I Came, I Saw, and I Conquered -- Reflecting on the Trip of a Lifetime

I'm sure all of you thought I was done with this travel blog, but I had always intended to write at least one more post when I got back state-side. It's been just over two months that I've been back and I can officially say that I really miss Florence a lot. That really shouldn't surprise anyone. Like the title says, it was the trip of a lifetime. Something that I will always remember with fond memories. I think I miss the Villa Morghen staff the most. They were always there for us and made our trip incredibly memorable. Pietro & Jennifer especially made this an incredibly fascinating trip.

There are so many people that I'd love just one more night in Florence with -- the Society of St. Thomas More, in particular. I still keep in contact with a lot of the members, even two months removed. Dylan has done a great job with the years he spent in Florence creating that awesome program that he is now bringing back to the states.

I think waking up every morning and seeing the Duomo on the horizon greeting me as I walked outside the Villa was a blessing that I wish I could see just one more time. So the next question becomes, when will I get back and see the Villa and the Duomo again? I really have no idea, but I hope it is very soon.

Looking back over the trip, I went to Ireland (Shannon, Murroe, Galway, Dublin), Italy (Florence, Pisa, Lucca, Cinque Terre, Perugia, Assisi, Norcia, Rome, Milan), Germany (Hamburg, Berlin, Munich), Austria (Vienna), and Slovenia (Bratislava). This next year I'll be working in the Study Abroad Program so that others from BC will get fantastic experiences like the ones I had. Here's to Europe 2011!

I came, I saw, I conquered!

God bless!

~Dominic

I'm Going to Kansas City, Kansas City Here I Come (Tomorrow)

It has been a crazy ride. It's hard to believe that my trip ends tomorrow, but alas, I will be on a plane bound for the States at 10.30 tomorrow morning.

The Beatles recorded a version of Kansas City? Wow...

I'm going (back) to Kansas City, Kansas City, here I come!

God bless!

Roma

Sorry for not updating, guys. It has been a long, long, LONG few days in Rome. I'm going to try and recap starting at Tuesday, which is when we moved to Rome.

Tuesday: So we got to Rome in the afternoon arriving to our Villa called Buon Amici. We spent the afternoon at the Vatican City and then headed back to the Villa for the night. We spent the rest of the night playing soccer on the awesome soccer field on the property but that's where things started to get out of control. Tuesday night we started hearing beeping down in the lounge from around the security system.and it was all just a little shady. We went to sleep and around 2:30 the fire alarm went off. I sat up in bed thinking this can't possibly be happening... I don't want to get out of bed just to do some damn fire drill. Nathan and I crawled out of bed and into the hallway to see smoke pouring up the stairs. This was a legitimate fire. We grabbed as many people as we could from the rooms and rushed out of the side stairwells to meet up with the rest of our group. The lounge area below our rooms was lit ablaze and we had to evacuate the area. Mind you, this was five hours before the Papal Audience we were attending. It was a VERY long night that I will never forget, especially after a resident a few doors down from me jumped out the window to escape the fire that was nowhere near her.

Wednesday: The fire didn't keep us from going to the Papal Audience. It was absolutely awesome. I even got a professional picture from the Vatican with part of our group and the Pope driving by. It is one of those experiences I will never forget.

Thursday: On this day we went on the Scavi Tour which are the ruins below St. Peter's Basilica. This was really cool as well. Sadly we couldn't take pictures underneath it, but we got to see the Tomb of St. Peter as well as the tomb of John Paul II. After our tour we visited Piazza Novana, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, and the Piazza Popolo. It was a great day and the pictures from all of this will be up soon.

Today: Man, today was where I got to see everything I've wanted to see since I was little. We went inside the Coliseum, which was amazing, and visited all of ancient Rome. I saw the Roman Forum and the old palace ruins. It was unbelievable. I really can't put into words because it's one of those things you're going to have to experience. After this great experience we visited St. John Lateran and I went up the Holy Stairs (the stairs Jesus walked up to see Pontius Pilate) on my knees. It was a very surreal experience.

Tomorrow? I have no idea what we're going to do tomorrow, but I can safely say that I'm now ready to go home. I miss all of you guys and can't wait to see you. Only five more days and I'll be back in the states. Love you guys!

God bless!

Mr. 2000

Reached 2k hits today! Yay me!

Bittersweet Symphony

I know you guys missed me, but I have finally returned! I kind of feel like a train hit me tonight so I'm going to try and summarize the last few days as quickly as possible.

Friday: Around two I met Jenny and girls from the program to play soccer with local kids a part of her (Jenny's) Catholic group. It was absolutely awesome! There were so many kids who were just soaking in what it meant to live. I haven't had that much fun in a long time. We came back to the Villa and I found a version of Braveheart for us to watch. So that was Friday in a nutshell. Quick, interesting, fun, etc.

I had no idea that St. Dominic's tomb was in Bologna. It was such a pleasant and awesome surprise!

