Italy entry posted here for postings sake, unedited from my actual paper journal but not done.
So I haven't updated in quite a while, beccause I've been in Italy! I don't remember a whole lot ot what I did befor Italy,, and I'm probabl going to leave out a simply massive amount of details.
So! Saturday, I tried riding my bike to Luxembourg, but to no avail. I got to Manhayes, and I couldn't find the next village on my itinerary. As such, I rode around a bit, and as I was heading home, I ran into a Flamand, so we rode several kilometers talking together. That was interesting, to say the least.
After that, I went to a fête, the Grand Feu de Hotton, with my host sisters and some of their friends. I stayed 90 percent sober and hung out with Sarah a lot. She's pretty ncie to talk to - ex-exchange students still have the exchange student quality about them, so you feel like you can really relate to them, not worrying about them not understanding the effects and importance of seemingly petty things, etc.
Anyways, so I rode by train to Angleur station with Te Aki and Chris, resulting in some interesting comments - "I may have a small penis, but things are longer when they move faster and I have super asian reflexes!" Yes, Chris successfuly invoked Einsteinian relativity and racial stereotypes with relation to his penis.
We arrived before everybody else, so Chris, Te Aki, and I sat with Amanda, a newie from Australia, living in Eupen, who I've adopted as my own newie. We sat in the station a bit, then headed out and met with everyone.
We got onto the bus after lucas and I loaded all the bags, and I sat next to Zoe, in front of Chantel and Chris. After a few minutes, Chris and I switched seats because my back's fucked up, so I ended up sitting next to Chantel. In theory, we weren't supposed to sit next to one another because I'd bother her the entire ride. In reality, I was the one on the receiving end, and not only did I suffer, I suffered heavily.
We stopped for dinner, had a few rest stops throughout the night, etc, before arriving at 8Am in the vicinity of Rome. We all went and got breakfast, and Chris and I changted into formal clothing - we heard that we had to bring proper attire to the Vatican. Unfortunately, neither of us are very bright - proper atire basically meant don't come naked or slutty. Oh well. As such, Chris and I suffered, me a bit more as I was wearing an Express shirt with a black and blue vertical stripe pattern. very modern, chic, expensive, and FUCKING HOT. When put in combination with black dress pants, it made me want to die.
We arrived in the Vatican City in a massive group, and milled about for a while before entering the building itself. Amusingly, at one point, everyone yelled the Exchange Student chant, and we got yelled at by the police, who then circcled the group in a Lamborghini golf cart. It was pretty funny watching the cop trying to circle the group, trying to look like a badass in a golf cart. He failed, badly.
We went into the Vatican itself, and embarked on a painfully long tour of all the art. I'm sure it was incredible, just not when it was mandatory, with a horribly talkative guide, after riding in a bus all ngiht full of singing Mexicans and screaming Australians (read; Suzie, the lesbian who forces her sexuality down people throats yet thinks that religion should be mandatory in schools [the former being fine with me except when forced upon people, the latter being weird... the two in combination simply baffling]). Suzie somehow thought that screaming at the Mexicans instead of utilising simple diplomacy would shut them up (someone tried diplomacy several days later with markedly better results). Not only did it not shut them up, it embarassed the Americans and made the Mexicans just laugh and actually get LOUDER.
Well played, Suzie. That girl freaks me out. The things she soemtiesm does or says to girls are things that might get her arrested if she was a guy.
Minirant over. So yeah. The sculptures and the Sistine Chapel weren't that great, and since I wasn't with my friends, I was molre than a little bored - everyone was broken up into different groups, and all but like 3 North Americans were put into the same group, while I was placed with the Australians, Nez Wealanders, etc. It wasn't that I didn't know anyone there, so much as that my cliquiness was biting me in the ass.
Afterwards, as we were eiting the Sistine Chapel, I met up with Chris and Chantel and some others, and we all headed to get gelatto. it wwas good, but not quite what I was hoping for. Caramel and chocolate mix nicely, but it was still kind of so-what. Not the right combo for swelteringly hot weather.
After about an hour of freetime, we all met up and walked back tot he bus, and we then took the bus to our hotel. Our hotel was over an hour away, and located in a town that was definitely not Rome. We had a great first impression of the Hotel, as it had its own little courtyard and everything, and was about 2 blocks from the ocean.
I was rooming with Jason Holroyd, Memo Padilla, and Chris. I haven't mentioned Jason or Memo before. Memo is a Mexican who I don't actually talk to a lot, and hardly knew before the trip. Jason is a newie fro mAustralia, and he's really cool. He's very shy and uiet, and is a lot like Chris and myself, although he's attractive, which means that he's made out with more than a few girls since he arrived.
