A few nights ago, the Model UN club at school hosted a student vs. professor trivial persuit game. The game itself was uninteresting, with the professors winning 161-153, after the tie breaking challenge of constructing a vehicle to safely cradle an egg being dropped from a 3 meter height.
What was interesting was that following the game and a raffle, at which I didn't win anything, one of the professors got up with his band and performed. They were a Rush cover band and were very good. Following the mini concert (where the drummer was away from his girlfriend on their 10 year anniversary), the professor, members of the MUN club, and I went to a local bar and sat outside for several hours, talking and drinking a few beers.
Drinking with a professor after watching them perform on stage is not something that you can really get in the states, though you could get at least part of it before they raised the drinkning age to 21, and I am told by reliable sources that this sort of thing still happens in Canada.
A weird, but fun thing to do on a Wednesday night.
3.2.07
28.1.07
28/1
So yesterday I took a trip to designer outlets in Tuscani in an effort to find a watch and to possible get some nice clothes really cheap. The clothes was a big issue as I brought very little to wear with me. I have to was my laundry every week, or else suffer wet clothes due to the slow drying time of hanging your wash off a balcony. Europeans don't believe in dryers. These store were about 40-80% discount, so I had some hopes as to what I might be able to find. Anne, Vanessa, and Kate Lucaks also went on this trip.
My shopping was a complete failure, having seen a total of 6 watches the entire day, all of them either monstrously big or so plain as to not justify the rediculous price tags. Anne, Vanessa, and Kate got a few small items, which put together totalled around 60 Euro or so.
This was not the case with other people on the trip. On example was a girl who dropped 700 Euro in a Burberry store, including 400 Euro on a small purse that she "had to have". Knowing that her parents would kill her for her purchases, she bought her mom a concilatory gift, a peace offering of a Gucci purse for another 400 Euro. Remember that the conversion is 1 Euro = $1.33 US, so appeasement gift was about $530, making the grand total in those two stores about $1,500. Chamberlain would be proud.
To this must be added the conversation of the mass of people behind me on the bus. Now, I may very well be a snob, but these intelligence betray by these conversations certainly soothed any worries of self worth brought on my being a thrifty person.
The conversation was littered with such things as calling a movie named Step Up a modern day Center Stage, which is itself a movie released at the most 5 years ago. Talking about how they spent 400 Euro on pot only to discover that they had actually bought a great deal of iceberg lettuce wrapped in sarran wrap, "and it wasn't even oregano or baby greens or nice leaves, it was iceberg lettuce!".
Italy and the European Union also was problematic for them, as why can't everyone just use the US dollar, why does other currency even exist, and why can't everyone in Europe just speak English. Italy is also too cold of a place, with 45-55 degree weather being too cold and a general agreement that they should have studied in Figi.
The "cold" weather would be great for skiing trips to the Alps however, as one girl had previously gone skiing "like 3 or 4 times" and as such was "an expert and totally prepared for the Alps".
The day was a failure in that I found nothing either nice or below 200 euro, and I think I may have become stupider having listened to that for 3 hours to the stores and 3 hours back from them. Call me a snob but dear god please get me a copy of the New York Times. I have a lot of damage to repair.
My shopping was a complete failure, having seen a total of 6 watches the entire day, all of them either monstrously big or so plain as to not justify the rediculous price tags. Anne, Vanessa, and Kate got a few small items, which put together totalled around 60 Euro or so.
This was not the case with other people on the trip. On example was a girl who dropped 700 Euro in a Burberry store, including 400 Euro on a small purse that she "had to have". Knowing that her parents would kill her for her purchases, she bought her mom a concilatory gift, a peace offering of a Gucci purse for another 400 Euro. Remember that the conversion is 1 Euro = $1.33 US, so appeasement gift was about $530, making the grand total in those two stores about $1,500. Chamberlain would be proud.
To this must be added the conversation of the mass of people behind me on the bus. Now, I may very well be a snob, but these intelligence betray by these conversations certainly soothed any worries of self worth brought on my being a thrifty person.
The conversation was littered with such things as calling a movie named Step Up a modern day Center Stage, which is itself a movie released at the most 5 years ago. Talking about how they spent 400 Euro on pot only to discover that they had actually bought a great deal of iceberg lettuce wrapped in sarran wrap, "and it wasn't even oregano or baby greens or nice leaves, it was iceberg lettuce!".
Italy and the European Union also was problematic for them, as why can't everyone just use the US dollar, why does other currency even exist, and why can't everyone in Europe just speak English. Italy is also too cold of a place, with 45-55 degree weather being too cold and a general agreement that they should have studied in Figi.
The "cold" weather would be great for skiing trips to the Alps however, as one girl had previously gone skiing "like 3 or 4 times" and as such was "an expert and totally prepared for the Alps".
The day was a failure in that I found nothing either nice or below 200 euro, and I think I may have become stupider having listened to that for 3 hours to the stores and 3 hours back from them. Call me a snob but dear god please get me a copy of the New York Times. I have a lot of damage to repair.
26.1.07
25.1.07
25/1
In case anyone didn't know, college kids can be amused by the silliest things. Especially after 3 gigantic bottles of Peroni. Last night, after making a wonderful dinner of seared chicken on top of fried oninons with garlic, orgenano, and basil on top of spaghetti (made by yours truely), my apartment and assorted others played games.
