to my University was a bit delayed as things were being figured out.

Thank You!!!!

My mom and sister arrived safely to Italy this evening but unfortunately I was an idiot when it came to picking them up. I was supposed to meet them at the airport and to get to it I have to take a train for an hour long trip. I left at 6:45 to give me plenty of time to meet them at 8:30. Upon arrival I realized I went an hour in the wrong direction. So I arrived at a random station on the other side of rome at 8 and the next train didn't leave until 9:40. Thankfully my roommate went to pick them up by car. By the time I got back from my side journey my mom and sister had been at my apartment for like 30 minutes.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who sent things through my family or even just took time to sign the card I received. As many of you know, I'm not here as a study abroad student or even on Stint with Crusade. I don't have Americans that I'm constantly around. I'm truly an "internantional student" and I don't get much exposure to English or American culture in general. Sometimes being apart from all of that can be emotionally draining. Days that I'm around Americans, I get an overload of sorts. Just talking to my sister with straight up english while walking around took some getting used to. My language here is pretty much Itanglish now. Reading just even the smallest messages on a card easily made my day even better. I loved how many of you even in a short sentence were even able to share some funny personalized jokes. So thanks again to everyone. For each of you that signed the card, I'll do my best to try to bring you back something from Rome!

And the debate continues...Starbucks or Italian Coffee

OK...so coffee is a huge part of Italian life, but it is quite different than American coffee. I've been around a lot of Americans and a lot of them just simply miss their Starbucks (I've even seen a blog where one person actually wrote Starbucks to request a location in Italy). I have no problem in people missing Starbucks, shoot I wouldn't mind if they had Skittles in Italy. But for some fun, I would like to put my 2 euro cents in on the coffee debate. I'll judge by different categories...

Quality of coffee: One thing Italians don't mess around with is their coffee. Who knows if Starbucks coffee really comes from Asia or the Amazon like they say. And of course add in the debate of whether or not the coffee is fair trade. I like to avoid the political affairs, therefore....ADVANTAGE: ITALIA

Choices of drinks: OK...so in Italy you pretty much choose between a shot of espresso and cappucino. However, you can get your espresso lungo, normale, or macchiato. Starbucks has a bunch of choices, you can get almost any flavor unimaginable....mochas, frappucinos, pumpkin spice, mint lattes, you name it. The one thing I have beef with Starbucks is that they don't even take the time to figure out a lot of their translations. For example, the big size venti literally means 20. Huh? They could at least call it molto grande. And latte simply means milk. I have no idea why they call a drink a macchiato because that is really a shot of espresso with foamed milk on top. Because of the lack of culture I'm taking away the potential point of Starbucks....ADVANTAGE: STALEMATE

Other food options: Coffee is served in Italia in what is called a bar, no not a bar like in America. A typical bar has paninis, candy, soda, pastries, and some even gelato. Starbucks has a nice spread of muffins and cookies and cakes, but the fact I can get a kinder egg or beer in a coffee bar...ADVANTAGE: ITALIA

Price: No brainer. An espresso cost 50 euro cents and a cappucino cost 60 euro cents. Suck on it Starbucks and your corporate stock. :)...ADVANTAGE: ITALIA

Locations: Starbucks is rather impressive on their number of locations in the United States and around the world, but I have 3 coffee bars within 50 m of my apartment...ADVANTAGE: ITALIA

Speed of baristas: Unfortunately since Starbucks has so many drink choices, most starbucks baristas have to think about how to make each drink. Sometimes I wonder what takes them so freakin long. I still love you Amy L., Jeremy, Nate, Rebeka, Wendy, Dominic, and Dan, but Italian baristas are like Schumacher in a Ferrari while starbucks baristas are like kids on a bike with training wheels...ADVANTAGE: ITALIA

Atmosphere: Ok, so Italians don't spend much time in coffee bars. They drink and go. I love that Starbucks gives you a place to sit and chill and study. However, I'm taking away a point because if they offer wireless internet and charge you $3 for a drink that prolly costs 50 cents they could at least make the wireless internet free...ADVANTAGE: STALEMATE


