Morocco (cont.)

9:54 PADOVA - Woke up pretty early to grab a quick orange juice in the market and then we took off to see the beautiful mosque in the center of the city. It was closed for some reason and we couldn't go in but it was cool to see that and the gardens around it. After that we did a little more shopping in the market and eventually (after some difficulties explaining where we needed to go) made it to the station to go to Casablanca. In Casablanca we took another "taxi" to our hotel from which we could see the port and water. We were given a room originally in which we weren't allowed to sleep in for "safety reasons". Whatever that meant. The hotel had internet and I was able to call home and talk to the family who were either up north or at the ballgame.
That night we took a walk around Casablanca towards the mosque where we really felt like we were in a different world. Of the hundreds of people there we were obviously the foreigners and I don't think there were many (if any) other tourists around. That was a really cool feeling. We eventually made it to Rick's for dinner. The atmosphere at Rick's was really chill and they had a live jazz band playing while we ate - a lovely end to a lovely trip.
It was a little sad to leave this strange and foreign place but it was nice to be going back to somewhere more familiar at the same time.
Real quick thoughts:
Having just finished a course on the sociology of Islam it is really interesting comparing the cultures (our Christian world with their Muslim world). I, personally, think it stems from differences in how we view time and money. There, it seemed, that everyone lived in the same poverty-stricken boat, where every helps everyone else get through life by buying from each other, trading, helping the elderly. It was cool for me to contribute to their way of life by buying stuff there. It seemed to me that even though I didn't speak their language(s), they still tried to communicate with me and were very personable. Yes, they wanted my money but they were happy just to "talk" and help me out by providing services, and products that I might need. It was a stark contrast to when we returned and on the bus ride home we overheard these older Italian men talking condescendingly about the Japanese and Americans that are here in Italy. In more ways that I can express the trip to Morocco was definately an eye-opener.

Quick update - Morocco

Friday, June 22 12:55PM PADOVA - It's hard to believe that my last week is finally here. There are some many things I have been doing that I haven't updated on here but I am going to do my best to catch you up. The last place I left off was between my Amsterdam and Morocco trips WAY back in April. Joe and I got back from Amsterdam spent a couple of days at lessons and then took off again to Morocco with Kylie and Tisha. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.
Arriving in Casablanca on a Friday morning we immediately experienced our first bit of the native culture where everything was in Arabic or French (which none of us spoke) and we had a tough time finding an ATM to get the local currency (the Dirham) and buy our first breakfast brioche.
Finding the train to Marrakech wasn't too bad and we had the help of a local police man to buy us tickets and tell us where and when to get off. We had to change trains in Casablanca (because the airport was a little out of the city) and after a several hour train ride through the deserted Morroccan country-side with the occasional "town" going by we knew that we were about as far as we could be from Kansas.
Arriving in Marrakech mid-afternoon we exited the station to a mob of people all offering various things: Hotels, car rides, jewelry, knives, etc. We took a random stab in the dark and asked some guy to give us a ride. After hopping into his car we showed him where we needed to go and we drove through the crazy traffic and city that is Marrakech until we arrived at this small little ally where we got out, paid the guy and then he handed us to some other randomn on the street. Somehow we made it to the exact place we needed to be and our newfound friend Hasan made us tea while our rooms were prepared.
After sending us with someone else to another location we arrived at our Riad (like a hotel) which was about a 4-5 minute walk to the famous market Djemaa el Fna where we were completely blown away by the sensations the market presented us with.
The smell of all types of meat and vegetables roasting at almost every stand, the sounds of vibrant life: snake charmers, beating drums, people yelling, asking you -no pleading for you - to come and eat at their place "Number 42!". The visuals of a setting sun over this grandiose marketplace with smoke rising, various animals, people from all walks of life. It was truly an imagery I will never forget.
After eating a scrumptous lamb/mystery meat dinner with cous-cous in the square, we walked around the periphery where all the little shops were selling anything you could ever ask for.
We decided we didn't want to stay out too late that night because we had arranged for a trip to the Atlas mountains the following morning so we went back to the Riad where I taught the Californians how to play Euchre and we watched an Eddie Murphy movie with Arabic subtitles.
The following morning we met Hamid where we were dropped off and we hopped into a white van with windows and waited for an hour for the Spaniards who were supposed to come with us to show up. Eventually they came and we took off for the mountains. We stopped at several places to admire the scenery (even though it was cloudy in the morning) and have stuff offered to us. We stopped at a tradtional home and had tea, we went camel riding, and we climbed up a waterfall crossing Indiana Jones-like bridges (some with more difficulties than others), and ate another delicious meal. After that long day we got back in time to go out and have another nice dinner above the famous square. By that point it was time for another round of Euchre and sleep because the following day came the mosque and Casablanca!
More on that to come...

