Last Time

So seeing how today is my last day here I felt I would write one last blog post. This summer has been crazy to say the least. I've studied abroad in Florence, Italy for 7 weeks, I've worked in Doha, Qatar for 5 weeks, I've traveled to 6 different countries over the course of 3 months, and I've got to make memories that I will never forget. Over the past three summers I've been to different places and different parts of the world and this summer has topped both of those past summers. There have definitely been some set backs over the summer like my ankle and such but it has still be a great and amazing summer.

There are so many parts that I could say are my favorite parts of my summer but I'm going to narrow it down to two of them. First off, my favorite time while I was here was when my dad and I went to Dubai when I first got here. Even though it was a really fast trip (Two days and only One night) we got to see all of the main points in Dubai. I got to go to the top of the worlds tallest building and also got to go skiing in the middle of the desert. It was a blast and honestly I would have never been able to do that type of thing anywhere else or at any other time than when we went.

My second favorite part was when we went to Germany while studying abroad. In Germany, we had a blast and none of us actually knew anything or what was good to do in Munich. I think the best part of Germany was for sure when we went to the Olympic Stadium and watched Germany's first World Cup with 10,000 other Germans who we never met. We just got invited to go from like four Germans we met in the train station and since we didn't have anything else to do we went and it was awesome. All in All Germany made the greatest memories for us and it was a blast.

So false I'm going to say one more thing. All of my time in Florence was a blast too and made so many memories. I loved everything there was to love about Florence and getting to see and experience everything that I got to do was just amazing. Seeing the Statue of David and just seeing how life like it was was something I will never forget. Climbing to the top of the Duomo was another incredible experience. Seeing the tombs of Galileo and Michelangelo in Santa Crotia was crazy to me because of the history that was buried there. Florence is a wonderful city to study abroad in because there is so much history and honestly there is just a different way of life there that I'm glad i could see and live in.

My least favorite part about my whole time abroad was messing up my ankle while I was in Florence. As some of y'all may know I managed to do something to my ankle and it has basically been hurting me for about the last two months. Thank goodness though that I'm going home tonight and will get to get it checked out before to long. That was just the biggest let down for me because it held me out of doing some things with everyone else just because I couldn't handle it. Mostly it had to do with climbing and hiking mountains. I know pretty random but still. I'm mainly speaking of when we were in Switzerland and then in Cinque Terre.

Living in Doha has really changed a lot of how I few the middle east as well. Even though this is my second time here I still got to see and experience things that I would never be able to do or see other wise. Another thing that I've learned is that the working environment over here is so much different than anything else I've seen or heard about. Everything over here happens at a very slow pace. Everyone has a mentality of just doing things when it suits them best and it's something that I've never seen before. Also I feel like Americans have a mental image of what they think Middle Eastern's are like and I cant say I didn't either. But being here and meeting the Qatari's that I've met I don't have that image any more. The people here are very nice and very hospitable. I'm ready to be home though and get out of this humidity the makes the heat unbearable.

I leave here in less than 12 hours and I don't think I could be any more excited. It's going to be a great feeling to get home finally in the US to all my friends and family. It's been a great a memorable summer but by now I'm ready to be back in the states. Spencer I hope that is good enough for you.

For the last time,
TJ

Pardon for the long absence

Dear Spencer,

This post is mainly for you.


So I started my four week here in Doha and that means I've started my four week of work as well. I'm learning quite a bit while I'm here and it's been quite a good experience. I'm working for three more days with the IT department here at UDC and then I'm moving on the the TComs Division of UDC. Do be honest I'm not really that sure what exactly I'll be doing with TComs but it should be a good time and just allow me to get even more experience while I'm here. Since I'm starting my four week here that also means that I'm about a week and half away from being home in the greatest city in the greatest state in the US and of course that would be Dallas.

By now I've been able to learn and to experience almost every single system that is operating here on the Pearl. Its a great experience and I'm getting to see stuff that I don't think I would ever be able to see in the states including the whole entire network infrastructure that companies would be hesitant to show an intern. I truly am lucky for the summer that I've been able to have.

This weekend was quite fun as well. Thursday night we were invited to go over to one of my Dad's friends house for dinner. He was a Greek and so he invited over a bunch of people to come over and eat a massive amount of pork. It was a little slice of heaven for us. Friday we of course had church in the morning and then went out to eat afterwards with all of the other bachelor dad's whose families are back in the states. On a little side bar I don't think I'll get used to have church on a Friday morning and the weekends being Friday and Saturday. Later that night we went over to another friends house of my parents where we all played poker and just sat around and played for a few hours and just had a good time. Then on Saturday we got the pleasure of going onto the American Army Base and got a grand tour and then got to go to the the store that was on the base and do a little shopping. Then that night we were invited to go to one of the Richest men in Doha's house who lives on the Pearl. I don't think I've ever seen a spread like what they had for dinner. There were dishes that were 3 and half feet wide that were full of meat and there were three of them. One was fish, chicken, and lamb. It was incredible too. His house was one of the biggest houses I think I've ever been in too. It was three stores tall and dinner was on the lowest level where as the desert was on the third level. It was just amazing honestly.

