London and such

okay, no picture today... really quick

I am in London right now and am leaving tonight to go to Ireland for tomorrow... Then Tomorrow night I'm off to London again to fly to Rome where I'll be overnight and then Saturday morning I fly back to the States. So sometime Saturday around 3ish? my phone will be on... My real one :)

London has been okay. Had a few glitches including but not limited to my credit card being turned off. It is now finally working :). The sun burn I got on Sunday at the beach is much better now and I don't think any pealing will occur :) I'm glad I used sunblock or I'd prolly have ended up in the hospital!

Okay I relly gotta go I am meeting upw ith a girl that I was iin the proram with at 1030 and I gotta catch the tube and fugre that mess out.

Love you all. BE HOME SOON!

John

Almost time to depart

At the top of that hill on the horizon right in the middle... Yea thats where my house is... (view from the fort) PS. ITS SUNNY!!!!!

okay quick before I miss my bus.. again! I passed all my tests.

Andddd.... oh. my cell phone isn't gonna work in England.. wel it will be it will be really expensive.. So if you have phone cards or whatever use them before monday night my time when I depart from Rome. I added some more minutes to my phone So I will just call you guys or talk to you online. I'll be back in the states on the 28th and when I land will have my phone on so :) communication will be normal once again except for when I'm flying from JFK to minniapoils.

Okay, thats all for now. talk to you later! Ciao

Last day of classes!

SO SUNNY!!! FINALLY! Siena

Hey :)

So presentations are done, and I just finished my paper, and I just finished my Italian test... Presentation was okay, I don't know about the italian test... That was interesting.

I haven't had much time this week to do much of anything else but school related things. It's a relief that its all done now. Just in time now for the nice weather. Today has been beautiful. Finally sunny and warm... A bit too warm though.

So things are going well... It's almost time to come home. Time is flying. It's hard to believe that it will have been a month that I've been gone when I get back.

I don't wanna think too much because my brain is fried from writting that paper but I just wanted to check in :). I'm going to the beach on Sunday :) Then Monday night I'll be in an ENGLISH speaking country!!!!!!!!

I haven't found out if my phone will work in England or not... I'll find out and let you know. Otherwise You'll have to just email me.

So, talk to you soon

Almost done with classes

Pisa from the top of La Torre de Pisa.

I'm writting this today... not last night :)

I just finished my presentation... It was good so I'm relieved thats over with. Now I just have 2 tests and a paper to do and I'm done with classes!

Supposedly starting tomorrow afternoon its supposed to be sunshine and 80 :) until I leave... Better late then never I guess... According to my teachers this has been like the worst June they have ever seen. Ofcourse because I'm here. I guess the wine will be bad this year :)

So I fly out of Rome onthe 23rd... I'm posting my flight number and times so you know when I'll be in England and when I will be returning to Rome.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Flight: Alitalia # 206

Rome Intercontinental Airport Leonardo da Vinci (FCO) to London Heathrow (LHR)

Departure (FCO): June 23, 7:55 PM CEST (evening)

Arrival (LHR): June 23, 9:45 PM BST (evening)

Friday, June 27, 2008

Flight: Alitalia # 209

London Heathrow (LHR) to Rome Intercontinental Airport Leonardo da Vinci (FCO)

Departure (LHR): June 27, 8:05 PM BST (evening)

Arrival (FCO): June 27, 11:35 PM CEST (evening)

I'll stay in the airport in Rome from 1135pm until I fly out to JFK.. My flight info for my flight from Rome to JFK and JFK to Minneapolis is as follows:

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Flight: Alitalia # 608

Rome Intercontinental Airport Leonardo da Vinci (FCO) to New York John F Kennedy Intl (JFK)

Departure (FCO): June 28, 9:55 AM CEST (morning)

Arrival (JFK): June 28, 1:20 PM EDT (afternoon)

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Flight: Northwest Airlines # 1650

New York John F Kennedy Intl (JFK) to Minneapolis St Paul Intl (MSP)

Departure (JFK): June 28, 5:50 PM EDT (evening)

Arrival (MSP): June 28, 8:11 PM CDT (evening)

Then I stay in Minneapolis for 4 days... Then Here is my flight info for my return to Rochester

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Flight: Northwest Airlines # 154

Minneapolis St Paul Intl (MSP) to Detroit Wayne County (DTW)

Departure (MSP): July 3, 6:50 AM CDT (morning)

Arrival (DTW): July 3, 9:32 AM EDT (morning)

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Flight: Northwest Airlines # 3270 Operated by: MESABA AVIATION/NWA AIRLINK

Detroit Wayne County (DTW) to Rochester Monroe County (ROC)

Departure (DTW): July 3, 10:24 AM EDT (morning)

Arrival (ROC): July 3, 11:43 AM EDT (morning)

Phew... And thats that... I wont even go into the rail tickets and times and farries and stuff.. AHHHHHHH Crazyness.. Okay I gotta jet for class. Miss you all. See you soon. Time is starting to fly :)

Ciao!