Final Tally: Italia 5, Starbucks 0

This is just my opinion and I totally respect the fact that my opinion is a bit biased and that you can prefer Starbucks coffee. As a disclaimer, I don't mean to dog any of my friends who are starbucks baristas and lovers of the coffee. I'll probably still go to Starbucks when I return to the states. For one last funny quote, I asked Francesco what he would think if Starbucks opened here in Italy. His response, "C'mon starbucks would never last in Italy for the same reason you would never see a Pizza Hut in Italy. Italians would never give up their own coffee and only tourists would buy it."

Buddy Profile #1: Francesco

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Originally uploaded by airicmac.

To give you a better idea of my life here I wanted to share with you a lot of my favorite things about some of my friends here. A friend of mine told me once that any city can be awesome if you have great friends to share it with. I was told this when I was living in Cincinnati one summer. And that statement is so valid. No disrepect to Cincy, but most people wouldn't think of it as the best place to live but having great friends there made me really have good memories of that city. Of course Rome is that nice touristy city in Italy, but without great friends it is just a city.

So today I wanted to talk about Francesco. He is the guy on the right in the picture. The picture also has my co-worker/roommate Yollanda (who is from Spain), and her boyfriend Borca. Francesco is my co-worker in the lab and for all ya'll Materials Engineers, he works on solid oxide fuel cells. We have two Francesco's in our lab so Yollanda and I call him Francesco Alto to designate that he is the taller one. The other Francesco likes to be referred to as Francesco Bello and not Francesco Basso. F. Alto grew up in Rome so he is my insider to Roman life. He speaks very good English and always tries to make me feel comfortable by talking english to me or interpreting things for me that are in Italian. He also happens to be one of the people I'm switching places with as part of my exchange program. He's moving to Gainesville in January. So Gators, look out for him. Ladies especially, watch out! Without a car, I'm really limited in transportation but thankfully Francesco always is willing to drive me around. It's really funny because Francesco dresses very American (including American colllege shirts, Polo, Quiksilver, and Banana Republic). He's one of those that you would guess American when playing the American/European game. Another fun fact is that he perks up when you even just mention the name Rachel McAdams.

Here is another funny story about F. Alto. Last night, He and I went to dinner witih Alberto, another colleague of ours. We were talking in english and all of a sudden this woman walked into the restaurant. I think since we were speaking English he thought that he could say something in Italian without anyone understanding what he was saying, as if we were in America. Even without knowing much Italian, I was able to interpret that he essentially said "Wow, she has a nice set of bombs". Immediately after he said it he realized he said it loud enough for every Italian in our vicinity to hear it. He was very embarassed. Alberto and I proceeded to laugh completely out of our chairs.

Italy is soccer heaven!

So I had to make this post. I'm sitting here in my office at my university and I have a great view of an area where a bunch of the undergrads take breaks in between class. Here in Italy, there isn't much of a concept of a "campus" as we in America have. Buildings are spread out so students essentially hang out at the buildings where they have all their classes. So during this break, a bunch of students are outside just juggling around with a soccer ball. It amazes me that some of these guys look like average joes (with their italian style and aviator sunglasses) but they can juggle with some mad skill. Soccer, or calcio as it's known here in Italy, is not just a sport but it's the life passion of most people here. I've never seen so many soccer balls spread out in one city in my life. I'm trying to find a local sporting club where I can join some kind of rec team. My co-workers are also trying to organize a match for us. Thank god my mom is bringing my soccer boots when she comes this Saturday!

Italy vs. Ukraine

So as you may know, I got my first chance to go to a soccer game with a few of my American friends: Susan (in the Purdue shirt below), Catherine (in the picture with me), and Lisa. On a side note, I like how Catherine and Susan tell anyone they know that they picked me up on the street. At dinner one night I asked them if they wanted to go to the game and they said they were already going. So I went ahead and bought a ticket too. They were able to get tickets for 10 euros since they bought theirs ahead of time. I was forced to buy a 43 euro ticket because all the 10 euro ones were sold out. Not a problem because my ticket was on the 3rd row.