It's been a busy few weeks and I promise I'll update more frequently over this next week and half.

TJ

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

This weekend my Dad and I went to Dubai. We woke up pretty early on Friday morning and caught a flight at like 8 in the morning. We were zombies because we didn't really sleep much the night before. Luckily it wasn't that long of a flight and we got to the airport around 9 in the morning. Little did we know but we were getting picked up in a Bentley to go to the Armani hotel that was at the base of the world's tallest building. This was the nicest hotel I think that I've ever stayed at in my life. It was amazing. We had a personal concierge that helped us plan our whole entire day. It was amazing. Here is a picture of the view that we had out of our bedroom window.



After we got checked in and such we went over to Dubai Mall. It's actually on the left side of the picture above. It's the world's largest mall and it has around 1200 stores. It's massive. They have an aquarium in there that has to be about three stores tall and it has to be one of if not the largest one in the world. We also went into the world's largest candy store which was inside the mall. If you haven't realized the trend Dubai is all about the World's largest whatever. Oh we also went to Taco Bell inside the mall just because we desperately wanted mexican food and that was the closest that we could get.

The next big thing we did was we climbed the Burj Khalifa. That is the world's tallest building and let me tell you from the 128 floor observation deck you feel like your on top of the world but in fact your only about 2/3s the way up the building. It's ridiculously crazy and in the same it's awesome. It was a little upsetting though that it was so sandy and because of it we couldn't see some of the other famous parts of Dubai.



We then went and walked around Dubai Mall for a little bit longer before we went back to our hotel which was really close. Then that night we went to the Burj Al-Arab. It's the building that looks like a sail in case you were wondering. We actually got to take a Maserati to dinner that night and when we pulled up there was a Ferrari, Lamborghini, and an Audi R8. Talk about a star studded car display. We went up to the Sky Bar which was really cool inside and got to see a different part of Dubai that you couldn't really see earlier in the day. We then went to dinner at one of the most incredible restaurants ever. I just cant think of the name.



The next day was quite exciting. First off my dad and I decided to not really push a clock at all in the morning which was amazing because we needed the sleep. Then we went out to Atlantis that was on the orignal man made island called the Palm Islands. Honestly the Palm Islands weren't that impressive because they didn't help to generate the way of living like the Pearl does. We walked around Atlantis for awhile were then again there was another giant aquarium that was actually a lot cooler than the one at the Dubai Mall because it looked a lot more thought out and the fish were a lot bigger. We then went to the most important part of our trip On The Border.

It was some of the best food that I've ever had because we hadn't eaten Mexican food in so long. It was great and honestly the only let down was that they didn't have queso which we were craving big time. After that we went to the mall of the Emirates and most famous for there indoor snow skiing in the middle east. My dad and I decided to go skiing and it was incredible. I walked in there in sandals and shorts and 110 degree weather into 29 degree skiing weather. It wasn't the biggest ski slope but it was a lot of fun. It was weird though to see families just riding the lifts up and down like three or four times in a row before getting off.



It was great to go to Dubai and it was wonderful to just relax and enjoy a little weekend get away from life for awhile. But we are back to work now so stay tuned for more work updates.

Work Update

While I'm waiting for my pictures to upload and such I figured I would write an update on my job. This week started my second week and it has been exciting so far. Yesterday and today I got to work in an area called CCTV or Closed Circuit Television. These are basically cameras that are linked back to a single room over the internet. I actually got to learn how the system worked, how they were relayed back into the main control room, the backbone of the system, and then I actually got to sit down and play around with the cameras and the system.

Tomorrow I'm getting to work on the incident management system. It's basically the system that tells the operators were there are fire alarms and other types of alarms. It isn't the most difficult of systems but I've seen it in action once so I'm excited to see the system again tomorrow and actually learn about what makes the system work. It should be a very interesting day.

Stayed tuned for an update about my Dad and I's trip to Dubai.

Work

It's been a few days so I thought I would update everyone on what was going on. First I just wanted to let everyone know that two days ago it was 53 degrees Celsius at one point. Thats about 126 degrees and with the heat index it felt like it was about 145. It makes Texas feel like it's the middle of December. Either way though I'm loving work. It's been a great time so far and I'm learning a lot here that I don't think I would ever learn in the States. I've been able to visit the Command Center that will handle everything on the island when it's all done. There have been some slow times at work but it's ok I've also learned a lot since starting.

