Well, this has been one hell of a week, one of my favorites so far, and that is saying a lot.
This weekend i went to cusano mutri, a tiny little mountain town where they hold a mushroom festival for 3 weeks a year. The first thing that sticks out in my mind about the trip was the amazing food. Mushroom veal, chicken, spaghetti, and some delicious sausage and bread. The three meals i ate at the festival are among my favorite meals of all times, even including the one i almost died during because of the most brutal hangover i have ever experienced. I met some really cool people i hadn't had a chance to get to know too much yet, and the group in all was just awesome to spend time with. There were two paleontology museums we went to while there (something about an ancient lagoon that lead to perfect fossilization. It was really interesting but looked like a 8th grade science project. apparently there isn't a lot of funding for tiny mountain town paleontology museums in the world.
Tuesday night was one of the most fun times i have had in my entire life. There was karaoke in rinaldo's, the snack bar and rec room area of campus. They gave out two beers per person, but most of us could afford to spring for our own alcohol for such an event. It seemed like the entire campus was down there, and everyone was singing along to every song, while dancing like it was 1897, but at one of the seedier establishments of the gilded age. girls were twirling and dipping and singing and generally looking great, while the guys were sweating and shuffling our feet and trying not to look like we possessed two left feet. it was so much fun.
The hits just keep on coming, because a lot of us woke up early and went and saw his holiness the Vicar of Christ on Earth Pope Benedict XVI. It was a great great experience to see how much he meant to all of the people there, and i really have never seen anything as impressive as st peters square full of people cheering, with a full papal entourage in front of the most impressive church i have ever seen and il Papa sitting right there. The woman in front of me burst into tears and the audience was incredible. They did everything in 5 languages (italian, german, french, english and russian) and the man who spoke in english had one of the coolest voices i have ever heard in my entire life. The experience was one i will truly never forget.
wednesday night was our first calcio game, and was it ever awesome. Calcio means soccer in italian (or so i've been lead to believe) and there are 10 teams made up of JFRC students, SLA's, administrators and teachers. The first games were interesting, because it seemed like everyone was so rusty or had never played soccer before. Based on my history of body building and marathon running, it was decided i should probably play goalie. I was nutmegged for the first goal against my team, but after that i kind of held my own. it turned out that i was not that big of a factor in the decision, as one guy on my team had 5 goals, and another had a hat trick. We ended up winning 11-6, and no other team scored more than 5 total. I had a really flukey goal about a min and a half into the game when i lofted a kick down the middle of the field and the other goalie didnt judge it right and it went in. it made me feel bad for the other goalie, but hey, i got my goal for the year, so i'll be fine.
tonight i have a party set up by my philosophy teacher down in trestevere (the bad spelling continues) which is one of the coolest places in rome for late night partying. i am really excited about it, but i am disappointed heading into the weekend because THE snoop d-o-double-gizzle was supposed to play rome on saturday but the show got canceled today. bummer. I am still going to stay in town this weekend, so maybe i won't bore you to death with another monster post like this next week. Hope you are all having the time of your lives like i am, and feel free to drop me an email (jwarmuth@slu.edu) or a fb message any time.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Cinque Terre
Hey guys, i figured i would put a quick post up about last weekend before i headed out for a great trip this weekend. I spent the weekend in Cinque Terre, or the 5 lands (cities, whatever) We spent the weekend drinking with australians, hiking on intense trails and loving the sweet mistress 4 roses (a sweet brand of burbon i would recomend).
We stayed in Riomaggore (spelling has never been my forte, and i dont feel like looking anything up, so just understand you are getting approximations). It was a really picturesque and we had a great time swimming and laying out on the rocks.
at this point, i feel it might be good to add that i was the only one out of the 15 of us that:
wasnt jacked
didnt know everyone
smoked
lived, or had ever lived, in the midwest
it made for an interesting time, and i got to meet some really great people though.
