Once I made my decision to come back to Italy for a second semester I had some dates marked on my calendar: Groundhog Day, Earth Day, and April 10th-14th. As I am clearly joshing about the first two, I'll move right along to the last which were the dates that my program was taking everyone to Sicily. (Jury is still out on whether our tuition money was used to pay for it or it actually was free. I like the idea of it being free so let's work with that)
Every Italian I know (over 4,000), told me that Sicily is amazing. The beaches, the sites, and, of course, the food. We left Bologna early on a Thursday morning and flew into Catania. The weather was pretty hot and we had a very boring tour of the city. However, we did walk through the food market which was nuts. There was meat and fruit all over the place. Whole pigs dangling on ropes, big cuts of beef, great smelling oranges. I even think I saw a small dinosaur. I'm not sure, but I think so. Then we took a bus to a town called Siracusa. We had a big charter bus to ourselves and the bus driver, who's name was never disclosed, was a crazy cat. I am taking a risk saying this but I have to let my readers know that this man was bizzare. The only real thing I can tell you is that me and my boys named him "Joe Killer". He was the guy everyone, adults included, tried to avoid sitting next to when we ate dinner.
We stayed at a hotel in Siracusa that was cool and called Hotel Gutowski. (Seriously. Hotel Gutowski) The only problem was that my roommate, Francesco, had just got back from 2 weeks in Morocco and let's just say he was looking and feeling like the boys in The Sandlot after they take the tobacco and go to the carnival. We went and played frisbee near the water which was nice and highlighted by me almost hitting a lady no younger than 65 in the head. As I missed her by less than an inch, I pulled a Jim Carrey in Dumb & Dumber at the diner and turned away and pointed to someone else.
The second day in Sicily can be summed up in one word: DELICIOUS. My number one thing to do in Sicily was to have a cannoli. We went to this town called Noto which is suppose to have a cafe that has the best cannoli's in the world. It was true. I felt like I was eating a tasty cloud. The ricotta cheese was sweet, but not to sweet and had a texture that was just right. Oh man was it good. The other Sicilian food I had wanted is called an arancino which is tomato sauce with meat, rice, and carrots in a fried ball. Had a bundle of those. Good stuff.
That night we went out to dinner as a program that lasted 4 hours. No lie. There was lots of food and even an intermission so we can digest the first part and get ready for the second. That night some of us went out to this bar, recommended by the waitress, for this girls birthday. It turns out it was the only place open that night and it was pandemonium. I mean straight chaos. It was like Black Friday at Best Buy or Wal-Mart. I loved it. I was taking pictures and baby steps for about 5 minutes straight.
The next day we went to another city and that meant a new hotel. It also meant that there was a flaw in the plan. The 3 other guys in the program were placed in a triple while I was put with two other girls in another room. As I entered the room pondering how fast I could use the facilities, change clothes, and go to the beach, one of the girls took a look at the Queen bed and then the small one on the side and threw her bag on the Queen. "Looks like you got the small one" she said. "No it doesn't" I said and I threw my bag on the big one, too. I think baffled or shock would best describe the look on her face. Turns out the Queen was two twins put together so we were straight anyway.
Everyone went to the beach that was right behind our hotel and going in the water was fun. Did some body surfing (is anyone actually good at that?) and played more frisbee. The show was stolen by a little Sicilian girl who decided to chase Nick around. At first everything was cool until Nick fell down and she decided to throw sand in his face and then hair. Ouch. What can you even do about that? Throw sand back at her? Pick her up and throw her in the ocean? He just had to sit there. It was rough yet comical.
That night we went to a new hotel that was more like a bed & breakfast. It was in the suburbs at the very top of a big hill with a great view. It was very relaxing and nice. The dinner there was right up my alley. I knew we were in for a treat when each person got an antipasta plate. It had 7 different meats or vegetables on it with the best being a sauteed eggplant with meat in it. Oh boy. Best believe I asked for more of those. There was salami, prosciutto, cheese, and other foods I cannot recall. The pasta we had next was great, too. Pasta alla norma. Eggplant and tomato sauce. Then the plate of meat came out. Sausage and beef. My thing on this trip was to always be near at least one vegetarian so I could get a little extra. The vegetarians are better than the super picky one's. Vegetarians go about their business and keep it cool instead of "Oh! What's that? It looks bad. I'm going to smell it. Yuck"
First off, you shouldn't be smelling your food. Specially not in Sicily. If you need to, do it casually. Bring it close to your mouth and get a whiff. DO NOT put your big, ugly face into the plate. Also, if something doesn't look particularly appetizing to you, that's fine but keep that to yourself. As I'm going for a bite I do not want to hear what you think of it. Nor does anyone else. Just shut up and eat.
