Research Update: I'm going to Berlin!

I've realized that a few people actually do keep up with this blog, be it directly through this site or via facebook. Uhh, I know a lot of you are only interested in my travels and stuff around Europe, so if that's all you're about I would highly recommend to not read any further for your own good.

Wow, so I still got your attention. Ok, so a few posts ago I mentioned that I submitted an abstract to present at the ECerS (that's European Ceramics Society) Annual Conference in Berlin this June. Well, good news is that it got accepted! For those of you that care, the title of my presentation is, "La2CuO4 sensing electrode configuration influence on sensitivity and selectivity for a multifunctional potentiometric gas sensor" So yeah, essentially what that means is that I work on sensors that make sure that combustion engines don't emit too much bad gases into the environment, like carbon monoxide, etc. Do something good for the environment and get to do some research in Europe, not a bad deal eh? Plus usually conferences have some good free food and open bars (again world revolves around food). So hopefully they'll be some good free sausages and weizen beer.

So, what do you think for this as an opening slide? I sent a presentation to my group back home to let them know what I'm doing here and decided to add a crazy picture. Not so sure that the picture would be appropriate for a conference.

Hate it or love it!!

In the wise words of the G-Unit, you either hate it or you love it. In this case, I'm referring to my Italian language. Ok, so I'm not really Italian, but if I were to claim it I'd claim being Roman. With this includes learning Roman slang. To give you some perspective, this would be like being a foreigner in the States trying to speak like he was from Boston or with Southern slang and twang. This includes rockin statements (with quasi translations) like "Propio Da Paura" (That's wicked), "Do' Stai" (where's you at), or "C'ho una chitarra" (I gots a guitar). Or another example, if you were to correctly say let's go eat in Italian it would be, "Andiamo a mangiare". In roman this is said "Namo a mania".

So, the Italians I know who are from Rome absolutely love it when I start breaking out in slang. However, the non Romans usually respond "Why are you learning Roman you should be speaking Italian." I tried it on my Italian teacher here, and let's just say she wasn't too happy. This is a good example of the make up of Italy. There is somewhat of a cultural divide between the North and South, just like the United States. Industry and fashion are big in the north in cities like Milan and Turin, while you got more agricultural and grass roots stuff in the South (Rome and below like Naples). Juventus, in the booming rich city of Turin is just like the Yankees. They are the most successful team in Italian club history and you either love them or hate them.

Amici Fiorenti in Roma

If you saw from the last post, two of my friends studying in Florence, Nick and Danny came to visit with their study abroad group. I joined them for their group dinner which was a good representation of Roman food. I joined them for a walk around the city afterwards in which we ended up at the Trevi Fountain, one of my favorite spots in the city (especially at night). A couple of their friends wanted to go out, and I was glad to hear that they wanted to avoid the typical American college hangouts. So we decided to just sip on some bottles of wine out in Campo di Fiori. Crazy how small the city is as I ran into the same Arkansas guys who joined me in arguing our point that the SEC is so much better than the Big 10 with this idiot from the University of Illinois while watching the National Championship Game (I know I said it before, but you don't have any grounds to talk smack when you're talking to students from the two schools who played each other in the Championship of the toughest conference in college football and you go to a school that sucks big time at football and hires our reject coach).

Anyhow, Francesco and Andrea eventually met up with us. After dropping off the Ragazzi Fiorentini at their hotel Francesco, Andrea, and I went to this awesome disco which was built in an abandoned school building. In Italian fashion, we avoided the crazy long line by conveniently skipping to the front of the line (When in Rome...). Francesco and Andrea decided to use my Americanness. They did their best to speak in American accented English and whenever the bouncer said something they'd just say "What the heck is he saying?". It worked. Another crazy coincidence, Andrea ran into one of his friends who he met like 3 months ago, and what do you know when he introduced me, she ends up being a Florida alum. All in all, fun night.

Co, Co, Corrado!

So two friends of mine from the good ole University of Florida, Nick and Danny, are studying in Florence for study abroad. So I was telling Corrado (If you're new to the blog, this post introduces Corrado) about how they are coming to Rome tomorrow night. Knowing that he was supposed to be gone this weekend, the following conversation ensued (all in English mind you):

Me(M): "Will you still be around tomorrow night?"
Corrado(C): "Why?"
M: "Well I have two friends from UF that are studying in Florence and their whole class is coming to Rome tomorrow night and we're probably going to go out after dinner. I wanted to see if you wanted to come."
C: "You know what my next question is right?"
M(While rolling my eyes and shaking my head): "Yes, there will be girls." (Corrado's eyes light up and his ears perk up)
M: "Actually, there should be a lot of girls. For some reason girls tend to study abroad more so than guys. In fact, when my girlfriend studied in Florence two years ago there were about 30 or so total people and only 5 of them were guys."
C: "Ahhhhh f**************k!!!"
M: "So I take it you won't be here."
C: "Unfortunately no"

Gotta love Corrado! :)

Musica Italiana

This post is kind of a language update. One thing I'm proud to say is that my Italian seems to be getting better. I was a little worried that the few weeks of the Christmas break with my family and away from my Italian co-workers was going to make my Italian go downhill. I studied a little bit over the break and decided to just try it out more with other Italians. It takes a little while to get over feeling embarrassed for making mistakes, but Italians are very helpful and love it when Americans try to speak Italian instead of expecting them to try English. As a result, my co-workers has said my Italian has gotten a lot better.