Last week of classes

View of Florence from piazza di Michelangelo

Well this week just flew by… I barely had time to write on here hah. This weekend I went to Florence and Pisa as you know. It was great!!! I had a lot of fun. 8 of us from school went to Florence together Saturday morning. We walked and walked and walked once we got there… SOOOO much walking. And I never want to see stairs again after this weekend… my god. We went to the Duomo and climbed the 460 some stairs to the top…. Very sore, especially because we walked across Florence to our hostel that night as well… which we had to climb the stairs to piazza di Michelangelo.. no one gave me a warning for that… That was a lot of stairs as well…. We slept in tents… with bunk beds in them… hah. It was an interesting experience that is for sure.
In the morning we walked all the way back to the train station where three of us went to Pisa… Once in Pisa we went to…. The leaning tower of Pisa of course… Guess what… MORE STAIRS!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! This time only 300 or so I believe. Mya… soooo not cool. And the walk from the train station was fairly long as well… But the view was well worth it even if I was scared to death.

We got back to Siena around 740, so not too bad. This week is going to fly by. Tuesday I had a 20 minute group presentation to do, and Thursday I have my Italian final, and Friday I have my LIS final and a 6 page paper due.. Sooo I have NO clue when I’m gonna have time for all of that. So I am positive that this week is gonna fly by. On a side note… did you know that London is an hour behind Italy… hrmm. So that is gonna mess with my head when I fly back and forth from Rome to London and back to Rome and then to JFK then Minnesota… AHHHHHH What is time? Lol. I have to go by my own time that’s just ridiculous.

Today was the third day since we arrived on May 31st that has been rain free.. How pathetic. Now that we are leaving starting Wednesday it’s supposed to be sunny and 80 for the rest of the time we are here… So not fair.

OH! I found a suitcase in Florence for 10 Euros.. I hope it holds up until I get home.. hah. Same suitcase in Siena was 30 euros so that was a good deal J. Well I’m off to shower, I feel iky.
Miss you all.. I’ll be back very very soon… Infact today ( 06-16-2008) is half way through my trip! So It’s almost time for me to return.
Okay I’m outta here. See you later
~John

AHHH

View of The country side :)

Well last night I was beat so I decied against writting a post so your getting a post but its gonna be short cause I have to catch the bus... It seems like I am running out of time to do anything! But Wanted to say things are going well.. I have tried almost every flavor of gelato and they are all great... Chocolate and Lemon win though :)

Yeserday I went out to dinner and that was great... Same place I went to dinner on Monday.

This weekend I am going to Florence saturday morning, and pisa sunday morning.. I'll be back in Siena Sunday night.. :) Call me whenever :)

I gota run though. Love and miss all of you.

Ciao

Just another day

This is Siena from the south side... I live that way... past all that... forever.. lol. It's a nice city :) Only 60,000 people live in the city center and 80,000 in the area... But I still can't believe that. It seems so much larger.

Another day down...

What did I do today... Woke up, went to class.... Class was good.. Lost in Italian as usual... LIS was great... Deaf culture was good too :).

This afternoon I had lunch with some other students, then we went for a tour with our director to some churches... Then I went back to class...

After classes were done I had a meeting at 530-6 then I met a group and we went for wine tasting at 6-730...Wine was great :) then I caught the bus back to home..

Had Gnocchi for dinner :) yay.

Tomorrow morning I am going to the special market they have here on Wednesdays... So I gotta go to bed because its 1150 right now and I gotta be up at 6... So until next time.

Ciao..

Ps.... I know these seem to be getting shorter and shorter but I have been running out of time at night.. Time keeps flying by... Blame my Italian teacher for all the hw.. hehe.

Week two, Monday

Thats the one half of the table all with our drinks of wine/beer. Students from left to right. Victoria, Kelly, Me, Molly, Donatella (administrator), Rita (Deaf culture teacher).