We ate some pizza on the street (10 euro for a gigantic pie) then got into the business of drinking four roses. me and my friend danny polished off the bottle in a hurry, which prompted my knew friends to do whatever they could to quench my thirst. a little rum here, a swig of vodka there, pour in some vino rosso for the trouble and presto! your alchemy project has netted you a drunk john.
danny and i were a little, shall we say, tender then next morning and decided, you know, we wont wake up at 9 to go hiking. In the end we finally made it out of bed at 1:30, but still managed to make it to all five cities (four by walking and the last by train). The cities were all so beautiful and the pictures i didn't take would have been great.
Other then that, nothing too much going on. There is a school study trip to the mushroom festival at Cusano Mutri this weekend, and where you find mushrooms, sans psylosiben, (you see what i mean about the spelling) you will find me. I will hit you guys back with another update sometime next week about this week, and jim, i will get back to you about that matter we discussed, the situation looks decidedly unpretty. hope you kids are having a great time in your lives, and feel free to drop me a line, jwarmuth@slu.edu.
We stayed in Riomaggore (spelling has never been my forte, and i dont feel like looking anything up, so just understand you are getting approximations). It was a really picturesque and we had a great time swimming and laying out on the rocks.
at this point, i feel it might be good to add that i was the only one out of the 15 of us that:
wasnt jacked
didnt know everyone
smoked
lived, or had ever lived, in the midwest
it made for an interesting time, and i got to meet some really great people though.
We ate some pizza on the street (10 euro for a gigantic pie) then got into the business of drinking four roses. me and my friend danny polished off the bottle in a hurry, which prompted my knew friends to do whatever they could to quench my thirst. a little rum here, a swig of vodka there, pour in some vino rosso for the trouble and presto! your alchemy project has netted you a drunk john.
danny and i were a little, shall we say, tender then next morning and decided, you know, we wont wake up at 9 to go hiking. In the end we finally made it out of bed at 1:30, but still managed to make it to all five cities (four by walking and the last by train). The cities were all so beautiful and the pictures i didn't take would have been great.
Other then that, nothing too much going on. There is a school study trip to the mushroom festival at Cusano Mutri this weekend, and where you find mushrooms, sans psylosiben, (you see what i mean about the spelling) you will find me. I will hit you guys back with another update sometime next week about this week, and jim, i will get back to you about that matter we discussed, the situation looks decidedly unpretty. hope you kids are having a great time in your lives, and feel free to drop me a line, jwarmuth@slu.edu.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
First week
Well, since getting back from our trip things have settled down a little bit. I got separated from my friends again while downtown, apparently something i'm going to have to learn to deal with.
The first mass in the chapel was cool, there is a new priest here for this semester, and he seems like a really sweet dude. Fr. Al even came into the first mass blind and just asked for volunteers to do the readings and the procession of the gifts and act as eucharistic ministers (i stepped up and did the readings).
I have stayed in since the getting abandoned (well, mostly just lost, but i like to act the victim time and again) because i spent a pretty penny that night when left to my own devices.
I have spent an ungodly amount of money in the past 5 hours actually, as i sit here writing this. i just signed up for the study trip to cusano mutri, bought books (and that hurts double, i havnt bought books in forever) and then agreed to go with a friend to cinque terra, where we will go hiking (think spring break arizona style hiking). So now i have to try to develop a whimper and a limp and sit outside the pantheon so i can afford to drink for the rest of the semester.
Actually, the vino flows like wine from the 5 liter jugs for 5 euro (even better than 5 for 5.95). seriously, its the popov of europe, and its not like i know any better as to what good wine is.
Classes so far have been sweet, i have a baller ass philosophy teacher who actually moved the class outside, then once out there bummed me a cig. My italian teacher is really energetic and kind of cute, and my history teacher.... well, i wasnt quite "on time" per se, so i dont know too much about him.
Other than all of that, all is well. if you guys have any extra money laying around, i'll take it, but an email or fb message would be just as good. jwarmuth@slu.edu
The first mass in the chapel was cool, there is a new priest here for this semester, and he seems like a really sweet dude. Fr. Al even came into the first mass blind and just asked for volunteers to do the readings and the procession of the gifts and act as eucharistic ministers (i stepped up and did the readings).