Saturday: Father Meinrad and I ventured to Bologna on Saturday. We visited with Steve Figoni and had lunch with his amazing young family. They then toured us around what has become one of my favorite cities in Italy. I wish I could've stayed there longer but I had to be back to have dinner with Don Mario, Dylan, Brendan, and Dan, and Padre's flat. He is one of the most interesting people I have ever met and his apartment fit that personality. He had priceless works of art and Pavarotti playing throughout. Although the best part was the picture of Rappin' Ronny Reagan he had. Then Father continued to give us wine, food, and good discussion for the rest of the night. I'm going to miss Dylan and Don Mario when I have to leave this wonderful country in three weeks. Of course, as you noticed, I didn't blog last night either and there is a very good reason for that.

The beautiful Bolognese countryside.

After dinner was over I walked over to the Ponte Vecchio with Dylan to meet Ingrid and a few more people from the St. Thomas Moore Society. Around 23:30 I figured I should get back to the Villa because our bus for Monte Oliveto left at 7:30 this morning. As I was sitting in San Marco I realized that I only had one week left in Florence. One week. So I grabbed my stuff and went on a journey to track down Dylan and the gang. I had an idea where to look, but both of those places I didn't find them. I think God wanted me to spend last night in Florence because I was heading back to San Marco in one of the back roads I rarely use and I randomly bumped into Dylan. It was awesome! So I dropped my stuff off at Ingrid's apartment, we got some wine and we walked around the beautiful city of Florence admiring the life that came out after dark. Around 2:30 I got the drunchies, as Dylan coined it, so we got a Kebab at what Dylan also proclaims as the best Kebab place in Florence. The night wrapped up around 4:00 where I passed out for about an hour and fifteen minutes before waking up and taking the first bus back to Settignano around 6:00.

Sunday: Today we went to Monte Oliveto, a Benedictine Order that was reformed by St. Bernardo Tolomei. The Abbey is located just outside of Siena and it was interesting to see all of the scenery again of that beautiful area. We got a personal tour from one of the monks and even celebrated mass with them. After mass we went to have a wine tasting. The monks at this Abbey make wine, olive oil, and an array of other useful products. They make the only white wine I've ever tried that I actually liked so I decided to buy it and bring it home to share with my family. I'm a red wine type of guy, so it was incredibly surprising that I could tolerate a white wine let alone like it. We ate an amazing lunch with the monk pictured below. It was nice having a small group for this trip. It made the entire experience that much more intimate.

I feel really bad because I can't remember this monk's name, but he was awesome!

We came back to Florence and I stopped in town for a few hours, soaking up what's left of my time here. Came back to the Villa, remembering I had gotten less than two hours of sleep the previous night, ate dinner then took a nap. Woke up a few hours ago and figured it would probably be nice of me to update this blog thingy that I decided to do.

All streaks must come to an end: even one as awesome as my blog streak. 8 Days and I leave Florence for good en route to Rome. Things are moving so fast now! Gah!

Love you guys! Hope you don't hate me too much for forgetting to post for two nights! Ciao a tutti!

God bless!

Are We There Yet?

It has been a LONG day, but that's ok. Had an Italian quiz this morning that went really well, even if it was the most difficult one we've had yet.

This afternoon for Father's class we had a Holy Hour and then turned in our papers. One of the best classes I've ever had, I think. I mean how often do you have a Holy Hour during class? Not that often.

Tonight has been awesome, though. It started out with the bar-b-q I mentioned last night and culminated with all the guys still at the Villa drinking and smoking out on the terrace overlooking Florence. It's the moments like those that I will never forget.

I think that's all though. Ciao a tutti!

God bless!

I Have a Headache

I figured I'd knock out part of my blog post in the title.

Anyway... today was our final/last class with Francesco. Rome won't be quite the same experience without our great tour guide showing us the ins and outs of the city. It has been less than a day and I already miss him and his dry sense of humor.

On a more annoying note... I was supposed to find out if I was hired for RA today around 7 my time... it is now past 10... Yay for BC running on time per usual. I promise as soon as I find out if I got it or not I will pass along the information!

This weekend I'll be heading to Bologna and Pesaro with Father Meinrad. It should be a good weekend. More on that when I get more information, but I'm really looking forward to spending some time with him.

Tomorrow I have a Italiano quiz and a bar-b-q with those not heading out for trips tomorrow evening. This has become a bittersweet few days for me. I want to return to the things I know and love in the states, but I also know that as soon as I get on that plane in Rome I will want to stay a few more months.

Picture taken the night of the Unification. They had similar lightings elsewhere around Florence.

Ah yes, I can't forget the most recent thing to have happened! Father Meinrad, Pietro, Anne, McKenna, Stacey, and I watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It's always fun to watch the genius of that movie.

I think that's it guys. Pray for me!

Ciao a tutti!

God bless!

You Know What Makes Me Laugh?

Smurfs.

A Monday is Still a Monday No Matter Where You Are...

So I woke up today a little under the weather, which is quite ironic since it was storming. I took some medicine and wrapped up in my bed to sleep off whatever it was that was ailing me. That plan did not work for long so I pulled out my laptop and started to watch The Big Bang Theory.

So that's how I've spent most of my day until I got up and went to the Supermarket for the last time in Florence... tear...

Otherwise, things are going really well. I just started my paper for Father Meinrad on the Knights Templar. Things are quickly starting to wrap up in Florence and in two weeks time I will be in Rome. Rome has always been my favorite city to study and I can't wait to finally be there! I feel like all of my posts lately have been lame... sorry! :-D

Catch you guys soon!

God bless!