The first day of the second week of classes is now complete…. Wow. I didn’t exactly start off the week too well, but the day did end on a good note. Last night before I went to bed I left my phone in the bathroom… I bring it with me everywhere just in case one of you call cause I would be really upset if I missed a call from one of you. I use my phone as my back up alarm because the travel alarm I bought and use here is not that loud… Well this morning the alarm in my room didn’t wake me up and my phone was in the bathroom so I didn’t hear it going off…. So I woke up at 9… when I’m supposed to be starting class…. So I missed my first class of the day. I called Donatella immediately to let her know so everyone didn’t start to worry. Luckily I didn’t get in too much trouble but I am mad that I missed Italian class because I really need to be in that class because I’m really struggling with it. Oh well, what can you do.

So the day went great. I had LIS class which was fun as usual. Then when that was done I went to McDonalds….. yea… That’s right. We all decided it was something we had to do to see if it tasted the same or different. We all expected it to taste just a little different… Well it didn’t. I was disappointed. They do have some different menu items but I had the bigmac.. it was the same.

After that we did some shopping… OH! And I got my gelato for the day… mmmmmmm It was delicious. I had Lemon.. Of course. Lol. And a scoop of melon flavored…. Melon is still winning champ. After that we did some more looking around in stores.

After class today about 4 students (me included)and my teachers except for Roberto, and the director of the program and a couple assistants went out for dinner at a pizza place… The pizza was great! The price was 13 euros… A lot of people didn’t go because they said that was too much for pizza… Well it turns out it didn’t just cover the pizza…. First of all it covered a whole pizza.. which was very big, and it covered a half liter bottle of wine for yourself, and It covered dessert!!! That’s an amazing price! The wine was exquisite. I didn’t realize that they would give us our own personal bottles… I expected a glass of wine… Wow… I was a bit tipsy on the way home. Lol.

My bus stops running at 830 so I ended up taking a different bus that one of the other girls takes and stopped at the train station and walked the rest of the way home. I got home around 930. So now here I am typing away at 1030.

I’m sure that tomorrow will go by just as fast as the rest of the days have been going. So I can say with confidence that I will see you guys very soon! Take care of yourselves.

Amore,

John

Venice!! 06-08-208

On the canal in the Gondola!! YAY

Well we made it back from Venice in once piece! It was great! Time just flew; I can't believe its Sunday night already. This is ridiculous. I know that with the snap of my finger I'll be sitting here next Sunday feeling the same way about that weekend. It's weird because I thought that the weekends would go by slow because I wouldn't have classes.

Venice was great, definitely worth the money to go there. Today we went to the glass museum and just explored until 2pm ish when we caught the train to Florence to get another train to Siena. We ended up getting into Siena around 730pm. I took somewhere around 300 pictures of the Venice trip so... You'll have an excellent idea of how it was :).

I didn't know that Venice was known for their glass, this was something new to me which I discovered when every other store was a glass store! It was very impressive some of the stuff that they had made... very expensive.

So, tomorrow classes start again. I have yet to do my Italian homework and it is 1030pm... So I gotta get to that soon but I wanted to write this first so I didn't forget. We still don't have internet access at the host family’s house... By the time they get it fixed I will be leaving!

So, as you can see things are going well. I'm having a blast and already feeling like my time here is short. I'm not looking forward to all the traveling to come, I feel like planes and trains are gonna get old really quick.

Well I hope things are going well for everyone... Stop taking all my good weather! Send it over here will ya! Its still raining -_-. I hear that this week its supposed to clear up for at least a couple days... yay.

Anyways, until tomorrow, Ciao

VENICE! 6/07/2008

The Canal that greated us from the train station in Venice!

Today I woke up at 7am and was at Pizza a Gramcci by 745. My host mom dropped me off on the way to work. ( She is a math teaacher and right now is finals... I guess they have finals on Saturdays in Italy?) We took the bus to Florence where we transfered to a train. The train ride was smooth. We arrived in Venice at about 1pm.

As soon as we arrived in Venice we had lunch (I had some strange pitta thing). Then the 8 of us split up. I went with Jess and Victoria around Venice. We walked for 4 hours before we finally made it to the other side of the island.