This weekend should be fun too cause A it's the weekend and B my dad and I are going to Dubai this weekend. It's bound to be a lot of fun and honestly I cant wait. It's going to be a really fun weekend. We are actually getting to stay in the world's tallest building too. I'm pretty excited about going. Well we are leaving at 7:50 in the morning so I'm off to sleep. I'll post more on Saturday when we get back with pictures of Dubai.

Doha, Qatar

Yesterday was a very long day of travel but it was a good one because it meant that I was coming to Qatar. We left Florence at around midnight and then took a three and half hour bus ride to Rome. We then got to just wait in the Airport until your flight got to leave. At least my flight was pretty early. Austin and Eli's flight didn't leave till around 6:30 in the afternoon Italy time. Either way I finally got here to Doha around 9:30 at night and stepped off the plane into 95 degree weather.

Today was my first day of my month long internship. It was actually really pleasant. I started at around 8 o'clock in the morning and got done around 5 in the afternoon. It was a semi busy day but it was like anyones first day and it was pretty slow. I'm looking forward to the rest of my time here and I think that I'm going to be able to learn a lot. It's a pretty slow day posts wise but I'm excited to be here and there will be more to come as my time here goes on.

Trent

The End of a Great Trip

Well today is the last day we have in Florence. In 12 hours we will begin to get on a bus and we will start our very long and very early journey to Rome so that we can be dropped off at the airport in time to get the first person to their flight at like 6:30 in the morning. Luckily mine isn't to far behind it at 8:50. Either way, it's just weird to leave a place that you've called home for the last two months and move on to something completely different. Eli and Austin are going home which is what I was going to be doing as well before I got my internship. So instead of going home I still have another month which I'm actually really excited about. There is something about leaving a place and just going to meet up with your dad in Doha that is exciting and honestly I'm really excited about going. Leaving Florence will be hard but I'm ready for the next chapter of my summer and that chapter begins in a little over 30 hours. I might post again before I leave tonight but we'll see.

Busy Day

So yesterday was a great day but it was also a very busy day. Austin and I woke up really early in the morning and we climbed the Duomo. It was really awesome. At one point you get to walk in the dome of the Duomo and you can look down at the whole inside of it. Also all of the stairs are just inside the wall. When you get to the very top you get to walk out and look over all of Florence. It's kind of a pain to climb down though because everyone is climbing up the same stairs at the top. It was cool experience and I'm glad that we got to do it.

After that we went to class and then when we got out of class we went to see the Statue of David. It is one of the most incredible things that I've ever seen. This time is was all three of us that went and we literally just stared at for about 15 minutes. There is just so much detail in it. Also the fact that just one easy hit and the whole thing could have been ruined. It's amazing. After we went to the Academia (Where the David is) I went to get a haircut (Thats just for you mom).

It's weird to think that we have two more days before we leave. We got the email today telling us that we have to meet at 11:30 at night at the train station. It's going to be a different experience going from a Renaissance city like Florence to a much more Modern one like Doha. But honestly I'm actually kind of excited now to get there even though it's going to be a little weird starting work but it's going to be great to be hanging out with my Dad. Either way three more days and I'll be in Qatar and only about one more month till I'll be back in the states.

Thats all for now.
Trent

Verona and Lake Garda

This weekend was our last weekend in Italy. Our program we came here with, ISA, planned a trip for all that wanted to go that went to a place called Verona and Lake Garda. To be honest I had never heard of Verona before but apparently it's where Romeo and Juliet supposedly took place. We took a 3 hour bus ride from Florence to get there. After that we checked into our hotel and as usual it was Eli, Austin, and I in our room. We also had a bus tour of Verona. Then it was time to try to find the Spain vs Paraguay game so that we could see who was going to play Germany since they crushed Argentina. We also got to see the Juliet house where the people write all of the Letters to Juliet.

We also went to a lake that next day called Lake Garda. We didn't really do much there other than take a ferry around the little town that was there. We then just all hung out in the water and on this little so called beach that was actually just a bunch of rocks. All in all though it was a good place to spend the 4th of July.

It's weird to think that this time next week I'll be starting or rather finishing up my second day of work at UDC. I only have four more days here in Italy before I head out to Qatar. It's a little bitter sweet but I'm starting to get ready to be in Qatar and to just spend time with my dad before heading back home to start my senior year of college.

Thats all for now,
Trent

Disappointed

Today, was a very disappointing day. Austin and I tried to go to Venice today for the second time in about the last two weeks but instead we weren't able to go. We felt very defeated this morning. We went to the train station to try to reserve a seat on the train to Venice this morning but instead we found out we weren't going to be able to get there till about 3 this afternoon. It wasn't going to be enough time to see Venice and we didn't want to be rushed either. It was a sad day, because we realized that we will probably not going to be able to see it while we are here. It just means that we are just going to have to come back some time and see Venice.