Apparently there was a miscue with one of the pictures I posted earlier. Sorry to any of those that saw that. People don't seem to understand the internet is a free forum where things are going to be shared... anywho... replaced the picture. Stupid people annoy me...

Lazy Sunday

Not much to report today. Hope everyone had a blessed Sunday.

A view from the city walls.

God bless, my friends!

Whew! Another Great Week

This has been an absolutely busy week. I don't know when things are going to slow down (probably when I get back to the States) but I don't really know if I want it to quite yet. Our trip through the Umbria region was awesome. There was so much history and tradition in these hills that it's impossible to recount all of it.

This is from Norcia. My photos from Orvieto haven't uploaded yet.

The only place we went today was Orvieto to see the Eucharistic miracle. This particular miracle was when the priest doubted the legitimacy of the Eucharist and asked for a sign. During one of his masses, as he broke the bread, it began bleeding. The cloth that the blood fell on was saved and is hung above a side chapel. In this church as well there is the art that inspired Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel. It was an awesome day.

I'm really starting to miss my friends back home. Keep me in your prayers as my trip in Europe comes to a close within the next 30 days.

Ciao, my friends.

God bless!

Last Full Day in Umbria

Another knock-out day. I've been walking for the past week it seems. We went to Norcia to see the birthplace of St. Benedict and Cascia to see the uncorruptable body of St. Rita. Seems like everywhere we've gone in the past few weeks has been hilly beyond reason. I mean comon! There has to be something more than just hills here...

Anywho... tomorrow we are off to Orvieto and then back to Florence. I'm ready to get back to the Villa... holy cow...

We went into the mountains, as you can probably tell.

I'll try and do a recap of the entire week when I don't feel like I'm about to fall asleep at any second. Praying for all of you :)

God bless!

A Lazy Afternoon

Don't you just love lazy afternoons? I sure do...

As such, nothing of interest really happened. Although... tomorrow we go to Norcia to see where St. Benedict was born. We have another trip on Saturday and then we'll get back to Settignano Saturday night. It's going to be an interesting few days and I can't wait!

God bless!

Catching Up

So I think I've been skimping on my blog posts recently. I've been having one of those weeks where everything just seems to wear me out completely and by the time I get back to my room and am ready to post something to my blog I'm completely worn out. I haven't slept better than this in a LONG time. As soon as my head hits the pillow I'm out like a light. It's funny -- the first night I spent here I fell asleep in the middle of a rosary I was praying before bed (I know, you probably shouldn't do that... but I was tired!) and I woke up in the middle of the night with it almost around my shoulder. Not that you really need to know that, but in retrospect it kind of makes me laugh.

This is the fort that overlooks the town of Assisi. I actually ate lunch under its walls :)

This is where I'm going to attempt to catch you up on everything that has happened in Umbria. We arrived around eleven on Monday morning to a beautiful convent (yes, convent, look it up) of Franciscan friars. They showed us to our rooms and then allowed us to unpack a little bit before the program started. I was used to having pretty good cooking at the Villa, but the food here is unbelievable. We get three course meals at lunch and dinner. Out of this world how good the food has been. Anyway, lunch for that afternoon was at a pizzeria, as I may have mentioned earlier, and it honestly was the best pizza I've had in Italy thus far. The pizza is called Four Seasons and was just a whole lot of awesome. Met with Francesco afterward and toured for a while. I've finally started to get pictures up from Perugia and Assisi so the link in the top will be updated until at least Sunday so keep checking back if you'd like to see more of my photos.

Yesterday was my trip to Assisi. It's a very small town but one of the most beautiful and interesting places I've visited in Italia.

This the Cathedral of San Chiara (Claire) from the Fort.

I didn't realize it was possible, but Assisi was even hillier than Siena had been. Thankfully I was prepared for it and the hills didn't really bother me all that much. We visited just about everywhere in this wonderful town. We saw the crypt of San Chiara and the Basilica of San Francesco, even though the crypt was closed :(. We also visited the places that were of great importance to the formation of the Franciscan Order.

Apparently at the Church of St. Francis, which is pictured below, if you do what is required you can gain indulgences from visiting the small church inside of the newer church. I didn't even know indulgences still existed, but it didn't stop me from gaining one for myself.

The church of St. Francis.

I bought a few small souvenirs for myself and friends back home then we boarded the bus again and returned to Perugia.

This is our entire group in front of the Basilica. The woman on the far left (Jenny) is in charge of our program through the Villa.

Nathan took this picture of me by that fort I mentioned earlier. That is San Chiara in the background (right) I can't remember what the church to the left is called...

So that was my Assisi trip. Awesome.

Today we woke up to have three hours of Francesco's class before our tour of Perugia. It was another beautiful day for us. The things we weren't able to see on Monday we visited today. Below you will see a picture of one of the oldest churches in the world. Francesco was saying that it was unusual for it to be open and it wasn't even part of his plan to visit it so it was quite a good surprise.

That's a pretty sweet church, you might say...

We visited churches, ruins, and just about anything else you could imagine. We even visited San Domenico's church. It's awesome to see so much of my patron saint around Italy. This church has the biggest stain glass window in all of Italy.

I won't go through each place we visited, because that'd be just as boring for you to read as it would be tedious for me to recap. If you want to see where I visited, just look through my pictures. 