Venice is very pretty and has 420 bridges and 120 canals. Also, to rent an apartment (NYC size) is 2,000 Euros a month... That's ridiculous! I got that information from the gondola driver :). Yes, I rode in a gondola. At first we thought it was 80 Euros a person but it turned out to be 100 Euros for 40 minutes for the boat itself. In the boat we could have up to 6 people so we ended up splitting, Jess, Victoria, Scottie, Joe and I (5 of us) so it was 20 Euros :). It was so relaxing to ride on the gondola and not be walking around.

I have to admit that I have an addiction to gelato. I had lemon and coconut flavored this afternoon.... Then later after dinner was finished I had lemon and vanilla flavors... Lemon is my favorite so far :)

My sincere hope is to have gelato every day until I leave. I gotta experience it as much as possible before I leave!

Venice is a pretty city but my god some of the areas smell awful! They reminded me of what Lake Ontario smells like at Charlotte beach in the summer time.

So we made our way back as a group to the hostel. Michael called me while I was waiting for the bus, so it was nice to talk with him. The hostel is a camp site with mobile homes for the beds... It was interesting.

Anyways, my roommate for the evening (Jess) is trying to sleep so I'm gonna go to bed. Tomorrow we plan to go to the Museum of glass here. It will be really cool I'm sure. Anyways, ciao for now!

Hospital Museum 06/06/2008

That is the outside of the Museum.. Seems kinda blah, but inside.. what a different story.

What a day, where do I start!

Well I woke up this morning and went to school where we had a group meeting just to make sure no one was having trouble with their host families and stuff like that. That went well. After that we went to Santa Maria della Scala museum... This is a museum with art and architecture... OMG IT WAS AMAZING! From the outside of the place your like... okay whatever. Even when your on the first floor I'm like okay a lot of art thats nice... art in an old building. Interesting but not mind blowing to me. THEN!! I find out that their is a basement... and a basement of the basement, and nother basement of that basement.... 4 floors down later... I was speechless. It was just unbelievable. The building was constructed in like 800ad or something nuts like that... It has been remodeled and added onto so many times it is just unreal... Unreal how many hidden doorways and little tunnels there are, and hidden rooms and omg. I can't even begin to explain it. Unfortunately that didn't allow pictures :( But man did I want to! I bought a book about it but its in Italian... so its a motivator for me to learn Italian better :). But it has pictures... but none of them begin to show you the crazy architecture in this place... Not to mention that it was huge! I was there for 3 hours and i was constantly moving! Yea, that definently pumped me up for the day.

So when we were done there me and a couple girls went to the store.. Yesterday I went and I thought I had bought face wash... which apparently turned out to be body milk? lotiony stuff.. oops.. lol. So today I bought what I hope is face wash. My host mom says it is so.. lol. phew. After the store we went for lunch and I got a kebob. mmmm. yummy.. idk what it is made with. lol. Its a pitaish type thing with lamb.. or pork or something... and lettuce and tomato and a bunch of sauces and stuff. It's good thats all that matters. Then after that we got gelato... I tried Lemon.. OH MY GOD! when I tasted it I almost fell to the ground. It is just unreal... very very very very very good. It tops the Chocolate and I thought that was impossible.

After this we went back to the school where we got to just in time before it started to rain... and it rained.. and rained... and rained................... at 6 I finally said forget it and started to get ready to leave anyways... I decided to walk home today. It was a great walk. Took about an hour. I took lots of pictures :).

Today for dinner I had Tortellini con panna e prosciutto, insalata condita con olio d'olivo e sale e pepe, e pescefritto, e crema e fragole.... (Tortellini with cream and ham, then salad with a dressing of olive oil and salt and peper, and fried fish, and for dessert we had vanilla pudding ish type stuff with strawberries on top.

After dinner I talked with my host mom Giorgia. She told me how to say the months and days of the week and then we talked about the geography of Italy, and then about the geography of the USA. She is coming to the US in august and was curiouse about NY because she will be there. I then showed her some pictures of Niagara falls and Rochester and stuff. And now I sit here at 1230 in the morning writting this. So the night went quick.. the whole day did.

I got to chat with Joe today.. both joes :) and I talked to Michael on the phone :). I also talked with Victor and Crystal... So I got a good share in with people before I don't have internet for a while now. Until Monday.

I've decided I'm gonna have to get another bag for souveigniers or something because I want to but stuff and yet I literally have noo room to put it to bring it back... So I have a couple weeks to create a soulution to this problem.

Well I'm gonna head to bed. I gotta be up at 645.