Two Words: Blueberry Steak

Tonight Austin, Eli, and I went to this restaurant that serves one of the greatest steaks I think I've ever had. This steak was a Filet and we got it medium rare. The sauce though is what made the steak. The sauce was a warm blueberry sauce that covered the steak and about half the plate. It helped keep the steak warm and allowed us something to dip every juicy bite into. Take the steak and add in a bottle of the house red wine for the three of us to split and bread with some kind of spread that was incredible and you have the equation for a great dinner. Oh then after dinner we each got our own desert that we bought for the sole purpose of us three splitting them. So I got the chocolate cake, Austin got tiramisu, and Eli got cheesecake. All of them were incredible. Tonight was quite possible the best meal that we have had or at least that I've had since being in Europe. And I love it cause we are going again in another week as kind of our last meal before we all go back home. Thats all. It was just so good that it deserved it's own post.

Long but productive day yesterday

So yesterday for part of our Sports Marketing class we took a field trip to the soccer museum here in Florence. It's the only one in the world and honestly it was pretty cool. The first person we met was a man named Mr. Fennie who was the doctor for the Italian National Soccer Team for something like 25 or 26 years. It was enough to where he was on the bench for 6 world cups. He even was a champion in the 80's. Oh did I mention that he was a person friend with Pele? There was a signed Pele jersey in the museum that was given to Mr. Fennie as a person gift that he then donated to the museum. Also we were able to see every single jersey worn by the Italian team that won the World Cup in 06 and we got to see the actually World Cup that they held up when they won. It was really cool to be separated only by a thin sheet of glass from those important artifacts. We also were able to go behind closed doors because of our teacher, an ex Italian premier league player, and see the facilities where the national team practices. It was a really cool morning.



After that Austin and I came home ate and took a quick break then we were on our way to Pisa for the afternoon. I had never been and so Austin was being a good sport and went with me. We got to see the leaning tower and we also got to see all the hooligans that were taking their ridiculous touristy photos. If you cant tell I didn't take one of those pictures although I did take a picture with me and the leaning tower. We also went into the baptistry which was really cool because the echo inside it was incredible. We also went inside the cathedral which had a lot of cool paintings on the walls and just a lot of other old pieces of art around that made it really interesting. As if this should be a surprise to anyone, but we even ran into an Aggie in Pisa. It was a family who had a son that was going to be a sophomore in the Corp and the dad was in the Air Force stationed in Germany. The only way we could tell was because the son had just taken a picture holding up an Aggie flag and as he was folding it up I could see "xas." That mixed with maroon could only mean one thing, Aggies. So we went up and talked to them for a little while and it was a good afternoon. When all was said and done it was about a 4 hour road trip that I'm glad we took.



It's weird that our time is running up here. As of today the 30th we only have around 9 days until we board our planes and head our respective directions, Austin and Eli to Dallas and Me to Qatar. It's sad but it's exciting at the same time.

Another post will be coming soon that has an update of the most amazing meal so far in Europe.

Trent

Pictures

The Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain



The BMW Museum in Munich, Germany



On the Way up Mt. Pilateus



Me on top of Mt. Pilateus



Credit Suisse building in Lucern, Switzerland
(That was for you Alex)

Random Thought

It's weird to think that we only have around 12 more days left in Italy. It feels like just yesterday I was leaving on this journey. I cant believe that I've had the summer that I'm having thus far and yet it's still not even close to being over. I've already visited four different countries since I left the states and arrived in Italy on May 17th and I still have two more to go. I'm so blessed for everything that I've been allowed to do and this is for sure one of those blessings. It's also just crazy to believe that in 12 days I'm leaving to go work in Qatar and spend a month with my dad before eventually heading home. I guess as my time here is coming to a close it's beginning to make me reflect on everything that I've done and the things that I still have yet to do.

Cinque Terre

This weekend our group went to Cinque Terre on the coast of Italy. It was so beautiful. It was also a pretty hard hike. We started off just dandy too. When we got to our hostel there was a lock out that happens every day starting around 11 and ends at 2:30ish. So of course we get there around 1:30ish and we have to sit outside of our hostel for around an hour before we could check in. Another thing was we had made reservations for only 12 but we actually had around 14 or 15 people with us so we had to actually sneak some of them in. We got in our rooms and everyone quickly changed then we caught the bus and it was off to Cinque Terre.