One way I've liked to learn so far is by listening to Italian music. Although most mainstream radio stations play a lot of American stuff, there are some Italian songs that make it way through. Some of my favorite artists include Ligabue, Elisa, and Laura Pausini. Below is a video of my favorite song thus far, "Gli Ostacoli del Cuore" (The Obstacles of the Heart). It's a song by Elisa featuring Ligabue (who is crazy popular here). I find Italian to be much more pleasing to the ear than English. What do you think?

Americans Study Abroad Students Amuse Me

Ok...so I've been here about 4 months now so I guess you could say I've garnered a little bit of experience in Italian living. Much of Europe is filled with a bunch of Americans spending a semester (or 2, or better yet 3) abroad. Late December/early January is kind of a dead time period with American college students abroad since most of them have finished their programs and gone home for the holidays. Kids don't start coming back until like the second or third week of January. With that said...it's the "I'm in Europe!" season.

Ok...so this post is not supposed to make fun of American college kids in Europe (ok maybe I'll poke fun a little), but most of all I'm not here to dawg or generalize and stereotype the "American Study Abroad" student. I for one am a study abroad student, but one difference is that I'm here for a calendar year and I'm the lone American student at an Italian University right outside the city. So I get a great perspective in true Italian culture, especially from all my friends at work and simply from my roommate Eugenio.

Anyhow, it always amuses me how American students come to such a wonderful place and try to do everything American. For example, although they were dead (and somewhat peaceful and quiet) all the typical "American" bars (Drunken Ship anyone?) are again in full swing. Shots are poured and phrases like "What is your biggest and cheapest beer?", "Dude I had absinthe last night...it's like 180 proof", or "Man wine is really giving me a headache" are commonly shouted across the pub. Again, no beef wit that but I find it kind of sad when a lot of my Italian friends can easily pick these loud and rambunctious people out and know they are "American". It's especially funny when you hear Italians at a bar or on a bus late night filled with drunk loud Americans just say "Si...Americani". One sweet old lady even shouted out in a tirade in her annoyance with a group of Americans who decided to play a loud drunk game on the bus on the way home from a soccer match. Italians never get out of control like that (ok maybe sometimes, but they are usually not loud and obnoxious...they just start hitting on girls...a lot..ha ha jk...but not really).

I think one of the greatest things for American students studying abroad is the opportunity for them to travel. Europe is definitely a most fascinating place to travel throughout. I think the unfortunate thing is trying to get it all done in a span of 4 or 5 months. One of my favorite things of Italy is how laid back it is. If you're always traveling every weekend and going out to american pubs on the weeknights, you never get to really experience "La Dolce Vita". I feel especially in Rome, there is so much to just experience and it's often not entirely hit up by someone who even lives here for 2 years.

It's Wedding Season!!

"What do you like better,
Christmas or Wedding Season?"

Ok...so those quotes should be familiar to you if you like the movie, Wedding Crashers (I love this movie btw). I swear I thought of the concept of that movie cause I've always told people weddings are the best places to meet girls. Anyhow, for some reason I love going to weddings. Between family, friends, etc. I average about 3 to 4 weddings a year. In 2005 alone I went to 5 weddings, and was invited to 7. Weddings give you the opportunity to eat good food(again my world revolves around eating), drink booz (sometimes all for free!), dance like crazy, and (especially lately with my friends' weddings) see friends you haven't seen in a long time.

2007 is no different. I already know of 3 weddings. This includes Matt & Liz S., Mike Funk (Funk is actually his last name) & Vasana, and David & my cousin Kirsten. Before I left for Italy I made the commitment of not coming back to the States for the year. I thought about coming home for one wedding although I didn't want to have to choose. I'm kind of sad not being able to be there because all these couples are really good friends of mine.

Matt and Liz even showed how good of friends of mine they are. Even though they already knew I couldn't make it, they insisted on sending me an invitation here in Italy. Liz did all the addresses in calligraphy herself (as seen above), and it obviously took her extra time to do it. At a time when it seems a lot of my "friends" have dropped off the face of the earth, Matt & Liz reminded me of what true friendship is about. Shout out to the cart (3 speeds), the 104 boys, the roommates, and Agape Italia

Skydiving Pics!!

Skydiving (Check!)...Over the Swiss Alps (Double Check!!)