Buona Notte

~Love, John :)

First week of classes done

This is the view from my street, the big building in the middle in the distance is a church which is near where my school is... yea lol.

Okay, another day has passed and here I am again giving you so much to read :). I don't know why I bother to write sooo much because most of you can't keep up with what I've been writting anyways! lol. But oh well too bad, read faster lol.

Today I had my first taste of Gelato. It was chocolate flavor... wow... I've decided a daily trip for Gelato is mandatory so I will be going bankrupt at 3 Euros a pop. But wow its so worth it... I'll just not have lunch and have that instead. I had a Falafal (spelling) today. That was really good. For dinner today I had Verdure con besciamella e Tigelle con pomodoro, tonno e formaggio. (Vegetables with cream[made from butter, milk and flour], and a hard crusted bread with tomatos, tuna fish and picorino cheese (cheese made from a sheep) on top. It was really good. Then I had this icecream bar which was very good, It was hard and soft at the same time.. Really hard to explain.

Crystal and I talked tonight finally successfully. She asked me if I had gained a lot of wait yet... I don't know lol. I can't tell. And I don't have a scale near by so I'll have to weigh myself when I get home :).

LIS class got a bit more complicated today but we pulled through okay. We learned the signs for family members (mom, dad, uncle, cousin, grandchild..etc.) It was really confusing because they don't differentiate between male and female usually, and the sign for grandchild and nephew or neice is the same sign... because apparently in Italian it is also the same word... kinda odd. lol.

Italian was just as difficult as ever. Just when I think I can start to grasp things he throws in a new curve ball. Ugh. Tomorrow (today since i posted it today) I have a meeting at 1030-1130, then a bunch of us are going to a museum in an old hospital... That shall be exciting. It's right here in Siena. Then after that I have a Gelato date with a couple of my friends :). Then I'll have lunch hehe. Then I'll prolly be back on here to hopefully find at least one person online to chat with for a bit before leaving to go back to my host families house at 658. So that's my day.

Saturday morning we leave for florence at 8am. The bus ticket to Florence was 6 euros.. Then from Florence we are taking a bullet train to Venice.. We are staying there over night and then coming back on Sunday via a train. We should be back in Siena around 630 7pm. Then I'll head back to my house and my host family will be in Rome until late Sunday so I won't see them so I'll be here alone. So most likely i will have to find food before I head home or just scrape up something.

Next weekend Saturday I will be going to Florence to actually visit the city and not just go through it, and then we will be going from there to Pisa where we will stay overnight and head back on sunday. So, I will have seen my fair share of Italy :). I'm just sad I won't have a chance to see Sicily or Pompe.

Oh, I talked to Michael this afternoon as well. It's been 12 hours since then so I almost forgot. heh. He is the only one I've been able to hear mostly clearly. Everyone else sounds like they are 5,000 miles away.

And yea... I have a personal hatred of the damn pidgions around here. One pooped on me GRRR, and one flew into my head... like... Full speed swooping down right into my head. And one hit me in the side... The birds here fly like the people around here drive! So a lesson for you... Becareful of the birds when in Italy. lol. I'm gonna look like I've been through wwII before I get home lol.

It rained and thundered again today... so much for this tuscan sun. Eventually its supposed to clear up..

Well I will leave you with this and I will have quite a blog when I get back on Monday for you :)

So until next time,

Ciao!

Another day in Siena

Just on the way back to class

Wednesday is now coming to an end and here I sit in my room again at 924pm typing this blog :). Today flew by but I still insist that it feels like I've been here forever. Just a quick schedule update (last minute) For tomorrow (today for you now reading this) June 5th my schedule has changed because my LIS teacher needs to leave early to go home for a family event or something like that. So... I will be in class 0830-1000 then 1030-1200 then 1430-1600. Then I'm done. So I will be out of class by 4pm which is great.. I think... I will hopefully chill with my friends maybe look around town if its not raining.. again.

It thunderstormed today :). Apparently this is really odd weather for them because it has been raining everyday since Monday and will rain everyday until next Monday. Thats kinda crappy weather. But then after that the weather is supposed to be better. If I had known it was gonna be this rainy and chilly I would have brought some more heavier clothing. I was definently planning on 80s and sunny.