Anyways, after we'd installed ourselves and carried the girls bags up the stairs, wwe went to dinner, where we were served absolutely meager portions. As a result, the four of us took off into the city to find food. We went down mainstreet and witnessed a simply massive amount of young men out, all in groups, ranging from early teens to mid-twenties.
Sketchy. We bought beers and stuck to the main street. We started heading back to the hotel, and about a block from the hotel, 4 italian guys approached us asking if we spoke italian. This was immediately followed by do you speak English, do you like hash, do you want hash, can we have a euro. They pushed for the euro for a bit, and then gave up, and one asked how old we were. Jason responded that he was 22, while we gradually accelerated our walking pace. Unfortunately, due to the angle at which they'd approached us, we were now walking at a 90 degree angle to main street, heading away from the motel. We took another right, and the italians said something to one another in Italian. We took another right, and hit the beach front street. Few intersections and very little traffic, which meant that event hough there was good lighting, we were sitting ducks for the men behind us.
Memo told me to keep my now empty beer bottle, and asked if I knew how to fight. Yeah. Me. I think that answer was fairly self evident. I'm the world's biggest wimp ever, and if it came down to a fight, I'd be good for about one punch. Since Memo speaks French and Spanish, he was able to piece together Italian, and the Italians had apparently said they were going to kick our (specifically Jason's) asses. As a side note, I didn't see it, but 2 out of the 4 heard something come out, and one of the 4 thought they saw brass knuckles, the other didn't know what they saw but it was something in their hand. May just as likely have been a knife. But simply put, they weren't friendly.
We made it down the block miraculously unscathed, and came upon the parking lot with the buses, and more importantly, about 20 spanish speakers. I have never been so relieved to see exchange students in my life.
Chris, Jason, and I were all kind of traumatized and shook up after this, and wanted to go back to the hotel, but we were scared to go alone. As such, we went onto the beach with the group of Mexicans, and while we quietly freaked out with some other Americans, the Mexicans danced the night away. Some Italians showed up after a bit, attracted by the music, and a large group of Americans were like "Fuck this," and we all ditched - having little faith in a large group of young Italian men roaming the streets at midnight.
We got back to the hotel, and I ended up walking Renée, Aysia, and some other girls to the bar on the corner, and when I returned, I found that the Mexicans had all returned as well, and were having a party by the pool. A few of the Australian and New Zealander girls wanted to go to the same coern bar, so I walked them there, but as we were entering the bar, I saw some Italian men approaching in a group - I was stuck in the bar, since after our run-in, I wasn't at all eager to go out alone. After a while, I decided to just settle down and make the most of it. I ordered a Jack and Coke, which was easily 50 percent Jack, which tasted simply terrible, but definitely relaxed me. T
he girls were kind of fun to hang out with, but a bit stressful, due to the fact that all the Rotary adults had left, and they wanted to go for a walk to the beach at 1145 PM. Southern hemisphere girls are unbelievably oblivious to danger, it seems - even moreso than North Americcan ones. I'm more vigilant than most people, but it still doesn't add up. Muggings, brass knuckles, and gangs are not a game, but the girls still want to wander around sans protection (1 guy, 7 girls is NOT protection), and they just find it entertaining when group sof guys approach them. I'm curious to know how much is pack mentality.
Anyways, we all wandered down to the beach, and some of the girls caught on that it wasn't the safest area, so while 2 headed down to the beach, the rest of the girls stayed up at the street. I notiqed a lone Italian walking along, watching us, who then picked up the phone and made a phone call. Down one of the streets, we could see a group kicking an individuaal on the ground in fetal position. I dont know whether the individual with a phone was a look out guy for the mugging, or was calling another group of hoodlums. Neither would have surprised me. Anyways, when the 2 girls got back from the beach, I made everyone run back to the hotel.
Wednesday the 8th, we started off the day by going to the Coliseum, and then sitting outside the Coliseum, because apparently somebody had dropped the ball on the tickets. Oops!
As such, we milled outside for a while before entering the Coliseum. It was kind of cool, but I accidentally wandered away from the tour guide. There's a lot of cool history in the Coliseum, but it took some serious visualization skills to see it as it must have looked in the time of the romans. Afterwards, as we walked back, DeBoyer linked arms with Chantel, which Chantel absolutely detests, so both Chris and I were in hysterics and took pictures accordingly. Heidi, one of the Rotary adults, kind of caught on, and asked if I was jealous, or if Chantel didn't like it when Bernard took her arm in arm. This was the start of a week of crap from Heidi - every time that Chantel and I were alone, we inevitably ran into Heidi, and she thought that we were at the very leaset "together" if not dating, and our protests only convinced her moreso.