As we were walking around today I realized that I didn't have a picture with Francesco yet. I thought it was fitting to take a picture with him in his hometown so I managed to get three with him overlooking the skyline of Perugia.

Francesco and me :)

Tomorrow I have Father Meinrad's class and then we have the afternoon free. At 5:20 (my time) I have an interview with Student Life to be an RA next year so please keep me in your prayers as I take this next important step. Friday we go to Norcia & Cascia and then Saturday we will be travelling again to Orvieto. Hope everything is going well state-side. I will see you all in less than a month. It's hard to believe I'm down to a month in this wonderful place, but even the best things have to end some time.

Ciao and God bless!

Assisi

Today has been very long and I lack the energy to write anything significant. So instead of my wit, you will get a few of my pictures from Assisi and Perugia.

Assisi was incredibly cool and you will hear more about it tomorrow when I have more time to collect my thoughts and a clearer/more awake head. Keep praying guys -- I said a rosary for you all in the church of St. Francis today.

God bless!

This is in the main square. Each statue has its own meaning and inscription.

This was one of the first written laws in Perugia.

This is the statue outside of the Cathedral in the main square.

The view from the Monastery that we are staying in.

Perugia!

I have finally reached Perugia (after a two and a half hour bus ride) and thankfully I have internet. We're staying in a Franciscan convent by the name of Monteripido. Even though we're further south than Florence, we are currently in the mountains. Given that fact, it isn't hard to believe that it is much colder here than it was when we were at the villa. The bus dropped us off by the convent and we had to hike up the hill to get to our residence.

After getting settled, we walked down into Perugia to have lunch. We stopped at a pizzeria near the city center and I had a Four Seasons (mushrooms, artichokes, ham, and pepperoni) and a Coca-Cola. I can't remember if I've said this before, but the soda here is so much better than it is in the states. The syrup they use is so much sweeter and it just makes the entire experience more enjoyable. It was one of the best pizzas that I have had since I've been in Italy.

We then continued our jaunt into Perugia when we met up with Francesco (yay!) again. It was great to see him again and I missed having his great class every Wednesday. There are way too many things we saw today to be able to explain it all right now, but when I get the photos up you will be able to at least see a lot of the things that I did.

Tomorrow we're going to Assisi and I can't wait. Please keep praying :)

Love you guys!

God bless!

The main square.

AS Roma v. Fiorentina!!

Today has been amazing. First, I got to sleep in, which is always a good thing. Second, I got to see my favorite team play! Woot! As an added bonus, Francesco Totti started today (he's pretty old so he usually doesn't start). It was just an amazing day for many reasons.

This is a picture of the crowd in the middle of the game. They were a rowdy bunch.

The game had such a crazy atmosphere. When you watch European games on TV you don't really get the same feeling, I can say that with relative certainty. The stadium was absolutely electric. Of course, this is where I can also peg my biggest complaint. Of the things I could understand, the phrases and words that stood out were all the cursing and generally unwarranted yelling. These fans booed everything; they started spouting off when things went wrong; every time a player would go down they would start calling him names; they were just a rowdy group that would fall off a cliff before saying something against their time. I can appreciate that to a certain extent, but this was absolutely mad. De Rossi went down with an injury around the 88th minute and they again started calling him names and booing as he limped off the field and a sub replaced him. Unsportsmanlike and unwarranted. Even the players on the field weren't like that. For me that was the black eye of the entire experience and to the Italian sports fans that I saw today.

On a brighter note, I got to see both Francesco Totti and Daniele De Rossi -- my two favorite players on the field at the same time!

This is from a corner kick.

Both of them played extraordinarily well in a hard fought match. It was a special day for Totti as well. He scored two goals today and both were record breaking. They were his 200th and 201st goals in Serie A play. That puts him in sixth on the all time list for Italian football. I actually have a picture from one of his goals which you will see below.

Awesome picture, right? This was the penalty kick that gave him his 200th goal. Goalie dove the wrong way!

The rest of the pictures from the match are up in the top right where I normally post my albums. Hope you guys enjoy them.

Tomorrow we leave for Umbria and Perugia around 9 AM. This apparently means we have to pack up our rooms entirely and move them somewhere that hasn't been determined yet. Kind of frustrating. I guess it's a head start for Rome? Either way, it's going to take me a while to put all of my stuff together. Anywho... I think that about sums up my soccer game. It was an unbelievable experience and if you ever have the opportunity to see a game you definitely should.

Until next time, my friends.

God bless!

San Domenico

So I spent the day in Siena. Woke up at 6 AM, hopped on a bus and the rest is history, as it were.

This is the main square in Siena. 

I noticed a few things in particular while I was there:
1) San Domenico has a basilica in Siena = crazy awesome. I bought a rosary, medal, and book in the gift shop.
2) The layout and architecture of Siena is incredibly similar to that of Florence. Only difference is the streets are about ten to ten thousand times more confusing than the ones in Firenze.
3) I thought Settignano was hilly until I started walking in Siena... good grief...

I hope I don't have to explain this one...

I'm sure you're wondering why I haven't mentioned San Gimignano yet... and there's good reason for it... the bus schedules are all wacky on Saturday and we got out of Siena later than we had expected so by the time we had gotten to the bus stop we needed, it was too late for it to be worthwhile to go there especially with it about to rain. I think Siena alone was worth the trip, though.