So... Lately I haven't had school

5:04 PADOVA - Don't ask why, but any reason is reason enough not to have school in this country. Yesterday was the festival of liberation - the freeing the country of communism I believe. My roommates said it was thanks to the yankees so they said thanks to me while the local communist party had a big demonstration in the piazza. It was lovely.
After my mom and my brother's left from Venice last week, I took a relatively chill weekend and week in Padova before I left again with Joe for Amsterdam. We spent our first night in Treviso with Checca and her family who made an amazing dinner and then went out and found Johannes. Amsterdam came early the next morning...
When we finally got there Joe had to do a trans-atlantic interview for an internship and then we hit the town. After a couple bars, some great food, and the Van Gogh museum we met some Danish people in our 24 person hostel room and found out what Amsterdam has to offer for the nightlife.
I'll just say this: Amsterdam is a crazy city as it is, but when the sun goes down it's even crazier. The people you can find there are really diverse. Good times.
Saturday we walked all around Amsterdam with our Danish friends and went to the Heineken museum for most of the day. That was a blast, then we had a Shoarma (kebab type thing) and chilled and drank with Jesper and Mads while the 40 year old Las Vegas dude sleeping next to us toked up and slept the entire time.
Sunday Joe and I went to the tourist office and took a trip outside of Amsterdam to the nearest tourist city with Windmills and Tulips. We were the only people under 50 I think. Complete change from the night before.
We stayed up all Sunday night to catch our plane home on Monday and its been rather regular Padovian life until tomorrow when Joe, Tisha, Kylie and I take off for Casablanca in French Morocco. More on that soon!

Ciao!

Pictures

1:03 AM PADOVA. More to come! Click here.

Roma with the fam

Hey all--
It's Danny comin at you from Steve's apartment. We just got off of our train from Roma and we had a great time!!
Our flight was clear, and although it was very, very long, we managed alright. We proceeded to take a nap and meet Steve at our hotel.
Our hotel was perfect--a 5-10 minute walk to St. Peter's Basilica and we got 2 nice rooms. "Hotel Alimandi was a perfect location, and an authentic Italian family-run business--I highly recommend it."
-Jean, Italian Hotel Critic

We didn't do much the first day (Wednesday), but enjoyed a great dinner right across the street from the Pantheon.
Thursday morning brought a tour of the Vatican Museum, and a bypassing of the mile-long line. We met up with one of Steve's best friends from St. Joan, and he joined us for the tour. The Sistine Chapel was sistine, and everything was really just peachy. It is just mind-boggling to see everything, it was all so beautiful!!
The food is amazing and so is the gelato. I could live on magherita pizza and ciocolatto gelato, without ever getting bored at all.
Friday brought a tour of the Necropolis from ancient Rome, which was pretty interesting. We also saw the Stations of the Cross at the beautiful Colosseum. It was long, and not being able to understand any of it didn't contribute to the matter. Bill and I cut out a little early, but the Colosseum was still cool.
Saturday we visited the Spanish Steps and most of the piazzas. We could sit and eat under 70 degree weather, enjoying some nice accordian music (typical Italy, apparently). Then, came Mass with the Pope for the Easter Vigil at the Basilica. After finding some of our friends that we met at the Colosseum, we snuck in line with them, and an hour and a half later, we were in the Basilica. Finally, three hours later, the Pope came down the aisle. We could have touched him with a golf club, we were so close!!
Anyway, we are having a great time and can't wait to tell you all about it in person. Stay warm back in MI, we'll absorb some sunlight for you!!
Talk to you guys later!!

-Danny

(Another) Roman Holiday

12:30 AM - PADOVA- Hey all! Tomorrow (today) I am heading down to Rome to meet my Mom and brothers. I am really stoked. Also, I took my midterm today and scored a 28/30! Life is good. Hope all is well - contact me and let me know what's going on with you!

Uno studente italiano?