The bus dropped us off at the first town called Riomaggiore and we were going to start hiking at the last town called Monterosso. We all bought our tickets for the ferry ride to Monterosso and away we went. Once we got there we started our hike. Not 5 seconds in we were already climbing stairs that would never pass in a US park because they were so steep. Also, in case no one knew I've messed my ankle up pretty good while being here and lets just say the hike didn't agree with it very much. After we finished the first hike I had to take a train and meet the rest of the group. Then I went with them the rest of the way because the rest of the hikes weren't that demanding. We managed to get back to Riomaggiore when about 15 minutes had elapsed in the US/Ghana game. Even though we lost which is never good I'm happy we were embarrassed like the English were. I'll take a 2-1 loss over a 4-1 loss any day.

On day two of Cinque Terre we pretty much just spent it at the beach in Monterosso. We also just spent a lot of time in the water. After we kind of dried off a little George, Alex, and I all went and found somewhere for lunch. George and I both had calzones that were stuffed with all kinds of deliciousness and Alex got a pizza of some kind. Needless to say Alex was very jealous of our calzones. By the time we got back it was basically time to leave because a few of the people with us had to catch a train to Paris that was leaving at 9:30 from Florence and it was a long way back home. Regardless Cinque Terre was an amazing place and I would for sure come back here if we had more time.

Trent

Second Semester of Class in Florence

We are done with our first week of classes for our second three week term. Austin and I are taking a class called Sports Marketing. Also our teacher is an ex professional soccer player here in Italy. He was in Italy's premier league too so he was pretty good. He had to stop because he hurt his knee. Then he went to the US for a few years and learned English so he can communicate quite well with us in class. Although I loved my teacher last semester my teacher this semester has a leg up on him this time. So far we've talked about every summer olympics and soccer. We talk about soccer every day and it's quite nice. Also since we only have five people in our class we only go for two hours a day instead of two and half hours a day. It may seem small but they add up and it's wonderful.

Also our week as been full of the World Cup. We were able to watch the US win there game. We were watching in a PUB and there were US fans scattered every where and when we scored everyone came to where we were and just started going crazy. Soon after time had expired we began the usually USA chant and as the Algerian fans were leaving they started clapping for us and telling us good game. It was an awesome day.

We were going to go to Venice yesterday but our plans fell through. So instead we went to the Uffizi gallerie. It was so awesome to walk through there. Especially seeing the Birth of Venus just because I had seen it in pictures before and to actually see the real thing was cool. There were severally other things in there that I found interesting but I don't remember the names. All in all it was a great day and I'm glad that we were able to spend the amount of time that we did there. Sometime in the next two weeks we are going to go see the Statue of David and climb the Duomo.

Pictures to come.

Trent

Spain

So we started off with a bang. Our flight from Munich to Rues, a town right outside Barcelona, was delayed by an hour. That hour then caused us to be late arriving at the airport so we missed the bus to the train station. And then the last train was going to make us get in there around 11:30 at night. So we ended up taking a cab ride from the airport to our hostel in Barcelona. It wasn't the cheapest thing in the world but between the five of us it wasn't too bad.

That next day was our one full day in Barcelona. For anyone that has been there before our hostel was located about two blocks away from the Gaudi House. We spent the day mainly just wondering around the city stumbling upon things as we found them. We did however see three of the big name things to do there (the Cathedral, the Sagrada Familia, and the Picasso Museum). The Picasso Museum was really rather interesting just because he didn't start out as the Picasso we know him as today and it was just really cool to see his progression and to just see how he changed in his paintings. The Sagrada Familia was something else too. It might be one of the coolest buildings I've ever seen. Either way it was a successful day minus the outcome of the Switzerland/Spain game. It put a little bit of a damper on the afternoon that is for sure.

The next morning we got up a little early and we packed up and headed off to a small beach town called Tarragona. We all got to our hotel and literally within about an hour we were already on the way to the beach. It was beautiful weather so it was perfect to go to the beach. Plus it was very relaxing which was another major plus. The next day we woke up and again we were on the way to the beach. This time though we had a date planned at the Kabana (that is how it was spelled) for the US and Slovenia game. The Kabana also had very good kebabs. Either way though at the half way point we were all very depressed with the outcome of the game thus far. Then the second half happened and the whole beach could tell we were Americans. We weren't very happy though about that blown call that would have won us the game but we won't go into detail about that here.

The last day we got up and went to the airport to fly back home. Here though we had a 3 and half lay over for our flight. Oh thank you RyanAir. I'm not sure if I'll be able to use them again haha. All in all though we managed to get our way back to Flornece and it feels amazing.

Trent

Sorry Sorry

Sorry it has been so long since I've updated this thing. I plan on doing it tomorrow to get everyone caught up on whats been going on. One main reason is because I've been wanting to get everything settled back in which I've finally done. Also just so you know my teacher for this term is an ex professional soccer player. Update to come tomorrow.