Inside the Basilica di San Domenico are the remains of St. Catherine of Siena -- her incorruptible head and finger. It was weird to see someone who had been dead for so long have such humanly features. To be quite honest, it was kind of creepy... but cool nonetheless. McKenna and I wandered the streets and small markets for the rest of the day. 

Tomorrow doesn't slow down at all for me. AS Roma v. Fiorentina is tomorrow! Woot! I can't wait for this game. I've been planning for it since I got here, as most of you know, and it will be a once in a lifetime experience. Pray the soccer hooligans don't get too rowdy or just pray for a good game -- either will do.

Monday we leave for Umbria!!!!

You can't stop or I will pass you
If you slow down, I will out last you
But when you're down you won't find me laughing
And just one question I might ask you
But it might sound like a disaster
Can you make this thing go faster?

Kudos if you know the song without having to look it up. I know my brother Anthony will get it in a blink.

Ciao my friends! Until we meet again!

God bless!

A Simply Packed Weekend

O man, this is going to be an interesting weekend. Today has been slightly crazy but completely awesome. After lunch today, Daniel, Adam, McKenna, and I went to grab our tickets for the AS Roma v. Fiorentina game on Sunday @ 12:30. It's hard for me to believe that I will be going to see my favorite futbol team play live. Of course, before I even get to the game I have a trip to Siena and San Gimingnano tomorrow. Things just keep moving and they don't look to be slowing down any time soon. Monday morning we leave for Umbria and Perugia. It is unbelievable. Only four weeks left before I'm back in the states, yet there is so much to do before I even get to that point. Cinque Terre is coming up as well. For those who don't know, it's a beautiful beach town that has become somewhat of a tradition for the BC students who study in Florence to visit at least one time.

If I recall correctly, this was on top of the old armory in Berlin, Germany.

So after we went to get our tickets, we continued down in to Florence to get out of the Villa since a majority of the group is out on weekend trips. I ended up buying a pair of sunglasses and a great authentic Italian leather wallet with the Fiore on it, much like my journal, that I think is going to be a great lasting memory of my time here in Florence. After wandering for a few hours, we stopped by the super market on our way back to Settignano and I picked up some more cookies and wine. Seems like forever since I've had a bottle of wine at dinner.

That gets us to just about the present. I spent the time since I finished dinner to now reading. I finally finished reading Wizard's First Rule and will soon be starting the second book of the series called Stone of Tears. It has been a good long time since a book or series has grabbed my attention in such a strong fashion.

This is the cover art from the second book.

I think that's all, my friends. Until next time!

God bless!

Happy St. Patrick's Day and Italy Unification Day!

Today has been pretty crazy when coupled with last night. The 17th of March is when Italy was officially unified as one complete country 150 years ago. It's funny... Benedictine is older than Italy. Went out with Dylan to Lion's Fountain (pretty much an American bar) for a drink or two to honor both St. Pat and Italy before heading back to the Villa to relax for the night.

You know, it's weird to think that I'm going to be back to the states in about a month; yet I have SOOO much planned to do before I leave. It's crazy. Siena and San Gimingnano this weekend. The latter is known as a city of towers. At its peak, there were over 70 towers in the town. It should be pretty awesome from what I've heard from people who have already gone. Sunday, of course, is AS Roma v. Fiorentina. Can't wait for that! Umbria and Perugia next week... it never ends! haha

This was at a church in Vienna and for the life of me I can't remember the name. I apologize if any of these are repeats... I lose track sometimes... :-P

What else... what else... There really isn't much more that happened today. Maybe something interesting will happen tonight? Maybe? If so, I'll update again. But... seeing as I don't have anything else to say... buonasera!

God bless!

Longest Week Ever? I Believe So...

Well... today has been very long but productive. After our morning class we had the afternoon free so I spent my entire afternoon reading. It was great. I miss having this time to actually be able to relax and read a good book. Who'd have thought that it would have presented itself in Italy?

Anywho... for the 150 year anniversary of Italy's unification, just about all of the museums in Florence had free entry. I took advantage of this fact and went to the Academia, Uffizzi, & the Pitti Palace. It only went from 19:00-01:00 the following morning and we had dinner at 19:15, so it was an interesting trip cramming all of those into such a small time slot. The only thing worth mentioning from the night is the David. O Em Gee. Awesome.

Just got back from the craziness of the 'independence day,' so to speak, and it was crazy. Got pushed into different alleyways and streets I had never seen before because of the crowds that caused me to lose my way a few times, but that's ok.

There really isn't much more to say about the day. I watched the Pink Panther Strikes Again with Father after lunch, but beside that, there is nothing more to mention. I'll have more to say Saturday and Sunday, though! Saturday is Siena and San Gimingnano. Sunday is the AS Roma v. Fiorentina game. So excited for this weekend!

The top of the Duomo in Milan. This was a very impressive building.

Ciao a tutti!

Dio benedica!

A Friendly Discussion is Always Welcome

Today has been pretty interesting. Not for anything that I've done or seen in Europe, but rather upon the intercourse between a status I posted and the discussion that followed with an old friend from high school. Here's the full quote that I partially cut as to fit in to my status character length.