LIS is going great I'm remembering most of what I learn which is why I love learning sign languages so much :) See it once or twice and I got it. Class is fun. We don't learn word by word, instead we do it through stories. So he introduces the word during the stories but he doesn't use ASL to tell us he uses geastures to make us understand. For the past 3 classes now we have been working on this one story which he keeps adding onto more and more and more... Its quite long now. if we continue to practice with that story I will be able to do it for you very well when I return :) Its about a girl that buys a fish then feeds it. Then she gets board and plays with a balloon which she plays with while a cat catches the fish and goes to eat it. The girl sees the cat and lets go of the balloon and runs over saving the fish and locking up the cat. Then she uses a table and chair to eventually get her balloon back while the cat escapes and shakes the table knocking the girl to the floor... lol. Its quite interesting. Its fun.

Italian.... oye.. Someone shoot me now. Its going very slowly and very painfully. I feel like I'm hopeless. I get really lost in class and can't really answer the teacher when he asks me questions. I wish I could retain the information like I do the sign language but it just flys right through my head instantly. So I can't study any of my LIS because i'm constantly focusing on my Italian. I think that the class is moving a bit too fast for me and if we worked on the stuff we've learned so far more instead of introducing 500 new things each day I might be able to remember something. ugh.

Italian deaf culture class is fun. I love the teacher as I think I have said.
OH! I talked to my dad today (wednesday night) and we were talking about phone cards. He said the best he could find of calling cards to a cell phone from a cell phone was through pinzoo.com. It's 17.9 cents a minute... eep. So I understand that its expensive for you guys to call and I don't expect you to too much if you can't I understand. But know if you do I'd love to hear from you. Emails and AIM is nice but hearing your voice is always nice.

Also, if I'm at my host families house I am welcome to use their phone so if it would be cheaper to call the host family land line then you can but call my cell phone first to make sure I'm home and that its not soo late that everyones sleeping... Otherwise we gotta use my cell. But in the case that when you call my cell and want to use the land line (cause i believe its cheaper if you can find a land line and call to one) and I say you can, then use this number; 39 is the country code, then 0577 44937. but again don't call that until you get intouch with me on my cell phone first.

And I just got done talking with Crystal its 10pm now here. Signal was pretty bad and she cut in and out so I barely got any conversation in so next time shes trying from non tmobile phone :). But it was good to hear from her (you if your crystal reading this).

Oh, and okay for the weekend I'm going to Venice. So I leave for Venice at 9am on Saturday the 7th and come back on Sunday around 630 or 730pm... So this means the only way to communicate will be via phone which your more then welcome to do :). Friday afternoon will be the last time I'm online until Monday June 9th.

Today at dinner we had tortellini then we had tomatos and mozzerella buffella(spelling)... It was really good. Then I had chocolate pudding with whipcream :). yummm.
Okay enough stalling I'm gonna go do some more practicing. Seems like I will never be able to do enough... AND I gotta get up earyl tomorrow grrr. Just when I was getting into some sort of routine. oh well. Ciao

Love you all
~John

Buon Pomeriggio

This is the city of Siena. My school is behind me. There is a valley in the middle of the city which is the green stuff and the city goes around on the left over to where you are looking. There is much more city behind me too but I haven't gotten a good perspective on that for a picture.

Okay, another day done... Another day done... I can't yet tell if I feel like time is flying by or if I feel like its going backwards. I'm torn between both feelings. I feel like I have been here for a month at least, but at the same time I feel like I just got here. It's kind of confusing.

Classes are going okay. Things are a bit overwhelming. It seems like basically I wake up, breakfest really quick and go to the bus stop by 825 at the latest, then I go to class have classes and lunch break and then more classes. by the time classes are done I have like an hour before I need to return to the bus stop to catch my ride home. Once I'm home it takes like an hour to eat and by the time thats done and I've organized myself and sit to write here its like almost 9. Then I write here, then I study, which really needs like a couple hours. Then if I gotta shower I do so which as you know takes me a while. Especially with this stupid tub thing. Then I write in my journal, THEN I go to bed. It's like there is no time to just stop for a second. This is my stopping time, to write here and in my journal. I know I said I wanted to be busy but its almost too busy. It's having an opposite effect on me so that I just don't want to do anything now... I wish I could make my mind up for myself. Seems like I'm never happy with what I have. lol.

So I talked with dad last night, that was great, I think I mentioned that already. This morning at 0613 I got a phone call from Joe and Victor :) That was a great way to wake up and start my day. Apparently I talked too long because they ran out of minutes ... :x oops..

Dinner tonight consisted of some sort of corn pasta with tomatos and chedder chease and mozzerella. Then some like potato gnacci type things with sausage in sauce... The sauce was AMAZING!!!!