12:48 PADOVA - Hey all! After seven months I'm starting to feel like somewhat of an Italian student - even if that means I'm not really doing anything. These last couple of weeks I have had two classes at the University and one at the Study Center and when I try I can understand *almost* all that they are saying (with the help of some context clues). My two classes at the University are: Sociology of Religion I (Isam) and Sociology of the Communication of the Masses while my one at the Study Center is a comparative politics class focusing on the Italian politica. They are rather interesting.
Two weeks ago two friends from High School, Jess Parsh and Megan Irving made their way over here from Spain - they are studying in Sevilla - and in the weekend we did Padova, Verona and Venice and we celebrated Megan's 21st! I am getting to be a rather decent tour guide of the Veneto region so you better come soon before I'm gone (and then forget)! A week from today I will be in Rome waiting for my mother and brothers to arrive! I've done the tourist thing there a few times as well so we can ask them how I am as a tourguide I'm sure they will be my best critics.
Also, I have booked two trips for April (Morocco and Amsterdam) and found out that my sister will be able to come in May! Over all my life is pretty darn good. :-)
Yesterday a couple of us went to an Italian political discussion at a local bookstore as the American diplomats. It was a very intense experience and even though I know some stuff was lost in translation I felt we did a decent job representing the Red, White and Blue. This weekend I need to study a little bit because I have an exam on Tuesday :-O !
Write me an e-mail and let me know what's going on at home!

Spring Break Wolverine Style

12:03 PADOVA - Finally back from a great week of good times with good friends. After Berman came last week Saturday we made it to Rome on Sunday and met up with Lisa and Nadia for a pub crawl that night. Pub crawls are fun, however they are totally Americanized. The people running the show are mostly Americans and barely (if at all) know the language. The hostel we were staying at was putting on a pub crawl/night tour of Rome however they even spelled the main drink they were serving wrong! They spelled it PERSECO instead of Prosecco. It was kind of sad but I got over it. Pub crawl was still fun, and we got up quasi-early the next day and did my standard "Rome in a Day" trip. We hit the Vatican, Roman Forum, Spanish Steps, Pantheon, Jewish Ghetto, Colleseum in no particular order. Then we met up with Nadia's friend who is studying in Rome at this really nice restaurant where we had a nice dinner and some great wine. Tuesday came and Berm and I were off back to Padova. We made it in time for some spritz in the Piazza and then a dinner in the mensa (Italian cafeteria).
Berm and I took it easy that night and were off the next day to Verona to pick up Kristy and Liz from the airport. After a debacle trying to figure out where the airport was we made it in time to greet the girls and we came back to Padova for a pizza dinner with some of the Americans.
Wednesday night in the piazza was pretty crazy as usual and we ended up at the discoteque for a little bit of dancing. It was really nice to see Kristy :-)
Thursday was spent in Venice... it was beautiful weather and great company. Berman left Thursday night and Liz, Kristy and I were out to Paris Friday afternoon.
Arriviamo in Paris and we went to eat near the Cathedral of Notre Dame. Then we found a great gyro place and then a bar in the Latin quarter of Paris (student district).
Saturday we did Paris in a day. We started off at the Musée d'Orsay, made our way to the Louvre! and down the Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe. We ate some crepes on the way and then made it to the Tour Eiffel where we saw a freestylin' footballer named Iya Traore who was fun to watch. Then we made it back to Notre Dame to see inside and then it started to rain so we grabbed some food, etc. and called it a day. Kristy and I went out to an Italian restaraunt for dinner and then we were off in the morning - she and Liz to Detroit and I to Milan.
Made it to my hotel in Milan after three hours in the Italian airport (they lost the bag I knew I shouldn't have checked) and walked around town with an older couple who showed me around the city. I got some Burger King! which I haven't had in a long time, saw a pretty sweet old castle with a moat and drawbridge and then made my way over to the Teatro dal Verme where I waited with some enthusiastic Dave Matthews fans for the much anticipated Dave and Tim show. Made some Milan friends and then retired around 1 because I had to be up at 7 to try and get to class (which I missed most of:-/ ). Oh well, it was a good time all around I can miss a little bit of class. THis week has been full of class and Megan and Jess are arriving tomorrow from Spain! So here we go again this weekend! Speaking of Norseman, Congrats to Billy-Boy and the boys' basketball team who won their district game the other night vs. Detroit Southeastern! Go Norsemen. Alright it's back to class, Have a good one!