My motto for this trip was to just keep eating. I often found myself thinking: "I'm not hungry. But I'm going to eat". At dinners and lunches I would make sure to get my fill. I kept it under control but I never left hungry.
So here is to Sicilia. You lived up to the hype and provided me with some absolutely deliciousness. Salute!
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
(Non) Morning People
This study abroad experience has provided me with several experiences and taught me many things. From living with Italians to cooking lessons to soccer games, I have seen some stuff. However, it is something that my fellow Americans have said as well as their actions, that have stuck out to me the most. I'm talking about those folks who label themselves "not a morning person"
Does anyone else hate hearing this? What does it even mean? Nobody likes when the alarm goes off and you have to go to class or to work but you got to do it. What did these "non morning people" do in high school? Some of these folks pick their classes based on what time they begin as opposed to what interests them. "So why are you taking Trigonometry in Modern Day Russia"? "Because it starts at 2 in the afternoon" Nobody wants to take a class at 8:30 in the morning but we gotta draw the line somewhere.
I have fallen asleep in class plenty of times. Everyone has. But you have to do it in the proper way. You can go for the hand covering the eyes while you have the pen in the hand so it looks like you are taking notes. Or you can excuse yourself and go to the restroom and you can catch some z's while on the seat. But please, don't just let your head fall back and your mouth drop. Please do not. Firstly, you are way too obvious. Secondly, you scare me and my fellow classmates. Sure you provide some good entertainment but after awhile it becomes embarrassing and disrespectful.
I am just having a hard time when people say they "just can't do mornings". Mornings are when the days begin. That's how life works. I don't know anyone who "does afternoons" or "is a dusk person". I'm not saying that I can hop out of bed and immediately do the "Thriller" dance but I'm saying I can get myself together in the mornings. When these folks graduate from college, what are they going to do? I can't imagine these (non) morning people going to apply for a job and trying to explain themselves.
"Is there anything else you would like us to know?"
"Yeah. I have a hard time working in the morning. I'm not a morning person"
"Okay, grrrrreat. You are definetly not going to get this job. But thanks for coming in!"
If you start getting up at the same time every morning and get into a routine, you will actually end up getting more hours of sleep. Its when you go to sleep at 4Am after watching T.G.I.F. re- runs on youtube and wake up at 2PM that you start to run into trouble. I do have a bit of job advice for those who do not wish to work before the clock hits noon.
You basically have two options:
A) Be one of those jerk-ass guards at a student dorm at a big college like NYU or BU. You can get the night shift and wear a wack ass outfit and abuse what little authority you have
B) Be homeless.
Does anyone else hate hearing this? What does it even mean? Nobody likes when the alarm goes off and you have to go to class or to work but you got to do it. What did these "non morning people" do in high school? Some of these folks pick their classes based on what time they begin as opposed to what interests them. "So why are you taking Trigonometry in Modern Day Russia"? "Because it starts at 2 in the afternoon" Nobody wants to take a class at 8:30 in the morning but we gotta draw the line somewhere.
I have fallen asleep in class plenty of times. Everyone has. But you have to do it in the proper way. You can go for the hand covering the eyes while you have the pen in the hand so it looks like you are taking notes. Or you can excuse yourself and go to the restroom and you can catch some z's while on the seat. But please, don't just let your head fall back and your mouth drop. Please do not. Firstly, you are way too obvious. Secondly, you scare me and my fellow classmates. Sure you provide some good entertainment but after awhile it becomes embarrassing and disrespectful.
I am just having a hard time when people say they "just can't do mornings". Mornings are when the days begin. That's how life works. I don't know anyone who "does afternoons" or "is a dusk person". I'm not saying that I can hop out of bed and immediately do the "Thriller" dance but I'm saying I can get myself together in the mornings. When these folks graduate from college, what are they going to do? I can't imagine these (non) morning people going to apply for a job and trying to explain themselves.
"Is there anything else you would like us to know?"