Anyways, we caught a bus to "Ancient Rome" according to the Itinerary, and broke up into color groups. We learned all about the forums in Rome while sitting in the Roman Forum's ruins, with a bunch of Australians who I rarely talk to. It was hot as hell, they were telling simply massive amounts of history, I didn't know a lot of people to bother, and the ruins were so ruined that you couldn't really tell that they were ever buildings - it's hard to imagine a building from a cracked half-pillar. As such, it was incroyablement chiant, in every sense of the word.
Eventually, we regrouped with everyone, saw "The Wedding Cake," a simply massive Roman building, and then we dispersed for lunch. I went with a bunch of other people to a restaurant, where we all got pizza. Jason, Chantel and I sat apart from the main group (due to table issues), and as such ended up getting served as they were finishing, so we came back just the three of us, but yeah. I had some of the best pizza of my life. In Italy, you can actually taste the different cheeses in a 4 cheese, as you go from part to part of the pizza. Its INCREDIBLE.
After that, we broke up into groups, and went on a tour of Baroque Rome, and I don't really remember a lot of that. I think I spent most of it talking to Jason, Amanda, and Bek. We hit a shopping district, and both Bert (Rotary adult) and myself were bored stiff, as almost all the shopping was for girls. Interesting sidenote - all the pop cans in Italy are shaped like Red Bull cans - tall and thin cylinders, as compared to the more normal keg-like cans. Much less efficient surface-area wise, and without a doubt more expensive to produce, but much more aesthetically pleasing, though it does look smaller.
We continued on our walk, and I noticed that whenever Heidi wanted to get everyone to come, she called only me. This was kind of funny, and told a lot about the Green group 1) I was the loudest person in the group, 2) I was something of a leader of green group, and 3à I was something of a mother. THe guides new my name better than anybody else, and being one of the only French speaking oldies, people naturally followed me, and since I'm used to taking care of Te Aki, Alex, Aisling, and Amanda, I naturally drag everyone along with me. It's kind of funny how I generally end up being the one representative of teh group even without trying. Maybe I'm a natural leader or somethign. Ironic, since I hate leading! Or at least, did before exchange. So many things have changed now!
That night, we returned back to the hotel, and Nicole ate supper with us. I mentioned her before, but we only met her the night before - I met and talked ot her on the beach. She's an American from Austin Texas, and is one stop away from Marloie Gare, which is the Gare next door to Marche en Famenne, and basically in Marche. Anyways, at dinner, I did what I normally do when I meet new people - tell embarassing stories about myself! It kept her and Kristina, another girl I don't know well, laughing and at ease, which is a nice way to meet people. It gets people's guards down. Really! There are few better ways to break the ice than self degradation!
I found it kind of odd that Nicole paid no attention to anyoen but me, but didn't really question it. Loud and embarassing IS kind of hard to ignore. Anyways, somehow, her, Chantel, and I ended up out on the balcony, Chantel on my lap and Nicole in the other chair. Chris joined us, and dragged out another chair, but then Heidi came, so the girls kicked him out of his chair, and Heidi sat and taked with us for a good hour about Rotary, exchange, and god knows what else. Amusingly, due to Chantel being on my lap, we got more than a weird look when Heidi entered. Anyways, I noticed that Nicole paid way less attention to me than before. Ho much of this was that i was behind Chantel or due to nonverbal interactions between her and Chantel, I don't know, but I did note that as soon as I was marked as taken (in the loosest sense of the word) and not fair game, her attentions shifted to Chris.
After a while, Chris went to take a shower, and shortly after he entered the bathroom, I entered after him (since the door didn't lock), and took all his clothing and allt he towels. He sprayed me with the shower hose as I ran out in a form of retribution. Chantel took pity on him and threw a towel into the bathroom, and he exited the towel post shower and retrieved his clothing.
At about 1230, I followed Chris' lead and went to take a shower, girls and Chris still in the room, so I knew that I was going to get paid back for my prank. Accordingly, I turned ont eh shower head, but waited outside of the stall, fully clothed, waiting for somebody to try to enter. Apparently, Chris donned a raincoat before trying to enter, but when he tried, I sure enough tried to spray him. He tried several times, and he got Memo to try once, and as such I thoroughly soaked the bathroom, so that EVERYTHING was dripping by the time I entered for my actual shower.
MORE ON THIS ENTRY COMING LATER!