Trent

Deutschland, Deutschland, Deutschland

The next leg of our trip was going to Munich, Germany after we got done with going to Lucern. We also decided to go to Munich when none of us what so ever knew anything about the city and what there was to do but needless to say it has been my favorite city so far on this trip. We got there the night of Germany's first World Cup game and so we were pretty excited to just go watch it at the pub or something with some other German fans. Well it was raining the whole time that we were there and so we were going to go back to our Hostel to get our rain jackets and such when we meet these five German's in the train station that were in the German Air Force. Well they were going to the Olympic stadium that they had there and so we felt that that would be a better choice then going to the pub so we decided to go with them. We only had one problem though. We had no German gear to wear to the game so we found a little stand on the walk and bought our gear. I bought just a general flag, Eli bought one of the biggest flags I've ever seen that could actually fit all of us underneath it as we were walking, and Austin bought a scarf to wear to the game.

Once we get to the stadium we knew there were going to be a lot of people there but there were probably close to about 10,000 people there all rooting for the Deutschland, so of course we did too. It was quite possibly the best and most fun night that any of us have had this whole entire time in Europe. Every time we score, and we scored four times, the crowd would irrupt with cheers and chants, as well as going crazy, and waving their German flags ever so proudly. At one point a guy two rows behind us came down and started celebrating with us and then he fell over with one of the Air Force guys that was with us. Sounds a little painful but it was hilarious.

The next day we decided to just walk around and figure out what we should do. So we pretty much just wondered around Munich exploring and ate our weight in Brats and just good German food. Lucern was hard to top but Munich did and it and lets just say they crushed it.

We're in Barcelona right now and I'll have a post for here and the beach in a few days when I get back to Florence on Saturday.

Trent

Luzern, Switzerland

Hello All,

So we spent the beginning part of these leg of our study abroad in Luzern, Switzerland. None of us really knew much about it other than Eli and Austin since they had already been here once. Well we got there and didn't really know what to do the first night so we rode the public transportation into the city center and just started to walk around. To be honest we were walking around to find a place where we could post up and watch the USA/England World Cup game the next night. Well we found one that was right next to the river but little did we know that the next day they would be flying many English flags outside of the Pub so we decided to find something else. What we ended up stumbling upon was a giant square that was on the other side of the train station that had a projection screen set up and just had hundreds of chairs set up around it. So we decided that this would be a good place for us to watch the game. Once the game had started we looked around us and there were at least hundreds of people if not a thousand or two. It was a lot of fun but little did we know we were going to have a lot more fun once we got to Germany.

We also climbed, or rather rode the gondolas, up the Mount Pilatus. It was awesome. It was covered in clouds and was actually sitting right on the cloud line. We were able to climb up and through and around all of the top of the mountain. We also ran into many Americans while we were there including one who went to Plano West high school. Over all Luzern was a great place and I would for sure recommend that you go to Switzerland at some point in your life because you will meet some of the nicest people ever. I thought Texans could be nice but these guys put us to shame.

Pictures will be up once I get back to Florence.
Trent

Travel

Howdy,

So we finished our first week today and now we are leaving to go to Lucern, Switzerland. Then Munich, Germany and then Barcelona, Spain then back to Florence. More posts will come cause we are rushing out the door. Have a good one.

Trent

Update

So sorry that it's been so long since I've given everyone an update on everything that we are doing here. Not much as happened since the last time that I've posted. We've finished up our second week of classes on Friday and we are about to start the last week of this semester. We had a day off on Wednesday this week because of National Holiday in Italy, so we were going to go to Viareggio which is a beach here. But I managed to roll my ankle on the cobble stones in Florence and it was a bad one. So I ended up staying home that day and it was actually for the best. Everyone that went that day didn't really get to experience the beach that much because it down poured both in Florence and Viareggio. Later on in the week though we were able to go back. It was quite the experience.

First off we missed our train by like five minutes so Austin, Eli, and I had to wait for the next one. When we couldn't figure out which one was the next one we asked the information people where we needed to go. The guy at information then proceeded to tell us to go to the wrong train, going in the wrong direction. So Eli feel asleep and Austin began listening to his iPod and I started to pay attention to the stations we were passing. I realized that we were going in the wrong direction and so we got off and didn't really know where to go from there. Then Eli stepped up and figured out that we could go towards Pisa and get there so we started heading that direction. When we got to Pisa we just assumed that we stayed on the train until Austin grabbed the ticket and figured out that we had to get off. So we got off the train and realized that we had like two minutes to get to the opposite side of the train station to get to our next train. It was going to take to long to go under the tracks in the little subway type system they had so Eli made the executive decision to run across the train tracks which we went over in just the right amount of time. We then ran all the way to our next train which we got on just in the right amount of time. All in all it was an interesting way to get to the beach but we finally got there and stayed for a solid five or six hours. And we got on the right train to come back where a lot of us just fell asleep.