Tonight my family is at a basket ball game.. I guess its the finals. I didn't go because I have a lot of studying to do. This weekend I'm going to Venice. So that will be great. I'm excited.. It's expensive but I don't care, I'm only gonna be here for this once for sure so I am gonna do what I can. So saturday morning we leave for there and return sunday nightish. That doesn't mean I wouldn't want you to call. PLEASE call anytime no worries. If I'm busy I wont answer. But there are few things that I would be doing that are more important then you guys.

Today I was talking with a girl in my class and I was thinking and talked to her about the fact that everyone says that I will have so much fun and by the time its time to come home I won't want to... Well I just don't believe it. I can't imagine a place being more important or making me feel any better then being home and able to see the ones I love. She was relieved at my point of view because she felt the same way. So, rest assured that when that day comes to fly home from Italy, and to fly home from Minneapolis I will be the happiest I've been in a month.

I got a chance to talk with a few of you today and it was refreshing. I really miss you guys. I think I've gotten as less homesick as possible lol. It's been helping to talk to my friends here about it because many feel the same way. It's amazing because it doesn't look like it, but when you talk with them you find out that they feel the same way I do.

It's very issolating and tiering to be in a country where you don't understand anything, you can't read anything, if you get lost no one understands you, and when I leave for the night to go to my home, I have NO contact with anyone unless someone tries to contact me from like 7pm until I get to school and have lunch break or possibly if I arrive early enough before class starts at 9.

Today on the way home I got on the bus at least, however I got off a stop early... the stop early is at the bottom of a hill..... a very very large almost mountain rd. That was quite the walk. But at least I got home alone today.

Well I've chatted enough about nothing so I'm gonna go do some studying... actually I think shower first then study.. not that you need to know that.

Enjoy yourselves and until next time I love you all very much.

~John

First day of classes finished

Country between Rome and Siena.

Hello again. Another day down. To clarify things, I am writting these at night time and posting them the day after. So this is really about what happened monday :).

First according to my dad in order to call me there is no 0.. its just 39 for the country code. Apparently it says online if you look it up to dial 039 but it did not work for him. So I guess try both and one should work.

Second, I have noticed since my dad called me today that my phone doesn't give me much time to answer the phone, maybe 3seconds... So if you call and I don't answer PLEASE call me back a second time because I will have the phone in my hand by then and will answer, unless I'm in class.. which you know when I'm in classes so don't call then :). Also the phone has dropped my dads phone call, so if I just disapear, call me back... Otherwise I'll be very sad :(.

Now, classes today were interesting. Italian class is gonna be very hard for me because the teacher only speaks Italian. And I am having a hard time retaining the stuff we learned, but it was the first day so I'm giving myself some time to hopefully remember.

My LIS class was great! I definently can remember the signs much easier. I learned my colors today and how to say my name is, and the alphabet and how to count to 20. Wow, very different.. The alphabet is fairly similar though.

Deaf italian culture class is great, no problems there yet.I have to write a daily journal in this class about a word I don't know, a cultural difference I've noticed and also a new Italian sign I have learned. This class I will also need to do a paper on, yuck.

The people in my classes are nice. We were split in to two groups and we have the same classes together. I'm in group 1 :). One girl is also going to London on the 23rd so we are going to meet up with her when we go to London and tour around together. She has a friend in London so we may be able to store our stuff there which will make things much easier. She wanted to go to Dublin with us but she flys out a day before we do so she can't.

My shower.... isn't a shower... Its a bathtub..... This is annoying.. I don't like baths. oh well. I can't complain its a nice house. And yes the house in the picture from yesterday is their whole house. The live on teh first 2 floors and the top floor is Eldo's sisters place.

I have soo much to study each night its rediculous. When I return and have just the one class 4 days aweek It will be a relief.

Paul, I feel like there are a thousand versions of you running around its kinda rediculous. lol. I just had to say that.

Okay, so its 2217 (they use the 24hr clock in Italy.. maybe Europe in general?) So I should go because I have yet to study. You see I missed my bus back home tonight because after class we all went out for a drink. I had a Mojito (spelling). That tasted interesting... wont buy it again though. So anyways, because of that my family had to come and get me from the city centre... They were nice about it though. Hopefully tomorrow (the day this will be posted) I will be able to catch the appropriate bus.

