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!