Martedi Grasso and a trip to the snow

10:40 PM Padova - Hey all! My buddy Berm just got in today we are taking it easy tonight as he is a little jet-lagged and tomorrow we are off to Rome so I thought I'd try to catch up...
A lot has happened over the past two weeks... last Monday I decided I wanted to go skiing in the Alps and that I was going to leave after our meeting the next day to go to Livigno to get some studying and skiing in. The next day before our meeting Carina said she wanted to go too so she went home to pack and I looked up how to get there and we left right after the meeting. Halfway there (after two trains and our first bus) we found out that a bus didn't go from Tirano to Livigno after a certain hour so following some advice we switched plans to Bormio and jumped on a bus from Tirano.
What a great decision.
On the busride there we asked a young guy named Marco where a cheap hotel was and he brought us to the "Piccolo Mondo" (small world) Hotel where we met Alessandro and his family who runs it. We went out and got a quick bite to eat and then hit the hay kind of early because tomorrow we were up and skiing!
Wednesday, skiied all day (Carina snowboarded) and then we went to the public baths afterwards. Those were pretty neat they had a water slide and some hot tubs so we were fine but we didn't stay there long we took off to find a place to eat. We were hungry so we asked the locals where a good place was for meat and the directed us to a little hole in the ground (literally) which looked pretty good from the menu. Not thinking ahead we had just come from the baths, our hair was wet, I was in my Granderson T-shirt with the numbers on the back and some sweatpants and tennies we decided to ask to be sweated when we realized that we were desperately out of place. You see, it was Valentines day and it seemed like everyone there was dressed to the max with their special someone and here we come rollin' in lookin' like a couple of goofballs. Liiiitle embarassing but we got over it and made it back to our hotel in time to catch a Karaoke marathon by this group of 50+ year olds from Rome. They entertained us for the rest of the night with Napolitan music and funny stories. Hilarious.
Thursday came and Carina wasn't feeling the ski-conditions so I took off to the slopes by myself while she took a hike with Alessandro. I met a Czech guy named Milan and skiied with him for a while along with a couple of native Bormio-ians(?). I skiied as long as I could and then hit the old time baths with Carina that evening. They were kind of expensive but were a lot cooler than the others as they had some ancient Roman baths and waterfalls etc. with a pretty good view of the mountains and the stars. Just what the doctor ordered, however my prof ordered me to read a book so I had to get back to that after the baths that night.
Friday came and we made our way back to Padova while standing the entire trip from Milan - Padova (about 2.5 hours) due to a packed train. I think it was a mixture of Carnevale in Venezia, people going home from work, and the major protest planned for the next day in Vicenza against the expansion of the US Military base there. It was nice however we met a bunch of cool people standing including a couple students from Mexico studying in France, a guy from Puglia, and a couple of professors from the University of Colorado who happen to be teaching astronomy at Padova this semester.
All in all the trip was a blast and I was able to meet some amazing people. I was very happy I went until I realized that I had a test to take in a couple days. Study. Study.
Test on Monday - went early and had to come back (I was number 119) took it and got a 28/30!
Pretty happy about that I celebrated for the next few nights compounding on an oncoming illness, and then spent most of Thursday nursing myself back to health and doing laundry and then cleaned on Friday to arrive at today when BERMAN CAME!
My train I was going to take to pick up Berman was 40 minutes late so naturally I was too but we found each other eventually and randomnly saw Grace on the busride home. Piccolo Mondo.
Ate a lot of food today, caught up with Mike and watched a couple movies. Tomorrow we are off to meet up with Lisa and Nadia from UofM in Rome and hope to have a good time. More on that to come...
See ya!

Carnevale!

5:48 PM Padova - Hey all! This weekend marked the beginning of the Carnevale in Venezia (and all around the world really) which culminates in Martedi Grasso (Fat Tuesday) on the 20th. Angela Theis (Above: center) and her friend Mary Ann came and visited from Rome for the weekend. They arrived in Venice on Friday afternoon and Angela (Giga) and I went to meet them for dinner. We had a nice dinner on Friday and came back and drank some tea and talked with Christina that night.
Saturday we woke up rather early and went around to some of the sights that Padova had to offer and then Angela and Mary Ann took off for Verona. They said it was packed full of people (because it is San Valentino's week) and they didn't get a chance to go see Juliet's balcony however they enjoyed the city all the same.
Sunday Dave, Angela, Mary Ann, Christina and I took off in the morning for Venice for the official opening of Carnevale. The trains were packed - not even enough standing room and we talked with a family who had been standing the whole time since Bologna. WHEN we arrived at Venice the whole crowd worked its way to St. Mark's square to see an Angel come down and bless the city. We were not able to get there in time but we were able to see a lot of other festivities while we were there. The costumes were beautiful and the atmosphere was great. I can't wait to go back!!
Today, I have been studying all day. I have a test next Monday and I'd like to be confident enough to take it Friday because Saturday I want to go back to Carnevale with my roommates. Other than that life is good, and I am just trying to decide who won this point in Ping Pong.
I just talked with my mom, as most of you know Danny has been sick and in and out of school for about a month now. They went to see another doctor today who took more bloodwork. They seem to think its a viral infection similar to the mumps or Mono. Get well little bro!
Alright I am off to study and eat. Keep me posted with what's going on back home! Miss you guys!
Stevo