We started with F&ck the Dealer, a great drinking game. For those of you who don't know, one person is the dealer. The other people have to guess the top card of the deck. They have two tries, and after the first guess, the dealer has to say higher and lower. The discarded cards are placed faceup on the table. If they get it right, the dealer drinks. If they get it wrong, the guesser drinks. Three wrong turns in a row and the dealer is switched to the right. It's great to be dealer early, because by the end, it becomes almost impossible to get the wrong answer. We somehow managed to get through 2/3 of the deck on the first dealer.
We then moved onto a variety of other strange games including one where the goal is to curse as fast a possible. It was one drunk evening, and though Italians don't make the best beer in the world, its still passible at 2 Euro for a 33 oz bottle.
I've also decided that Prego tomatoe sauce is really pretentious. I buy their product and they have the gaul to say You're welcome on the damn label. Prego sauce needs to be renamed to Gratzie sauce. Same language, and much more polite.
We started with F&ck the Dealer, a great drinking game. For those of you who don't know, one person is the dealer. The other people have to guess the top card of the deck. They have two tries, and after the first guess, the dealer has to say higher and lower. The discarded cards are placed faceup on the table. If they get it right, the dealer drinks. If they get it wrong, the guesser drinks. Three wrong turns in a row and the dealer is switched to the right. It's great to be dealer early, because by the end, it becomes almost impossible to get the wrong answer. We somehow managed to get through 2/3 of the deck on the first dealer.
We then moved onto a variety of other strange games including one where the goal is to curse as fast a possible. It was one drunk evening, and though Italians don't make the best beer in the world, its still passible at 2 Euro for a 33 oz bottle.
I've also decided that Prego tomatoe sauce is really pretentious. I buy their product and they have the gaul to say You're welcome on the damn label. Prego sauce needs to be renamed to Gratzie sauce. Same language, and much more polite.
24.1.07
24/1
So the Budde clan can rejoice. I finally have a religeous figure as a teacher. Father Philip, a gray haired american priest with a masters in philiosophy is teaching me media ethics this semester. He's a funny guy from what i have seen and the class itself looks like it will be interesting. With all the priests and nuns running around this place, it only makes sense that one or two would end up in the classroom.
The rain in Rome is rather annoying. One minute nothing, the next a downpour, and the next nothing. It makes choosing what to wear and whether to bring an umbrella a bit difficut, not to mention the fact that my umbrella broke the other day. It was like $5 from costcuters, so I got what I paid for.
The rain in Rome is rather annoying. One minute nothing, the next a downpour, and the next nothing. It makes choosing what to wear and whether to bring an umbrella a bit difficut, not to mention the fact that my umbrella broke the other day. It was like $5 from costcuters, so I got what I paid for.
22.1.07
21/1
So it seems really weird and very anti student, but thank god for school beginning again. I felt at such loose ends this week, just waiting for school to begin. but it is nice to have some sort of schedule again. wierd.
So Roma don't really neuter their dogs or cats and strays are everwhere. they are very nice, but they deficate all over the streets. its a poop alert 24/7. The Italians need Bob Barker.
Also, on the tram, people peform for money, be it with an accordian, a violin, singing, etc. and today i heard three of them colaberating. It was...interesting...and it made me wince. their instruments weren't in tune anyway, and certainly not with each other. how do they expect to get tipped, unless it's a "here, take this to stop playing!"
lunch today was pasta with tomato sauce and chunks of bacon...weird, but tasty. It's dinner as well.
So Roma don't really neuter their dogs or cats and strays are everwhere. they are very nice, but they deficate all over the streets. its a poop alert 24/7. The Italians need Bob Barker.
Also, on the tram, people peform for money, be it with an accordian, a violin, singing, etc. and today i heard three of them colaberating. It was...interesting...and it made me wince. their instruments weren't in tune anyway, and certainly not with each other. how do they expect to get tipped, unless it's a "here, take this to stop playing!"
lunch today was pasta with tomato sauce and chunks of bacon...weird, but tasty. It's dinner as well.
first weekend
so the first weekend in Rome came and went, and I did...nothing much at all. Still getting used to the language, the time zone, and my rediculously sore feet. Rome is a small city, and because of that, I'm walking all over the damn place. forget needing to exercise or watch what i eat so i don't gain 40 lbs. my hour and 1/2 of walking each day is gonna have me loose weight if i'm not careful.
as requested by mike,
eating is basically me cooking now as i did the first few days eating from restaurants and small tratorias around the city. that gets expensive though, so many trips to standa, a discount grocery, and lots of poor cooking on my part for the rest of the time i'm here. I'm getting very good at chopping up salami and mixing it with olive oil and fresh mozzerella in a bowl though. throw in some fresh basil and its a good big snack or lunch.
one class down, 4 more to go, and 2 of them later today.
Caoi
as requested by mike,
eating is basically me cooking now as i did the first few days eating from restaurants and small tratorias around the city. that gets expensive though, so many trips to standa, a discount grocery, and lots of poor cooking on my part for the rest of the time i'm here. I'm getting very good at chopping up salami and mixing it with olive oil and fresh mozzerella in a bowl though. throw in some fresh basil and its a good big snack or lunch.
one class down, 4 more to go, and 2 of them later today.
Caoi
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