So after an afternoon of doing more sightseeing around Rome and unsuccessfully finding a restaurant to cure our Indian curry fix, we headed to the stadium. The game was nothing like I've experienced before. I'm close to saying that the atmosphere is better than going to a Gator game at the Swamp (don't shoot me though fellow gators). The match was between the Italian National Soccer team versus the Ukrainian National Team. It was part of the qualifying round for Euro 2008 (the European only version of the World Cup). Because it was a national team game and the fact that L'Azzurri (Italian Team Nickname "The Blues") are the world champions, the passion of the fans was incredible. Fun fact, the unofficial anthem of AS Roma and more recently L'Azzurri is "Seven Nation Army" by the White Stripes. So we did the "Bum, ba bum bum bum bum bummmmm" chant over and over again. After a heated match, L'Azzurri came out victorious. I was very proud to be waving my Italian flag high throughout the game. Here are a few pictures from the game:

Forza Italia (Again)!

I went to my first Italian Soccer Match tonight. It was a Euro 2008 qualifier between Italy and Ukraine. I'll tell more about the game in a future post but for now I made a video of the game so you can see what it's like. Italy won 2-0. Here's the video:
Download the Video Here

Get a Free Buzz in an Italian Bookstore...check

So I have many things on a checklist for me to do during my lifetime. Although the title of this post wasn't necessarily on the list, it became one as it was completed tonight. So I was washing my clothes in my bathroom when my roommate came in and told me he got this e-mail from this bookstore near the Colloseum. The e-mail informed him that they were celebrating the one year anniversary of their renovation and there was free wine, food, and live music. I heard free wine and I was already a go. So we took his scooter because all the metros and buses were shutdown due to a strike today (more on that later). So during the scooter ride we passed the colloseum, the roman forum, and a bunch of other cool buildings/fountains. Here I am just mesmorized by the sights while my roommate is calm and collected since he sees this stuff all the time. Well anyways, when we get to the bookstore there was a station which reminded me of an open wine bar at a wedding. Italian wine is awesome, but free Italian wine is even better. Plus they had a spread of bread, cheese, and sausage. So like the American I am, I decided to splurge on having 3 glasses of wine and loaded my plates with all the cheese and sausage I could get. The bookstore was pretty much all books in Italians so my roommate apologized because he thought maybe I wasn't having fun and then I was like I'm eating and drinking for free, what more can I want?! I was like...there is nothing in America compared to this. Anyways, that was my fun story for the evening. I hope you enjoyed that.

La Lingua Italiana e' bellissima!

One of my favorite things about being in Italy is learning a new language. I'm rapidly learning Italian because a) I'm taking a very intensive course for 3 weeks which lasts about 20 hours a week and b)I'm hardly around people that speak english. So it forces me to speak really fast. It is very gratifying to see progress in oneself whether it be being able introduce yourself or just simply being able to buy food completely in Italian.

Being an "international" student in a new country allows me to really connect with how my parents experienced coming to the United States. Both my dad and mom came to the States at about the same age as I am now. They of course had to deal with having limitations with a new language as well. Being here just over 3 weeks has made me come to grips with how badly Americans in American Universities treat international students. I mean there is a freakin Facebook Group at UF called "People Who Think Professors and TA's Should Speak English Fluently" that has over 2,000 people in it. If you are one of my friends who happen to read this and are in that group, I say "shame on you". Don't you think they are trying their best to learn the language? And trust me...those professors and t.a.'s are probably not fond of teaching students like you. Here in Italy the Italians have the biggest smile on their face when I even attempt to speak italian. When I mess up, they help me through it. Instead of biotchin about how International Students speak, maybe you should sign up to become an ELI partner with one of them and help them out with their English. If they are anything like me, they would love it. I for sure will make a point to do that when I go back to the states. Mad props to those who already do that (right Liz, Jess, and Andrew Lisi?...you guys rock my socks off).