It's about time, I know

3:00 PM Padova -
Hey friends and family, I’m excited to write this next post because there is so much to say there is no way I can get it all in. Well let’s see let’s start where I left off… In Budapest:
The Saturday we arrived in Budapest we made it to our hostel the girls went out for lunch with some people from the hostel and Dave and I went with our new found Australian friend Lachlan to the House of Terror a place previously occupied by the Nazi and Communist parties in which people who disagreed with their beliefs were executed. We saw the gallows and some powerful artifacts and videos in remembrance. After we got back to the hostel it was time for a dinner. We split up into two groups and the one I went to ended up going to a Greek restaurant with fire dancers and they did that Greek dance, I forget what it’s called right now. That was a lot of fun and really good food.
After that we ended up going to a Turkish bath indoors around 10 at night – (It was open till 2). We stayed for most of the night and then went back and chilled at the HomeMade Hostel, drank a little and SLEPT.
Sunday I woke up fairly early (11-ish) with Lachlan and the two of us hit the town to see as much as we could. We walked to St. Stephen’s Basilica, The Parliament Building (biggest on the continent) and the castle area. He was really cool and it was nice to just be two people we could get more places faster. Then we went for a beer and some goulash and waited for the others to return so we could hit up the Hungarian bath which was outdoors this time. That also was a lot of fun. That night we had a party at the hostel.
Monday I went to the Museum to see the Van Gogh exhibit they had which I really enjoyed and then we went caving under a mountain outside of the city. That was a great experience – it would’ve been a blast to be a little kid exploring a cave like that with a friend. The guide told us that people would hide in the caves during the World Wars when the city was being bombed.
That night we went to a typical Hungarian restaurant recommended in one of our friends’ book that was located pretty far outside the city. We told them we were coming and it took us an hour longer then we thought (we were the only people left in the place), but the waiter was very nice, though very sexist. I was proud of Laura for not saying anything and accepting the cultural differences.
Got up early Tuesday to take a walk of the city with a guide – some more castles, the Jewish ghetto, the school. Having a tour guide was awesome and we learned a lot thanks to her. Tuesday night - train home.
Wednesday morning arrive just in time for a 9:30 class. Newbies arrived. Wednesday evening class, went out to the piazza at night. The following two weeks have been spent studying for tests, watching movies, and getting to know some of the new kids. There are now 71 American students in Padova between our program and the Boston program. Last Wednesday the piazza was full of Americans… it was crazy!
This past weekend I had some people over here and that was fun, but we got into a little trouble for being too loud sooo… no more parties here :-( Ok I think that's enough for now, I'll get better when more interesting stuff happens. Later!

Budapes(h)t

5:21 PM Padova - Hey all! I made it back to Padova yesterday morning after a weekend in Budapest, Hungary and I am still amazed by how cool that city was. I am going to try and write about the whole trip but there is so much! Here we go:
Friday: We had class from 9-11 and then we got things together for our train at 5. We were in 5 ourselves: Me, Dave, Laura, Catherine and Tiffany. On our train we met Brad (a guy from Tenn) a bunch of American soldiers and Christian Jean Maurice (a 68 year old gym teacher from Paris).
This is just the beginning... Sorry I haven't posted until now, I have pictures up you can check them Here. I'll write more this week I have a lot to do! Buona Notte! Steve

It's 5 O'clock somewhere...

5:55 AM Padova - Hey all it's Steve comin at you from my bed in Padova. I haven't been able to sleep so I figured I might as well do something if I am going to be awake. I arrived safely in Padova on Tuesday with only minor delays in both airports DTW and Frankfort. I went out for dinner with some friends at the mensa and then we had a spritz or two in the piazza for Alice's birthday. I was very tired and we all left pretty early, but on my way home I heard some (loud) voices that were speaking English so I HAD to introduce myself and found out they were Texans looking for a bar nearby. Being the kind gentleman that I am I decided to take them there and have a beer with them, it was good times. I tried to meet up with them again tonight but I couldn't find them. Oh well, I watched a movie with some friends and decided to go to Budapest tomorrow (Friday). I heard it was pretty cheap and a good place to go so I am pumped. I'll write more when I get back... my roommate just came back with some friends.. Notte!