Because, Richard, many people must be ruled to thrive. In their selfishness and greed, they see free people as their oppressors. They wish to have a leader who will cut the taller plants so the sun will reach them. They think no plant should be allowed to grow taller than the shortest, and in that way give light to all. They would rather be provided a guiding light, regardless of the fuel, than light a candle themselves. Some are simply blind to the truth and fight for the lies they hear. And some find, once that guiding light is lit, that they are wearing chains, and then it is too late. 

pg 150 Wizard's First Rule

       Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander 

This is the cover art for Wizard's First Rule (at least my copy).

I've been reading it over break (finally caught up to where I was in the book before I left for Europe and stupidly left it behind) and I stumbled upon this quote about a week ago and it struck me as very profound so I wrote it down in a notebook on my computer. I was reading further today and I remembered the quote so I looked at it again and decided to post it on Facebook to see what everyone else thought about it. It had the desired effect: it sparked a dialogue that I so enjoyed. If you're curious, I'm tagged in the note and it is still somewhere near the top of my profile.

It is for this reason that I thoroughly enjoy Terry Goodkind, even though I've read so little of him. He is very good at portraying real world problems in a totally fantastic world where it is put to the extremes. I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of Wizard's First Rule as well as the rest of his series.

Anywho, that was the interesting section of my night. I took a nap today (my first one in Florence) and woke up for dinner. Then a group of us retired to the main classroom to watch the new Get Smart. So all in all it has been a great, kind of slow, but great day. Tomorrow we don't have class in the afternoon so I'm going to get my tickets for the AS Roma v. Fiorentina game as well as visit the Academia to see the David. This weekend I'm heading off to Siena and San Gimingnano for a day trip on Saturday with Pietro and Father. Umbria and Perugia next week with Assisi mixed in there somewhere. I'm really going to miss this place in a few weeks. 

Oh, but I've noticed I'm close to 1500 hits! Let's see if I can get to 2k before I leave Europe!

I love you guys!

God bless.

Back to the Grindstone...

So I started classes again after a great Spring Break. I'm really tired, but that's become a trend lately. Trying to figure out when exactly I'll be able to catch up on that... o well...

The video below is from a group I saw in Piazza Republica today. They totally made my day.

Anywho. Spring Break has finally settled in for me and it's unbelievable for me to think that I've had this many opportunities to travel and see these things that I thought I'd only be able to see in books and my dreams of course. Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Salzberg, Vienna, Bratislava, & Milan. It's hard to believe I fit all of that into ten days, but I did. It's probably going to take me a few days to fully understand all of it, but the awe of all of it is just starting to hit me.

Today after class I headed into Florence. I didn't realize how much I missed it and the type of home it has become for me. I had to walk the streets again -- I was completely stir crazy. I hopped the bus into town and walked the squares, running into the above group which was incredible. God has been providing for me when I need it most and in ways I never imagined. I walked back to San Marco after getting a Daniele De Rossi jersey from the national team. You may remember I had his picture up on the blog in an earlier post. I'll actually get to see him play this Sunday. Awesome! But when I got to San Marco, rain poured down and completely soaked me. It was the greatest most relaxing rain ever and it made me feel like everything was getting washed clean again. It's not often that I have that type of realization and feeling so distinctly, but it was there this afternoon.

Arrived back at the Villa, took a shower -- which was kind of superfluous, but still necessary -- ate dinner and then settled down to watch Francesco. This was the story of St. Francis of Assisi. We watched it because we are going to be in Assisi this next week. It was an interesting movie for many reasons. The biggest one being that the saint was portrayed by Mickey Rourke. Yea. Mickey Rourke. Guess who else was in it... Helena Bonham Carter. Talk about the most interesting cast for a religious film... o well.

I swear I will eventually revisit my Spring Break, but I just don't have the words to explain it at the moment. Hope you guys enjoy the group above as much as I did. I took four videos of them and this was one that best portrayed their sound and spirit in my opinion.

Hope you guys are doing well. Heard there was more snow in my neck of the woods. It's March over there, right? Crazy...

Love you guys! Keep me in your prayers; I assure you that you remain in mine.

God bless!

A Pleasant End to Spring Break

So much confetti...

It has been a great trip. Spring Break was absolutely amazing. I can't really reflect on all of it at the moment, but I'm just checking in. Been hanging out all evening with our group. There will be a video up from part of it.

Tomorrow I'll try and sum up my Spring Break. Love you guys!

God bless!

Milano: A Fitting End to an Amazing Journey

Today has been a long travelling day, as quite a few have been. It has been really awesome, though. We got up at 5 AM, ate breakfast, then Bernd took us to the train station so we could get to Bratislava, Slovakia.

Bratislava

Funny thing. We missed our stop in Bratislava and had to retrace our steps. Kind of stressful when you don't know if you're going to make your flight or not and you're in a foreign land. Thankfully, God had my back again and got us to the airport with plenty of time to spare.

We flew over the Alps, if you couldn't guess what this was a picture of.

Landing in Bergamo (about 40 minutes outside of Milan) we hopped on a bus and went to Milan Central where we met Pietro at platform #8. We spent the entire day walking around Milan with Pietro and it was absolutely fantastic. This has been the perfect end to an unbelievable Spring Break. Links to Milan will be up in that box soon.

Love you guys!

Ciao!

God Bless!