It's been a good week and we are about to start our last week before our break. This time next week we'll either be in Switzerland or Germany. Sounds exciting if you ask me.

Ciao

Pictures

The City Square in Siena



The View on the way to San Gimignano



The World Champion Gelateria, Pluripremiata



A Radom Fountain in the Boboli Gardens



Another View of the Gardens

Siena, San Gimignano, Boboli Gardens

I've done quite a bit since the last time I posted. First off Friday night was awful. A group of Italians decided that hanging out in front of our apartment window was going to be a great idea. So from about 1 till like 4 in the morning we could hear their whole entire conversations. It was our worst night here thus far and not to mention we had to meet the rest of our group around 9 in the morning to go to Siena.

We had about an hour or so bus ride to get to Siena. Once we got there we were split up into two groups and we started our walking tour of Siena. Our tour guide took us all around the surrounding city and explained to us how all the different parts of the city were split into 17 different neighborhoods. Each one of these neighborhoods was represented by a certain animal and each neighborhood was marked on the corners of almost all buildings with that neighborhoods crest. If you look at Austin's blog he made a list of all of them. We also walked to a square that housed the oldest bank in Italy. We then walked to the city square. It was huge. There she explained to us about the square itself as well as the Palio. The Palio is a horse race held twice a year (July 2nd and August 16th) between 10 of the neighborhoods. The fill the outside of the square with dirt and the horses race around the shell shaped square. It's known to be one of the most difficult horse races in the world because the jockeys ride barebacked. After the tour we had a little free time and a group of about 10 of us went to eat. I had stuffed pasta with ricota and spinach. As we were leaving Siena to go about another 30 minutes on the bus to San Gimignano we all decided that we were going to try to come back to see the Palio on July 2nd.

I'll be honest I had never really heard of San Gimignano, but after the 30 minute bus ride I realized that this was going to be a really cool place. We once again had another walking tour of the city, and one of the first things that our tour guide told us was that San Gimignano was famous for their towers. At one point in history they had something like 70ish towers but now there are only like 11 or 12 left. After the tour we went ate gelato at the two time world champion gelateria, Pluripremiata. It was the best gelato I've ever had. We then just walked around for about an hour then hopped back on the bus to head back to Florence. Later in the night Austin, Eli, and I invited people over to just hang out at our apartment.

On Sunday, there was a group of about 7 of us that decided to go to the Boboli Gardens. The gardens are located behind the Pitti Palace, home of the Medici family. I had never heard of them but they were beautiful. They were also huge. We spent about two hours just walking around the gardens and just tried to get lost. Then for the rest of the afternoon we just hung out at the apartment and just relaxed. It was a nice sunday afternoon.

It's crazy to think that we are starting our second week of school already and that we only got about five and half weeks left in Italy. Thats all for now I'm working on putting up pictures and hopefully they'll be up soon.

Trent

Big Day

Today was a big day for us. We finally got our wireless internet set up in our apartment. They are still going to have to do some more work on it to make it a little bit faster and such but right now we actually have it so it's nice. Short post but just thought it was important to note. Also means that posts should come more often now.

Today

Today was the first day of classes. Austin and I are taking a class together that is called Human Resource Management with a teacher who is quite an interesting man. His name is Andrea. He is was born in Italy but he told us that he had some Scottish roots in him which come out sometimes whenever he is speaking. We think that the class won't be to bad because of him. Also there is only three weeks of classes and he tolds us that he would tell us pretty much what is on the test at the end so I'm not to worried. He is a very interesting teacher who actually sparks a conversation in us. Our class is rather small too which probably helps. There only about 8 of us in class with 4 being guys and obviously the other 4 being girls. The only thing that is a little nerver racking is that half of our overall grade is based on our final test. Another fourth of it is based on this oral presentation but he made it seem like it wouldn't dictate to much and that if you pretty much did it and sounded knowledgeable then you would get all the points for it. Then the other fourth is based on attendance and participation. So not to bad.

After class Eli, Austin, George (our friend from South Carolina), and I went back to the Oil Shoppe. If you cant tell we really like this place, it's cheap, and it's really close to us. Well I'm 2 for 2 on going there. The first time I got the world famous meatball sub which was incredible and then this time I got a roast beef and sautéed spinach sandwich that rivals the meatball as incredible. The sandwich, fries, and a water was all under 6 Euros which is actually pretty cheap around here. Then after lunch we all came back to the apartment and celebrated the Italian tradition of the afternoon Siesta. It was wonderful. And tonight the girls are once again cooking up a big family style dinner for all of us. Cant get much better can it?

Thats all for now. I don't feel like coping Austin's post about our 'group' so if you want to know a little more as to who I'm talking about go over to his blog and check it out.