"Yeah. I have a hard time working in the morning. I'm not a morning person"
"Okay, grrrrreat. You are definetly not going to get this job. But thanks for coming in!"
If you start getting up at the same time every morning and get into a routine, you will actually end up getting more hours of sleep. Its when you go to sleep at 4Am after watching T.G.I.F. re- runs on youtube and wake up at 2PM that you start to run into trouble. I do have a bit of job advice for those who do not wish to work before the clock hits noon.
You basically have two options:
A) Be one of those jerk-ass guards at a student dorm at a big college like NYU or BU. You can get the night shift and wear a wack ass outfit and abuse what little authority you have
B) Be homeless.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Deep Breath
I have been off the blog scene for a minute due to various reasons. Some good things been happening lately that got a brotha distracted. But a big part was due to my spring break. I, along with 4 others went to Spain and Portugal for 10 days.
I was really looking forward to this trip. I mean Barcelona is suppose to be super nice. Ever since the 1992 USA Dream Team won gold there I had been wanting to go. OK, not only because of that but it was a small part of it. We had Madrid, Barcelona, and Lisbon, Portugal on the itinerary. I decided not to go to Morocco with the group and go to the South of Spain of my own. (4th best decision I've ever made)
I have never had the opportunity to do extensive traveling with someone outside of my family. I've never traveled anywhere with girls in a small group. Sure I have gone on Chorus trips with girls but that was with well over 40 people. I didn't really know what to expect seeing as I had never done it but I didn't expect it to be like this.
I believe it was during the second night in Barcelona I knew I was around some unique company. After the other two guys and myself separated from the two sisters for dinner, we met back up to go out. My boy Nick asked one of the girls if they had seafood for dinner and they responded with: "No, we had salmon". Dead serious they did not know salmon was considered seafood. No I can't blame someone for not knowing Einstein's theory or not knowing the capital of Venezuela but I can say there go some stupid folks if you don't know salmon is seafood.
The trip continued in this manner: stupid comments, lots of complaining without doing anything about it, and constantly starting days late. It got to the point that I sent my mom an email describing the trip.
Dear ma,
Things are cool. Portugal is real nice. I like it a lot. These two girls are driving me crazy. If I could get away with it, I'd kill them.
Love, Ari
I almost didn't write that. Not because I didn't want to tell my ma or because it wasn't true but because that could be used against me in a court of law. If things went down, they could go into my email records and use that as evidence. But I was so annoyed and fed up, I decided to go through with it.
I honestly would double major in Russian and Arabic before traveling with these girls again. Hell, I'd even adopt an entire family from Indonesia before taking a walk to the supermarket with them. People have asked me why are you saying all this. Why so mean? Its not mean. Its truth. When folks ask me how my trip was I tell them. I'm not a liar and I'm not gonna sugar coat nothing. "My trip was real cool. Spain and Portugal are great. Don't ever travel with these sisters"
Did I mention that one of the girls, while booking a plane ticket, put down this one guys name twice instead of my name? Oh, I must have forgot. That means I also forgot to mention she never admitted it was her fault, or said sorry. We had to pay a total of 90 Euros to change the ticket and pay the difference in the price of the flight.
I'm not a hater by nature. I'm not. But I will say what's going on. Did I say that these two girls sounded like a mix between Darth Vader and Paul Bunyan? Because they did. I could carry on and on but it is not worth my time nor yours to write everything here. If you want more stories, get at me.
I will say that one of the highlights of the trip was being on my own in the South of Spain. Granada and Malaga were great, small, peaceful cities. Barcelona was real cool but very touristy and real spread out. Definetly gotta be there when the weather is warm. Madrid was aight. Real big and nothing that was out of the ordinary. And Lisbon is the best city you've never been to. A lot like San Francisco, too.
What is really unfortunate is that some folks were like "Oh I knew it! " after I tell them about the trip. I'm just wondering why nobody told Ari? Everyone is so giddy that they knew it was gonna be like that but decided they were gonna play secrets. Heads up for everyone, if your friend is gonna travel with someone and you think it might be problematic, tell them. Please.
But, its over. Its in the past. Nothing to do about it now. I ate, drank, took pictures, and saw some great stuff. Now, its off to Sicily with my program. And one of the girls...
I'll be sure to keep my distance. And stay away from sharp objects that could tempt me.