Vienna = Awesomer

Yes, I just made up a word for my title. Get over it. Today has been fantastic. It's getting hard for me to rank the cities I've visited. Aside from Hamburg, Germany & Austria have been absolutely amazing. Doro's parents have been more than hospitable and have been a great joy to finally meet.

So let's update you a little on what happened after I left for Austria. We got into the train station at 5:40 and we hadn't really communicated with Bernd to see when or where we were going to meet him. Luckily I had a rough idea of what he looked like, so after circling around the station once to see if I could find him, he hopped off the escalator and walked by; naturally I followed him off and tapped him on the shoulder. God was watching over us, as always, and it turned out to be him. I don't know what we would've done had we not been able to find him. He immediately took us onto the U-Bahn and led us to the best dinner I've had in Europe yet. Chicken, pork, bread, potato salad, wine, and a whole lot more. It was unbelievable.

Doro's sister was also in Vienna this week and this is her son Dominik. I only found it fitting to take a picture with him.

They led us back to their house where Dominik and his brother Alex told me about themselves in broken English, but I was very impressed with how well they were able to communicate at such a young age in a foreign language. They both play hockey and Dominik played the Berlin Bears' hockey anthem for me, translating as it went, and it is quite catchy. I currently have it saved to my youtube and I'll post it below.

We finished the night drinking more wine and watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding. This made me miss my family that much more, but I'm really enjoying my trips. Vienna was absolutely beautiful. We left around 9:30 today to start our tour around the town and I'm pretty sure we saw just about everything, if not more, than we set out to accomplish.

Most of the buildings in this town were completely misleading. You'd think they were quite small, walk through an arch and see one of the biggest and most beautiful places you can think.

There were a lot of statues like this. Atypical Austrian men wrestling all sorts of animals.

The most amazing place, though, was the Schönbrunn Palace.

This is a view from the top of the hill inside the palace grounds.

Words can't describe how enjoyable this day was for me. To fully comprehend what I saw, you'll have to look through my photos from Vienna that are now up in the top right. Shouldn't take you long... there are only 260 of them.


I head off to Bratislava, Slovakia, tomorrow morning at 5 AM so I can get on my flight to Milan. There we will meet up with Pietro and see the sights. I'm really looking forward to it. This should be a great end to my Spring Break.


I hope you guys have enjoyed my trip through Germany and Austria. I love all of you and can't wait to see you all again.


Much love!


God bless!

My Final Day in Munich

I'm sure you're all wondering why I didn't post anything of substance last night and there is a very legitimate reason. After our Dachau tour, David and I partook in the Munich Beer Challenge. More on that later.

Inside the main government building in Munich,

We started our day by waking up around 9 (yay!) so we could get ready for our trip to Dachau around 10. The tour group picks up at our hostel so we had to be ready a little sooner than we would have been otherwise. A guy from Spain walked us to the meeting point for all the tours of the day. This is where we bought our tickets for Dachau and waited for the tour to begin. For our entertainment, we had two dogs running around the square playing. Reminded me of how Hektor and Oscar play when they think no one is looking.

The tour left at 11 and we made our way to the train station so that we could go outside of Munich to the smaller town of Dachau.

The guardhouse to Dachau.

Marcin, our tour guide from England, was freaking awesome. He's a professional jazz musician (mainly saxophone) and composer. On the way there we had plenty to talk about that wasn't a concentration camp, which I think was a good way to start off the tour. It's really funny or weird, depending upon how you look at it, that I've run into two professional saxophone players since I've arrived in Europe. Anywho, on to Dachau.

The town itself is quaint, but when you get off the bust at the camp it's unbelievable how much the atmosphere changes. Dachau was the mothership and model for all concentration camps around Europe. This was the scale to which all others were measure. Next door to the camp was the SS training facility. Almost all of the SS and infamous Gestapo/SS came from this very town from these very buildings. When you walk inside, it's hard to imagine what it would've looked like while it was still in use, but it was still an unbelievably sad and sobering sight.

Imagine thousands of prisoners lined up in this yard.

Marcin was one of the best tour guides I have had and he was incredibly knowledgeable about Dachau's history. They would line up everybody in the courtyard you see above, make them take off their hats, and bow their heads to the SS every morning as they were all counted. Marcin was telling us how everything they did was to in some way dehumanize the prisoners. We saw four main places, the museum, the barracks, the crematoriums, and the gas chambers. The chambers we saw were completely original and were, again, the model for the rest of the system. Everything started in Dachau. They ran all their tests and started a lot of their experiments within these gates.

I'm not going to post the chamber or crematorium pictures here. If you'd like to look through all of my pictures in Munich, they are now available in the top right corner. Per usual, it's hard for me to fully digest the magnitude of yesterday.

Now on to something completely different... and I mean completely...

The Munich Beer Challenge!

We got back to Munich around 4:30, ran to our hotel to rest a bit, then returned to the train station for the Munich Beer Challenge! We visited three of the most famous bar houses in the world last night. It was awesome. Got a beer in the station and walked through to the tram. Did I mention it's legal to just walk around the city with open alcohol. And to get on the tram with it as well? Oh the small things I'll miss...

