A Few Days In...

Let me start by apologizing for my lack of posts for the past couple of days. Classes have really started to get into full swing, and between traveling and working on assignments, I'm not left with a lot of free time.

Now, let's get started.

Since I have a horrible memory, I'm just going to touch on some things that happened on Tuesday, Wednesday, and today without going into a ton of detail. This way, I get to write less, and you get to read less!

Tuesday started off with my 8AM Entrepreneurial Strategy class. Other than the time, I'm really enjoying it. The material is interesting, and the teacher looks exactly like Steve Jobs -- buzzed, gray hair, blazer, button-up shirt with no tie, slacks with no belt. I have the feeling he was trying very hard for that look. But thats neither here nor there. Anywho, this class went until 9:30, followed by an hour and a half break until my 11AM International Business class started. This teacher is very Russian. His name is Mikhail Grachev and his accent is very intimidating. His personality, however, is fantastic. He's very funny, and has experienced a lot, including helping break down the Berlin wall.

Tuesday evening, I went over to the mall in a nearby town with a group of people. It was about a quarter of the size of University Mall, but had three sports stores, a Home Depo-esque hardware store, some clothing stores, a food court, and a supermarket. The supermarket had a large cheese room:

We walked around for a while, ate some pizza and some gelato, and came back to campus.

Wednesday started the same way, but that evening, I went to Bassano del Grappa. This city was beautiful with tons of shops, cafes, and gorgeous scenery. And, of course, I forgot my camera. Once again, the iPhone will have to do.

While in Bassano, I got some fresh cheese, a blueberry and rum crepe, and (of course) some gelato. This gelato trip was more interesting than the persious ones, however. After ordering, one of my friends dropped a Euro behind the glass into the tiramisu gelato. The next couple of minutes were spent trying to articulate the incident to the woman working there, who didn't speak a lick of English. Finally, he got the message across, and left the store quite embarassed.

Now we get to today's events. Again, more classes, but today, I had a four hour afternoon Entrepreneurial Strategy class where we split into groups, came up with a business idea, and pitched it to the rest of the class, who then voted on whether it was an idea worth marketing or worth throwing in the trash. In the next week or so, we are going to have to draft a complete business plan.

This evening was spent writing a paper for my International Business class on the effects of globalization on the American economy. Fun.

Tomorrow afternoon is the official start of my first weekend during the program. Some of my friends and I are heading over to Florence for a couple of days. This being said, there will probably not be another post until Monday.

G'night everyone

In Need of a Title

Today was hectic. It started off at about 5:30AM when I woke up. I had trouble sleeping (still getting over jet lag), so when I woke up again at 5:30, I just decided to go ahead and get ready for the day. My weekend in Venice was over, and today was the day that I would finally arrive at Paderno del Grappa for my summer classes. After I showered and all that good stuff, I packed up my things for checkout. I left my bags in my room and headed out into Venice before checkout. I stopped by the water bus dock again to go ahead and buy a ticket to the train station.

I stuck the ticket in my pocket and headed back to the hotel. I grabbed breakfast there, which consisted of sliced capicola, salami, and ham, olives, juice, nutella’d toast, and various cheeses. After breakfast, I went back up to my room, grabbed my things, and checked out of Hotel Da Bruno. This all happened before 8, so the city was still pretty empty. I kind of enjoyed the quiet.

At around 9, I arrived at the San Lucia train station in Venice, and purchased a 9:50 ticket for Bassano (which is where I would then take a bus to Paderno). When 9:50 came around, there was no train -- 10:00, still nothing. Everyone around me (including myself) became very confused, so we found a conductor and asked what was going on. After explaining it to everyone in about four different languages, he let us know that the train was not coming (great), and that we needed to take the train to another city first (can’t remember the name), and then immediately transfer to the Bassano train from there. I hopped on the train, still a little nervous about the detour. I got even more nervous as the conductor started walking down the train cars, checking people’s tickets for correct validation. Luckily, I did mine correctly, but the young French couple to my right wasn’t so lucky. They were awarded for their incorrect validation to the tune of a 50 Euro fine. Needless to say, they were not happy.

After about an hour, I arrived in Bassano, where I went straight across the street from the station to a gazette stand to buy my bus ticket. I had finally made it to a place where it was hard to find someone who spoke English. I knew it would happen eventually, but I wasn’t quite ready for it yet. After sending a flurry of improvised hand gestures to the man at the gazette stand, I finally got a bus ticket out of him. He showed me to the bus stop that was supposed to take me to Paderno on its way to Pederobba. I thanked him and sat down on the bench. Here, I met the only man from Bassano to Paderno that spoke English -- a really cool blind guy. He felt around with his cane for a seat, and after bumping into me, he apologized in Italian. When I responded in English, he said “Oh, haha! Is there a place here for me to sit?” I led him over to the seat next to me, and we waited for the bus together. After about 2 hours, I started to wonder if my bus would ever get there (it was already an hour late). Finally, a bus to Pederobba pulled up, but not in the place that the man showed me earlier. I guess I must have gestured incorrectly. Nevertheless, I got on the bus and pulled out Google Maps on my phone to make sure I got off at the right stop.

I arrived at the Filippin campus in Paderno about 40 minutes later. I signed in, got my textbooks, and headed up to my room to unpack. After I unloaded all of my things into their respective drawers and cubbies, I went back downstairs for our orientation. Not much to say about that except that the man in charge of discipline (a retired Italian police officer) scared us all with stories of past summers where people were arrested, injured, and sent home. He then gave us a wave and a smile and went on his way. Later, I ate dinner at the cafeteria, took a look around campus, and got familiar with my schedule -- yay for 8:00AM classes! Tonight will probably consist of food and catching up on sleep.