I have stayed in since the getting abandoned (well, mostly just lost, but i like to act the victim time and again) because i spent a pretty penny that night when left to my own devices.
I have spent an ungodly amount of money in the past 5 hours actually, as i sit here writing this. i just signed up for the study trip to cusano mutri, bought books (and that hurts double, i havnt bought books in forever) and then agreed to go with a friend to cinque terra, where we will go hiking (think spring break arizona style hiking). So now i have to try to develop a whimper and a limp and sit outside the pantheon so i can afford to drink for the rest of the semester.
Actually, the vino flows like wine from the 5 liter jugs for 5 euro (even better than 5 for 5.95). seriously, its the popov of europe, and its not like i know any better as to what good wine is.
Classes so far have been sweet, i have a baller ass philosophy teacher who actually moved the class outside, then once out there bummed me a cig. My italian teacher is really energetic and kind of cute, and my history teacher.... well, i wasnt quite "on time" per se, so i dont know too much about him.
Other than all of that, all is well. if you guys have any extra money laying around, i'll take it, but an email or fb message would be just as good. jwarmuth@slu.edu
Thursday, September 4, 2008
A tour de Italia
just got back from my orientation trip a couple hours ago, and we had so much fun.
We started in Verona (where i couldn't stop channeling my inner mercutio) and saw Aida, an opera about an Ethiopian princess falling for an Egyptian general. the singing was great, but the main part that i loved was opera was held in an old roman amphitheater, which actually predates the Colosseum by 50 years. The acoustics were so amazing that they didn't even have to mike the performers, and i sat where people sat almost 2000 years ago. The second night we decided to dominate the hell out of the hotel bar, and pretty much ransacked their wine celler. oops, guess the american in us doesnt fade easily
We then went to Sienna, a really beautiful city that reminded me a lot of Galway, with the gothic architecture and the small, college town feel. I started getting hit pretty hard by allergies, so i didn't get to go out and see the city at night, but a couple of new friends and i shared a bottle of wine out on the veranda over looking the beautiful city.
we finished up in Assisi, which puts san Francisco to shame with the number and grade of the hills. the people of the city must have the most amazing quads this side of the atlantic ocean. I got a chance to see the final resting place and churches of St. Francis and St. Claire, and hear a little more about their history and their impact on the Umbria region and beyond. It was a pretty moving experience to be in the presence of someone who had such a huge impact on the world.
The bus rides were pretty crappy and my allergies were annoying and all, but i feel like the trip was a month, not 5 days. Going out like that really let me key into the culture more then just a couple trips into Rome would have.
let me know what is going on back home, it would be great to hear from some of you. jwarmuth@slu.edu
We started in Verona (where i couldn't stop channeling my inner mercutio) and saw Aida, an opera about an Ethiopian princess falling for an Egyptian general. the singing was great, but the main part that i loved was opera was held in an old roman amphitheater, which actually predates the Colosseum by 50 years. The acoustics were so amazing that they didn't even have to mike the performers, and i sat where people sat almost 2000 years ago. The second night we decided to dominate the hell out of the hotel bar, and pretty much ransacked their wine celler. oops, guess the american in us doesnt fade easily
We then went to Sienna, a really beautiful city that reminded me a lot of Galway, with the gothic architecture and the small, college town feel. I started getting hit pretty hard by allergies, so i didn't get to go out and see the city at night, but a couple of new friends and i shared a bottle of wine out on the veranda over looking the beautiful city.
we finished up in Assisi, which puts san Francisco to shame with the number and grade of the hills. the people of the city must have the most amazing quads this side of the atlantic ocean. I got a chance to see the final resting place and churches of St. Francis and St. Claire, and hear a little more about their history and their impact on the Umbria region and beyond. It was a pretty moving experience to be in the presence of someone who had such a huge impact on the world.
The bus rides were pretty crappy and my allergies were annoying and all, but i feel like the trip was a month, not 5 days. Going out like that really let me key into the culture more then just a couple trips into Rome would have.
let me know what is going on back home, it would be great to hear from some of you. jwarmuth@slu.edu
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