Okay, I miss everyone, love you all as I've said every other time on here. Take care and I have been looking forward to hearing from you all either via phone or email or comment on here. It really is the highlight of my day. Even a 5 second blurb is better then nothing :)

Okay, I'm really going now, until next time.

Love,
~John

PS. The home sickness is getting a bit better... one day at a time. oh and today we had rain for like 2 hours but otherwise the weather was nice but a bit on the cool side after the rain. okay. peace

PPS. I seem to have picked up an allergy here... Its quite annoying. They are working on getting some allergy medicine for me. Its on and off so.

Host family and first day

This is a picture of the house where I am staying.. Very beautiful place.

*NOTE* I added the picture to the post I wrote yesterday so take a look :).



Okay, so I met my host family yesterday and they are very nice. Their names are Giorgia and Eldo and the doggies name is Otto. Otto is still getting used to me so he barks quite a bit right now. Giorgia and Eldo both speak very broken English. It is tough to get by most the time but so far we have mostly been able to communicate well... After trying to say things 3 different ways lol. So this is kind of good because it will make me learn more Italian. Dinner was really good. We had Lasagna to start off the meal, then we had salad and tuscan bread and tuscan cheese. Then we had strawberries and whip cream. Oh, and water for a beverage. Giorgia does not like wine so they tend not to drink it. Oh well. lol.

While we are on the topic of water.... They don't have plain old water here.... grrr. All they have is gas water, and mineral water.... Its kind of annoying because I don't like both, however I settled with the mineral water.

Idk if I have mentioned this or not but the sirens around here are really annoying... like wow.

Okay, here is my schedule which will apply to every day except for today because today we have orientation as well as classes. So for June 3rd - June 22 this is my schedule with an exception on the 11th or 12th in which we will be visiting someplace.... idk where yet.

First set of times is my time, second set of time is EST

Monday - Italian Language 0900-1030 0300-0430
Break 1030-1045 0430-0445
LIS (Italian Sign Language) 1045-1245 0445-0645
Lunch Break 1245-1530 0645-0930
Italian Deaf Studies 1530-1700 0930-1100

Tuesday - Italian Deaf Studies 0900-1030 0300-0430
Break 1030-1045 0430-0445
Italian Language 1045-1215 0445-0615
Lunch Break 1215-1530 0615-0930
LIS (Italian Sign Language) 1530-1730 0930-113 0

Wednesday - Italian Language 0900-1030 0300-0430
Break 1030-1045 0430-0445
LIS (Italian Sign Language) 1045-1245 0445-0645
Lunch Break 1245-1530 0645-0930
Italian Deaf Studies 1530-1700 0930-1100

Thursday - Italian Deaf Studies 0900-1030 0300-0430
Break 1030-1045 0430-0445
Italian Language 1045-1215 0445-0615
Lunch Break 1215-1530 0615-0930
LIS (Italian Sign Language) 1530-1730 0930-1130

Friday - "Activities" 0900-1200 0300-0600

Saturday - Free (travel most likely)

Sunday - Free (Travel most likely again)

So after doing that three times I'll be done with the program. Then on my way to London. Then Dublin, then Minneapolis then... HOME!

So until then all of you continue to take care of yourselves. I look forward to seeing you when I return. And hopefully talking to you before then. It's been 3, almost 4 days since I left but it feels like at least a week already. I still have mixed feelings about being here but I'm trying my best to enjoy it as much as possible. Love you all. Until next time.

~John

In Siena

This is the school entrence.. and me :)

So after a stressful morning of finding the correct train we finally made it to Siena. We arrived here at about 1200. The city is beautiful. And the school is very nice as well. Small and very homey. So I feel a bit more comfortable. It appears that my schedule will be fairly full basically 9-5 every day except weekends so that will help to keep me busy and occupied.

I got my phone. The number is 331-463-0377 I believe that the country code is 039 but if that doesn't work look it up? lol. Just so you are aware of the fees on my end. I get free incoming calls from anywhere, so call away if you can find a way. Text messaging to and from the United States is .50€ which is like just over a US dollar. So lets try and keep that to a minimum k? lol.

These Italian keyboards drive me nuts, they moved the keys around a bit and its confusing. Okay I'm off to continue waiting for my host family. They are to be here around 1500. Its 1423 right now. Call anytime day or night who knows when I'll be awake. I'll try to post my schedule tomorrow or Tuesday so that you know when I'm in class and don't call me during those times. Otherwise I don't care.

Arrivederci

John