One of my favorite questions other international students here ask me is "why in the world as an american would you come here to do graduate work?" My response: "Why not?! I'm in Rome for a year for cryin out loud". One of my friends in my Italian class is from Sri Lanka and said he had to choose from going to school here in Rome or in Mississippi State. I was like "Good Choice!". I love my Italian class. I'm the only American and only native English speaker. There are people from China, Argentina, Russia, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Spain, Germany, Indonesia, and even the Philippines in my class. We've all bonded really quick. My class today was given entirely in Italian and I actually understood stuff! I'm hoping by the end of the year I'll be able to consider myself fluent!

2 weeks in Rome...and my life is already different

I think the biggest adjustment in living in Italy is being apart from so much. And by that I mean being away from American Culture almost completely. It has its goods and bads. I've known of a lot of people who have done the cross culture jump by either doing study abroad semester(s), missions trips, etc. but I've only known a few people who have gone somewhere to a new culture with hardly any exposure to their own. I think life would be so much different for me here if I just had one person to consistenly speak english to or relate some American culture with.

I have already discovered that I'm living in one of the best learning experiences of my life just by being somewhat isolated from everything I'm used to (including Americans). So if you truly want to learn about yourself, I suggest going to a foreign place on your own for an extended amount of time. Learning how to do things on my own has been quite fun.

So here's a bit of a summary of what's been going on around here in Rome and what I'm learning.

RESPECT-Italians are very respectful people and to me have such a high level of integrity. There is somewhat of a negative stereotype towards Americans and to be honest I'm not so surprised. Italians are so full of care. For example, when I first moved in my roommate made me dinner and even brewed me some espresso the next day. Or another great example is how when I went to the grocery store to just by gelato the person ahead of me who had many items insisted on me skipping him since he had a lot of items. When was the last time you saw that happen in the United States? One of my favorite things is how elders are treated. Whenever someone older comes in on the metro or the bus, people don't hesitate to offer their seat to them. In the two weeks I've been here, my roommate has refused to ever go first through a door. He always opens the door and insist I go first.

I see a huge difference in the way language is handled. Sometimes I feel Americans expect everyone to speak english. For me, I don't get frustrated if someone doesn't speak english because I'm a guest in someone else's country. If you're in the United States and someone falters in english, the American usually gets frustrated. It's no different here where usually the American gets frustrated again. For me I think it's such a sign of respect just to attempt to speak in Italian. Most people appreciate it and then even help you more. If anything, I wish American tourist would at least learn how to say "I'm sorry I don't speak italian, do you speak english" in Italian.

PEOPLE-In a week alone I've met some great people. It started from the beginning...just with my roommate Eugenio. Eugenio is really cool. He is 36 and has a Ph.D in International Law. In fact he was a fulbright scholar. He is a really easy going guy who likes to show me stuff around Rome. He even took me on a scooter ride around the city. That kicked butt. I've met a bunch of cool people at work as well. They've all been really helpful whether it be making sure I know what I'm eating or figuring out the dumb immigration office at the police stations (more on that later). I've also met two Americans: Catherine and Susan, two students studying abroad with IES. They been really my only American friends here and they totally rock. We work together well as a group and they are fun to go sight seeing and yes...shopping with two.

SMALL TOWN BOY IN A BIG CITY...one of my transitions, whether or not it's in a different country, is getting used to living in a big city. Learning how to take buses and metros everywhere is definitely something new. I kind of miss having my own car but I don't miss paying for gas. I definitely do a lot more walking around here!

Well that's it for now. I rambled enough. I'll try to do a better job of keeping more up to date on this. It's a lot easier now that I have internet in my flat.

Pictures Here in Rome

Many of you have been wondering where the pictures of Rome are? So I started a flickr account where you can see all my pictures that I've been taking. Here's the link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/airicmac

Here is a preview of some of those. These happen to be some of my favorite pictures:



This is a picture of the park right outside of my flat. Here you find people of all ages everyday just haning out. Many kids play soccer, the old people sit and chill or play cards, and teenagers come to hang out with each other.