I was really looking forward to this trip. I mean Barcelona is suppose to be super nice. Ever since the 1992 USA Dream Team won gold there I had been wanting to go. OK, not only because of that but it was a small part of it. We had Madrid, Barcelona, and Lisbon, Portugal on the itinerary. I decided not to go to Morocco with the group and go to the South of Spain of my own. (4th best decision I've ever made)
I have never had the opportunity to do extensive traveling with someone outside of my family. I've never traveled anywhere with girls in a small group. Sure I have gone on Chorus trips with girls but that was with well over 40 people. I didn't really know what to expect seeing as I had never done it but I didn't expect it to be like this.
I believe it was during the second night in Barcelona I knew I was around some unique company. After the other two guys and myself separated from the two sisters for dinner, we met back up to go out. My boy Nick asked one of the girls if they had seafood for dinner and they responded with: "No, we had salmon". Dead serious they did not know salmon was considered seafood. No I can't blame someone for not knowing Einstein's theory or not knowing the capital of Venezuela but I can say there go some stupid folks if you don't know salmon is seafood.
The trip continued in this manner: stupid comments, lots of complaining without doing anything about it, and constantly starting days late. It got to the point that I sent my mom an email describing the trip.
Dear ma,
Things are cool. Portugal is real nice. I like it a lot. These two girls are driving me crazy. If I could get away with it, I'd kill them.
Love, Ari
I almost didn't write that. Not because I didn't want to tell my ma or because it wasn't true but because that could be used against me in a court of law. If things went down, they could go into my email records and use that as evidence. But I was so annoyed and fed up, I decided to go through with it.
I honestly would double major in Russian and Arabic before traveling with these girls again. Hell, I'd even adopt an entire family from Indonesia before taking a walk to the supermarket with them. People have asked me why are you saying all this. Why so mean? Its not mean. Its truth. When folks ask me how my trip was I tell them. I'm not a liar and I'm not gonna sugar coat nothing. "My trip was real cool. Spain and Portugal are great. Don't ever travel with these sisters"
Did I mention that one of the girls, while booking a plane ticket, put down this one guys name twice instead of my name? Oh, I must have forgot. That means I also forgot to mention she never admitted it was her fault, or said sorry. We had to pay a total of 90 Euros to change the ticket and pay the difference in the price of the flight.
I'm not a hater by nature. I'm not. But I will say what's going on. Did I say that these two girls sounded like a mix between Darth Vader and Paul Bunyan? Because they did. I could carry on and on but it is not worth my time nor yours to write everything here. If you want more stories, get at me.
I will say that one of the highlights of the trip was being on my own in the South of Spain. Granada and Malaga were great, small, peaceful cities. Barcelona was real cool but very touristy and real spread out. Definetly gotta be there when the weather is warm. Madrid was aight. Real big and nothing that was out of the ordinary. And Lisbon is the best city you've never been to. A lot like San Francisco, too.
What is really unfortunate is that some folks were like "Oh I knew it! " after I tell them about the trip. I'm just wondering why nobody told Ari? Everyone is so giddy that they knew it was gonna be like that but decided they were gonna play secrets. Heads up for everyone, if your friend is gonna travel with someone and you think it might be problematic, tell them. Please.
But, its over. Its in the past. Nothing to do about it now. I ate, drank, took pictures, and saw some great stuff. Now, its off to Sicily with my program. And one of the girls...
I'll be sure to keep my distance. And stay away from sharp objects that could tempt me.
Frightening yet Intriguing
Although I have touched on this subject before, it always finds a way to work itself back into the mix. I'm talking about the gym. Nothing completely crazy ever happens but its all the little things that make the gym experience unique.
I have heard some stories from the girls locker room which sound ridiculous. I won't go into details but let's just say everything guys think goes on in women's locker rooms actually does over here.
But back to the matter at hand. As I have said before, my gym is the low budget one. We are talking a handful of machines in a tiny space. So tiny that you have to turn sideways to walk when its rush hour. But its cool, it gets the job done.
Now, if you go to the gym you have your regulars. You have those who are there just to tell their friends later that day that "Yeah, and I went to the gym today". You got your folks that will wear as little clothing as possible to show off as much of the body as possible. The folks who are new to the gym and take very long sips from their water bottle just to stall and study the machine (how hard is the stationary bike though, really). And then you got the folks who are too muscular and actually make you feel weird when you look at them.