As part of my New Year's Trip, I went to Interlaken, Switzerland. This is a picture of me in a big field with the Alps behind me. I was there only 2 days and after Night Sledding got canceled and since the snow wasn't good at all to go skiing, I decided that I should do something to make my trip to Switzerland memorable. At the famous Balmer's Hostel, a guy and girl told me how awesome skydiving was. Their descriptions and pictures got me hooked. I finally decided that I would do it, but although I built up the courage it still required a clear day the next day and that at least one other person do it. So I started talking up the experience to some of the people I met. Although a lot of these kids were broke, one decided to ante up (via his credit card). Awesome fact was that the chain of people telling others to do it caused the group to grow to 8.

Now with enough people to do it, we faced two more problems. The cheapest way to skydive is to go out of a plane, but a ski competition in the area forced the runway to be used as a parking lot. Our only option was to pay more to jump out of a helicopter. With the already large costs, the extra cost of the 'copter didn't seem all too bad. Second problem...at our original jump time of 10 am, it was too cloudy. We were told our trip was postponed until 1 pm and that it was still a 50/50 chance that we would go. Fortunately, as the day progressed the clouds left leaving us a beautiful blue sky and perfect conditions to jump out of a 'copter at 13,000 ft.

The jumping experience:
I was blessed to go with 8 awesome people (plus two extra friends that watched) I just had met. Everyone had such a great excitement that took away any scary anxiety any of us maybe had. We got paired in two's because that's all the 'copter could hold (since we were going tandem). I was paired with a guy named Baden from New Zealand. We were the 3rd pair to go. So it was so exciting to get to see the two pairs go before me because to see their excitement when they hit the ground took away any fear that I had and just made me more excited to go. Two of us had brought our iPods and our tandem jumpers told us it was totally cool to bring em along to the sky. So I decided to bring along "Anna Molly" by Incubus and "Around the World" by The Red Hot Chili Peppers for the ride. Both of those songs make me want to jump so I figured it would make me want to jump out of a helicopter even more. The helicopter ride up was like a tour of the Alps and the ride down gave me one of the most breathtaking views and feelings in the world. All in all, it was a wonderful ride and it was worth every penny. I didn't have my camera, so I'm waiting for all my new friends to e-mail me all their pictures (including Baden's picture of me hanging out the side of the open helicopter). Good times!

National Champs!! (x2)

Can you believe it? Yeah we are the champions, twice over!! Ok...so I must admit, there is part of me that wishes I were in Gainesville right now, but with all the talk of Gator Nation it brings me so much joy to make up part of the Gator Nation in Rome, Italy. I mean, somebody has to tell everyone here how great it is to be a Florida Gator! A lot of people have been asking me if I was able to watch the game. I'm a Gator...of course I found a way to watch it. I watched it at a place called Scholar's Lounge, which is an Irish Pub that plays a bunch of American sports. There were a few Americans there who just discovered that this was a place to watch the game. So there were a bunch of fresh new American study abroad students. This included some guys from Arkansas who totally had the allegiance to the SEC. There were also some guys from U. of Illinois. This included a dumb a** who claimed the Big 10 was better than the SEC. I was like..."Dude, you go to U. of Illinois. Way to represent your conference buddy." His best comeback was "Yeah...we have the 7th best recruiting class this year." I think he forgot that his awesome recruiter can't coach for crap. Him and his buddies eventually got into a scuffle with some Italians in the bathroom hallway, and afterwards they fled like little babies.

Anyhow...Unfortunately, the bar closed on us at 4:30 a.m. right after the 1st half finished. Afterwards, I jetted back to my apartment and had my family show me the game on iChat via their iSight (shameless Apple plug). Although, the quality of the TV wasn't all that great, it was good enough to watch the bum rush on Ohio State. The game was finished at about 6:30 a.m. I really wanted to jump into the Trevi Fountain, but unfortunately I would have been the only one, and that would have probably gotten me arrested. Go Gators!

Venezia by Pictures

Firenze by Pictures

Pictures can sometimes say more than words. So here are some of my favorite pictures from my trip to Florence (and Venice in the next blog entry):

Buon Anno e Auguri!

Happy New Year from Rome! Today was a bit of a sad day and a happy day. Early this morning I dropped off my family at the airport, but at the same time I was at the airport I picked up Dominic whose flight happened to get in the same time my parents left. Amanda has been here already for about two days. Amanda and Dominic are two of my friends from my UF days and for their graduations from grad school they decided to take on Europe together. They decided to be in Rome for New Year's. So even though Dominic was jet laggin, we still managed to have a Roman New Year. There really isn't a New Year's Eve thing on TV with a countdown, but the major importance of this holiday is to not be alone at midnight. So people gather together with friends or family to celebrate with a glass of champagne and wine. If we didn't know the time when midnight hit from the lack of a clock you would definitely know from the fireworks being lit off around the neighborhoods around. My apartment felt like it was under attack. Bunch of people set off Roman candles (fitting eh?) off of their terraces. My roommate Eugenio had some sparklers, and Amanda paid tribute to our city. (that effort was fantastic considering she spelled the mirror image of "rome" with no clue where she was in the air). We also gathered together (even Eugenio and his friend) to pay tribute to the year of the Gator!