This is a picture with two of my research colleagues, Francesco (standing) and Corrado. This was taken when most of my research went out for dinner at one of our former colleague's husbands new restaurant. It was very good and a lot of food and wine!

My first post from Italia

So after a nice 9 hour flight from Atlanta I made it safely to Rome. I was picked up by my lab collegues Vincenzo and Debora. Vincenzo actually spent some time in Gainesville with my research group last year. They immediately brought me to my apartment where I met my roommate, Eugenio. Eugenio has a Ph.D in law and was a fulbright scholar, which allowed him to study at Boston College for 4 months. He was really nice and made me authentic Italian dinner accompanied with wine. He also made me my first shot of espresso the next morning.

I spent the first couple of days getting some errands done and doing the tourist thing around Rome. I had a great time roaming around the city without a map and stumbling upon the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Colosseum, and the Roman Forum. One morning I attempted to go to St. Peter's but even though I've been there before I completely forgot that men with shorts are not permitted inside the church. The trip wasn't fruitless because it was in that area I finally found American plug adapters and a cell phone to purchase.

The 3rd day I was here I went to my college (The University of Rome Tor Vergata). It's one of 3 publicly funded Universities in the city. I was happy to find the school because once I got to my lab, I got internet access. I should be getting internet at home soon so these posts should be more frequent. So to sum up this post, I'm safe and having a good time. I'm planning on going to Munich next weekend to visit my friends Matt and Ellen who recently moved to Germany via the airforce. We're planning on hitting up Oktoberfest (yeah!). So till next time. Ciao!

Pictures of my crib

Using Google Earth I was able to home in on my European residence. Check it out:

I have a way to get to Rome and a place to live!

I now have my plane ticket booked to go to Rome. I leave from Jacksonville on September 9 and take a 9 hour trip from Atlanta to Rome. That isn't so bad considering that I have taken a 14 hour plane ride from Sydney, Australia to Los Angeles.



I also found an apartment to live in Rome. After posting an ad in a classified newspaper in Rome someone contacted me to sublease their apartment for a year. The apartment is in the Southeast region of Rome called Tuscolana. I'll be living adjacent to the Furio Camillo stop on Line A of the Metro (see above). I'll live halfway between the touristy area (the Colosseo stop on Metro Line B) and the school I'm working at (near the Anagnina stop on Line A). Pictures of my apartment are shown below:

I Can Now Officially/Legally Live in Italia

I got my passport with my Italian Visa back today. It's pretty exciting. Check it out:






Now all I have to do is buy a plane ticket, find a place to live, and of course pack.

FORZA ITALIA!!

Well just as I hoped the Italian Soccer Team won the 2006 World Cup. It gets me excited that they won since I'll be going over to Italy in September. I have a feeling Italian pride will be high in the country.

One low note of the game was the head butt by Zidane. Check it out on video here. It saddens me that Zidane has to end his great career on this note. Seems like a bit of a harsh retaliation for a harmless little titty twister

Subscribing to Blog

If you know how to work with RSS feeds, you can automatically get updates from this blog to a RSS reader. Also, you can automatically get the video podcasts directly from iTunes. To do this, click on the first orange button under the links section on the left. This will take you to another website and somewhere on that page it should say "Subscribe in Itunes" or something. If you do that, all the video on this blog will be updated in your iTunes library. Yeah...in case you didnt' know, I'm a MAC user :).

Europe here I come

Hey Everyone...I created this blog in order for all of my friends and family to keep up with my adventures in Europe. Beginning September 10, 2006 I will be calling Rome home. This will be my European home base as I expect to go crazy everywhere around Europe.

I got a bunch of stuff to do before I go. This includes finishing up my research here at UF (uggh), straigtening out my itinerary, getting my Italian Visa, finding a place to live, learning Italian, and prolly even more I can't remember right now.