Trent

Piazza Michelangelo

Today we woke up to Austin feverishly typing on his computer. This could only mean one thing...Our internet must have been working. As some of you may or may not know we don't currently have internet in our apartment that you could call consistent. We are supposed to have it but when we talked to our land lord the other day she informed us that it wasn't actually working at the moment so right now we are just bumming it off our neighbors open networks. It's probably not the safest thing but you got to do what you got to do. Also the people that were talking outside of our window this morning at 5 in the morning helped wake us up a little as well but oh well. Well thanks to us getting a little internet we talked to a few other people that we've been hanging out with and they told us about how they were going to the Piazza Michelangelo. I had never heard of it but the other two guys had and they were talking pretty highly of it. So we decided to meet them over at their apartment which is only about a 10 minute walk from where we live so it wasn't to bad. In case you didn't know the Piazza Michelangelo is a church that is on top of this hill that over looks the whole entire city of Florence and actually the picture that is above this on my blog is a picture I took there this afternoon of the Duomo. It was beautiful though. The picture below is a picture of the view from the Piazza.

On the way back we stopped at a little square where there was some kind of reenactment of some kind of celebration or something. It was pretty cool but it was also a little weird cause we didn't exactly know what was going on. We actually stopped to get gelato and heard a bunch of drumming and we turned the corner to see these people throwing flags around and just kind of dancing along with the drums. I After that we just headed home to kind of take it easy and get ready for our classes that start tomorrow. Ciao for now.

The Oil Shoppe and Random Info

Yesterday Eli, Austin, and I were looking for a good place to eat at so we walked out our door and turned left and saw this little shop called the Oil Shoppe. Both Austin and Eli were saying that people had told them to eat there because of just how good it was. So we decided to have lunch there and we saw a little sign that claimed that they had the best meatball sub in the world. So naturally we had to try this sub to see if this bold claim was actually true. While we were discussing it a couple over heard us and started talking to us about and ironically enough they were from Frisco and the guy went to A&M. Thought that was pretty random. But overall the meatball sub could be one of the best ones I've ever had. We are about to go on a walking tour of Florence and then we have a welcome dinner tonight. Then classes start on Monday. It's slowly but surely sinking in that we are here for awhile.

Trent

Finally in Florence

Ciao, we are finally here in Florence. It was another long day of traveling to get here from Rome since we had to take a bus here but when we finally got here it was well worth it. Austin, Eli, and I are staying in an apartment that is literally about a block from the Duomo. Our apartment is in the city center too which makes it very convient to get any where. We are very close to our school as well as all the other apartments and not to mention all the restaurants. We are on the first floor right inside of the building so it wasn't to much trouble to move into like some of the apartments on the 4th or 5th floors of their buildings. Also our apartment is brand new and if I'm not mistaken they said that we were the first people to live in here. We have two rooms each about the same size with one being our bedroom and the other being our common room/kitchen/bathroom. It's a very nice set up for us.

Yesterday was very nice. We had a lot of free time so a group of about ten of us decided to go walk around Florence. While we were walking we stumbled upon a Square where there were a lot of people just hanging out and we ended up just sitting there for about an hour just talking and people watching. I feel like people watching went to a whole new level after doing it here. Needless to say there are some very interesting people here in Italy.

I'm still working on getting my cell phone. We went by the store today and talked to a guy that had no earthly idea what was going on or what we were saying. We'll being going back this afternoon to try to get it then. Also we don't have reliable wireless yet so we are still working on that and in the meantime we are just kind of bumming it off our neighbors in our building. It will do the job for now but hopefully we'll have our own here in a few days.

Rome

Just wanted to keep y'all posted a little bit. Well I'm here in Rome now and loving it. Our flights weren't to bad. I think I slept the whole way from London to Rome so that was helpful but still I'm pretty tired. I got a little nervous yesterday at the airport because it took forever fo one of my bags to actually show up but no worries because I finally got it. Eli, Austin, and I have already started meeting quite a few people. We went out to dinner last night with about 12 people and then walked around Rome afterwards. We even stumbled upon this thing called the Colosseum, don't know if anyone has heard of it.

Either way it hasn't really set in that I'm actually in Rome. After all of our traveling to get here yesterday I think I'm still just to tired to actually take in the fact that I'm here. Even more so it's crazy to think that I'm going to be here or rather in Florence for the next 7 weeks. I think it might start to sink in today after we visit the Vatican and then go on a walking tour of the Colosseum. It's truly incredible to just see the things around Rome and think about how old they are and how much history is actually behind all of it. Don't worry Mom I'm taking a lot of pictures and yes I'm making sure that people take pictures with me in them. Today should be a fun day and I'll start posting pictures on here for certain things once we get to Florence and actually have more stable internet then just paying for an hour of it at our Hotel.

We are walking out the door now though so I will post more later. Ciao.