Anywho... we had great beer all night. I can't remember any of the brews or names of the pubs at the moment, but I'm sure I'll do that research eventually. Maybe if you squint you might be able to make the name off the menu that is under Erin's hands. I think it was a tad too much alcohol for one night -- I had over 2.5 liters. The tour was through the same company so I ended up running in to Marcin again. It was great. Above is the main group of people I was drinking with. Two Canadians, two Americans, and one New Zealander. Luckily for me, the tour ended right back at the bar in my hostel with a shot of Jaeger... seem like a bad idea to give us shots after so much beer? I think so too. I was starting to get dizzy and whatnot around 11 so I came back to my room, quickly posted what you saw last night (which seemed quite sober, if I do say so myself) and passed out. Just woke up, looked up my train information and am now about to leave for Austria.

Hope this was a good update. I'll talk to you guys later!

God bless!

A Full Day

It's really late and it has been a full day so tomorrow will have both my trip to Vienna and my last night in Munich. I've absolutely loved this place. Now to sleep and wake up in the morning and travel some more.

God bless!

München

So I survived my 9 hour bus ride from Berlin to Munich. That's WAY too long to be sitting down. We had stopped in Nuremberg for a few minutes when all of a sudden two Polizei approached David and me on the bus. They asked to see our passports. Scared the buhjeezus out of me. I was trying to figure out why they would just make a beeline to us and demand our passports. As the incident got further away it started to make some sense. We couldn't speak German so the attendant kept looking at as funny as we tried to tell her what was going on. Didn't realize I could be a suspect just for travelling. They gave us the whole nine yards: asking us why were in Germany, where we were from, when we would be leaving Germany (rude!), and how we had gotten to be on the bus. It ended up being nothing, but it gave us a little bit of a what the hell? moment amidst the 9 hours of suck.

The bus passed through Nuremberg and Dresden. It was weird to think about all of the crap that has happened to Germany throughout their history. I kept thinking about the bombings in Dresden, the forests that covered this beautiful land, and what it must have been like to be a combatant in WWII. Luckily I am not old enough to remember or have seen those horrors. As we rode into Munich, we saw the Olympic Park. Oh. My. God. Unbelievable. This thing was freaking massive and was one of the most impressive buildings I have ever seen.

Of course, David and I lost our way to the hostel. The directions seemed so simple. Streets in Europe are anything but simple. You know how I said last night's hostel was the best I've stayed? Well, Euro Youth Hotel is even better. This hostel is alive with young people. And Happy Hour every day from 6-9. I love how hostels in Germany all have bars in them...

We planned out the rest of our trip as soon as we were settled in to our new home. We're going to leave Thursday morning for Salzburg and then on to Vienna to finish out our trip. Tomorrow we're going to do the Dachau tour. I'm really excited. Kind of odd to be excited to go somewhere that there was so much inhumanity, but it's one of those things that I feel will be completely humbling and incredible. A greater appreciation for what I have the opportunity of doing with my life. This is through the same company who did the free tour in Berlin, but this one sadly has a charge.

When we were adequately rested, we went out on the town to see what Mardi Gras in Munich was like. There was smashed glass EVERYWHERE and people were roaming all over the place. I'm sure the city will be much more appealing tomorrow when everything is cleaned up. I've done nothing in Munich and I already like the feel the city possesses.

I think that's it for today, guys. Tomorrow is going to be a rough day, I think, just because of the strain it will put on my emotions. I'm prepared for it, but I'm not sure you can ever be ready for that type of experience.

Until next time, my friends.

God bless!

Berlin = Awesome

Today has been a great but tiring day. Kenny, David, and I went on a free walking tour today of Berlin at 11 o'clock this morning, so we headed straight to the Brandenburg Gate. The company we went through is called New Europe and there is a similar tour running in Munich as well. Ended up getting a caramel coffee at Dunkin' Donuts before the tour started and bought my first patch for my jacket... yes, I got American coffee in Europe, sue me, I like them...

The statue on top of the Brandenburg Gate.

Barry, our tour guide, was really cool. An Irishmen staying in Berlin who was very knowledgeable and fun. It was well worth the time and blisters on my feet. Well that's kind of a lie. I already have a blister on my foot... so the worsening of said blister on my foot. Either way, it was awesome.

Barry and me at the end of the tour.

Here's a quick list of places we visited: Brandenburg Gate, Hitler's Bunker, Holocaust Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie, Potsdamer Platz, SS Headquarters, Berlin Wall, TV Tower, Pariser Platz, and the list goes on. It was déjà vu to have another Irishmen giving me a tour; made me flash back to Galway and my tours to Connemara & Cong, and the Cliffs of Moher & the Burren. That seems SO far away. Man...

After the tour was over David and I tried to go to Postdam, but since we had to leave early in the morning for our 8 hour bus ride (blech) to Munich in the morning, we decided to hit up more of the things in Berlin that we hadn't yet done. So we went to the Reichstag and rode the fastest elevator in the world so we could see the beautiful skyline of the city.

In front of the Reichstag.

No we're relaxing back at the hostel. I'm kind of flooded with thoughts of the day, and I'm sure I left some things out. Maybe if I can collect those wandering thoughts I'll post them here later. Berlin is in the top 3 cities I have visited thus far. Here's how they stack up at the moment:

Florence

Berlin

Galway/Venice

So there you have it! My top 3 cities I've visited in Europe so far!

God bless!