Now I got one of those in my gym. The catch is, its a woman. Before you judge, I have no problem with women working out or being muscular. No sir. Got the hair tied back, short shorts on, or the black leggings, and the asics or nikes. You might have left the earring on. Sounds good to me. The thing with this woman is that she is a grunter.
I strongly dislike the folks who must grunt and make noises while working out. If you are doing that, you are doing too much weight or running too fast. It makes me feel weird when I hear these people that sound like they are on their death bed. I don't know whether I should offer them my inhaler (I would never) or run and get help.
The thing is, I can't help but look at them. Maybe because its so distracting, or maybe because I want to witness something go down. Either way, I periodically stare. And that is what recently got me in trouble. While I was in the gym this week, there was one woman who looked like she could give Hulk Hogan a run for his money.
No lie, she sounded like Sea Lion in mating season. She was grunting and coughing, and all that and I would look over that way every now and then just to see if I could be the first person on the scene if something happened. After I had looked 3 times, she caught me. Our eyes met and my initial reaction was to turn away. And I did. But I stupidly turned back immediately. (Come on everyone does that) And she was still staring at me.
I didn't back down but after a second or two she did one of the weirdest things I've seen in about 5 to 10: she flexed her muscles. I'm still not sure if this was to prove her dominance, challenge me, or express her interest in me. Either way it was odd. I turned to the clock on the wall real quick and reacted in a "Oh no! I'm late" kind of way and got the hell outta there.
As I put on my Spidey backpack she gave me a "ciao" and I responded with a ciao but didn't look her in the eyes. I'm going to try and avoid her but part of me wants to see her again cuz the whole situation is so ridiculous. I'm all about the stories and situations just so I can look back and be like "Damn".
So here's to hoping I don't run into Xena: Warrior Princess again
And here's to hoping I do
I have heard some stories from the girls locker room which sound ridiculous. I won't go into details but let's just say everything guys think goes on in women's locker rooms actually does over here.
But back to the matter at hand. As I have said before, my gym is the low budget one. We are talking a handful of machines in a tiny space. So tiny that you have to turn sideways to walk when its rush hour. But its cool, it gets the job done.
Now, if you go to the gym you have your regulars. You have those who are there just to tell their friends later that day that "Yeah, and I went to the gym today". You got your folks that will wear as little clothing as possible to show off as much of the body as possible. The folks who are new to the gym and take very long sips from their water bottle just to stall and study the machine (how hard is the stationary bike though, really). And then you got the folks who are too muscular and actually make you feel weird when you look at them.
Now I got one of those in my gym. The catch is, its a woman. Before you judge, I have no problem with women working out or being muscular. No sir. Got the hair tied back, short shorts on, or the black leggings, and the asics or nikes. You might have left the earring on. Sounds good to me. The thing with this woman is that she is a grunter.
I strongly dislike the folks who must grunt and make noises while working out. If you are doing that, you are doing too much weight or running too fast. It makes me feel weird when I hear these people that sound like they are on their death bed. I don't know whether I should offer them my inhaler (I would never) or run and get help.
The thing is, I can't help but look at them. Maybe because its so distracting, or maybe because I want to witness something go down. Either way, I periodically stare. And that is what recently got me in trouble. While I was in the gym this week, there was one woman who looked like she could give Hulk Hogan a run for his money.
No lie, she sounded like Sea Lion in mating season. She was grunting and coughing, and all that and I would look over that way every now and then just to see if I could be the first person on the scene if something happened. After I had looked 3 times, she caught me. Our eyes met and my initial reaction was to turn away. And I did. But I stupidly turned back immediately. (Come on everyone does that) And she was still staring at me.
I didn't back down but after a second or two she did one of the weirdest things I've seen in about 5 to 10: she flexed her muscles. I'm still not sure if this was to prove her dominance, challenge me, or express her interest in me. Either way it was odd. I turned to the clock on the wall real quick and reacted in a "Oh no! I'm late" kind of way and got the hell outta there.
As I put on my Spidey backpack she gave me a "ciao" and I responded with a ciao but didn't look her in the eyes. I'm going to try and avoid her but part of me wants to see her again cuz the whole situation is so ridiculous. I'm all about the stories and situations just so I can look back and be like "Damn".
So here's to hoping I don't run into Xena: Warrior Princess again
And here's to hoping I do
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