Here is my dorm room and the view from my window:

Tomorrow…classes start.

Gettin' My Gelato On

Previously on “I Miei Viaggi”:
-Got on some planes
-Babies screamed
-Got to Venice
-Ate some delicious food

Day two of my trip started a little later than I had planned. Still getting over the jet lag, I woke up around 10:30AM, missing my hotel’s breakfast. Once I did finally wake up, I got ready and headed into town. I explored for a few hours, trying to get lost again. Around 12, I grabbed lunch at a small café-esque restaurant and ordered this pizza pie topped with spinach, two kinds of mushrooms, tomatoes, cheese, and more -- very, very delicious. The man who took my order looked like he was straight out of "Lady and the Tramp;" goatee, black hair pulled into a ponytail, slightly overweight, singing and whistling while he made the food. I was so happy. Immediately after, I treated myself to some tiramisu gelato, and carried my cone around with me while I walked around and took pictures (these two pictures were taken with my iPhone's camera, but the rest were taken by my actual camera).

When I arrived yesterday evening, I thought the city was pretty busy already…today was completely different. There were people everywhere, from locals to tacky tourists (the former usually giving the stink-eye to the latter). Some places were completely congested, making it hard to move around, but these areas were usually near the docks and the market. I took some side passages, attempting to bypass the crowds and ended up finding lots of really beautiful and interesting places. Unfortunately, the theatre I found was closed, so I was stuck peering into the windows. It looks like there might me one or two shows going on when I come back to Venice in two weeks with my friend, Chip Harrison (who is studying abroad in Greece this summer).

Looking around some more, I saw some Italian kids playing soccer in front of some old buildings. Nearby, another little boy was holding some bread, while the local birds executed an all-out assault onto his hands and arms. I quickly found that children are so much cuter when they are speaking a language I can't understand.

After walking around for a few hours, I stopped by my hotel to take a quick nap. This quick nap turned into a three-hour nap, but I definitely felt better. I satisfied my grumpy stomach with an enormous slice of margarita pizza, followed by another scoop of gelato (this time, hazelnut). Since I will be leaving Venice for Paderno del Grappa tomorrow morning, I left the hotel again and went to the water bus station to ask the best way to get to the train station. I was originally under the impression that the train was very close to my hotel, but it turns out that it is over an hour walk -- glad I asked. Looks like I will instead be taking a ten minute water bus to the station. Once I’m there, the plan is to get a train ticket to Bassano del Grappa, and then a bus ticket to Paderno del Grappa, where I will start my summer classes on Tuesday.

Well, it’s past 10PM here, so I’m feeling a late dinner. Maybe some more gelato….definitely some more gelato. Be afraid, Connor’s bidet, be very afraid.

Tomorrow will be my travel day, so hopefully there will be a lot to talk about. See you then.

Boats, Babies, Bolognese Lasagna

Here begins my blog. We’ll see how long I can keep it up, but hopefully there will be an entry almost every day. In lack of a more creative way to start off my first post, I’ll just jump right in:

My trip began today around 1:30PM, when I left Tuscaloosa for the Atlanta International Airport. I got there early, checked my bags, ate, and boarded my 9:15PM flight to Heathrow Airport in London. This eight hour trip consisted of screaming babies, abundant turbulence, and long restroom lines; but immediately became more pleasant after popping in a couple of Dramamine pills.

After landing at Heathrow, I grabbed my luggage, went through customs, and purchased a bus ticket to the Gatwick airport (about a forty-five minute drive). When I arrived, I re-checked my bags, went through customs a second time, and ate my first meal abroad, “beef and ale pie with mash and veggies”-- t’was decent. Afterwards, I grabbed a mocha from Costa Coffee and sat around until my 4:10PM flight.

When 4:10 came around, I hopped on my last flight of the day (more screaming babies) to the Marco Polo Airport in Venice. This trip was much shorter than the first, totaling about 4 hours. Once I landed and got my things together, I set out on a public water bus, headed to the Rialto Bridge in Venice.

As soon as we docked at Rialto, I asked around for directions to my hotel (Da Bruno), which was about a five minute walk from the bridge, nestled in a small square of shops and restaurants. I dropped my things off in my room and went back out to walk around the city. Even though Venice is a huge network of streets and alleys, I really didn’t have that much trouble finding my way around. All I had to do was follow the signs back to the Rialto Bridge, and find my way back to the hotel. Many of the shops were already closed, so I’ll write more about those later this week, but what I did see was beautiful. The buildings were very…Italian-looking. All I can really say is that it was everything I expected and more.

At around 10:30PM (Venice time), it was time to have my first true Italian meal. After looking around for a while, I decided on Ristorante Marco Polo, and I do not regret this decision one bit. The meal consisted of selections from three different columns, each being a single course. I started off with a Bolognese Lasagna, followed that up with an amazing chicken dish, and finished it all off with a mystery desert (the menu simply said “homemade dessert,” but it was delicious nonetheless. Every single bite was fantastic, and the atmosphere was amazing. I’m not sure if these cell phone pictures will do it justice, but you’ll have to trust me.

Whelp, that just about concludes episode one of “I Miei Viaggi.” Tune in tomorrow for episode two, where I get into a tussle with the local police and jump from the Rialto Bridge onto an unsuspecting gondola!

PS: I have a bidet.