Spain

We left in a huge hurry. We forgot to do laundry, and I suppose everyone else in my building also forgot to do them. As we finally finished doing our laundry we were running late to get to the airport. We rushed to Termini (the main terminal) and took an express train straight to the airport. We had 1 hour left before the plane left without us. We got to the check-in counter but to our dismay the flight was overbooked and the lady said that we have to catch a flight the next day. We were not okay with that. Not at all. We fought to find any possible way to get on the flight. Finally the lady found a way to get us on the flight, and with fifteen minutes left to get to the plane we rushed through the security line. 

The security line was probably the most frustrating. People just did not know how to put their belongings on the conveyer belt. They forgot to take off their jewelry and the metal detector kept on beeping. Most of these people were old farts and they just could not figure it out. So even though we took the "express" lane, it turned out that it wasn't even all that fast because of these senile grandmas. Miya and I decided to cut everyone and we threw our bags in and walked through the beeper. I was held up because I forgot to put my belt/iPhone/wallet in the conveyer belt and so I told Miya to go ahead to the plane and tell them to wait for me. We had 5 minutes left.

I got my belongings, and holding my belt, bag, and my falling pants I booked it to the flight. I looked ridiculous, especially with my ass hanging out and running like a mad man. 

However, everything started to settle into place. We had a layover in Madrid, at some McD's and finally arrived at Seville. 

Seville was awesome. Let me say that the weather was SO nice. High 70s, low 80s. Rome was still rainy and being a little bitch so it was a nice transition. The culture in Seville is like none other. We arrived during Semana Santa, which is Holy Week. There are over 50 churches, each with one or two specific types of brotherhoods and they would dress up in what seems like KKK  outfits and march around the entire city. Behind them would be a float depicting a religious scene from the Bible. Much of it had to do with the final hours of Jesus' life, and of course His resurrection. Behind the processions was usually a marching band. Their job was to keep a steady pace, for the processions (floats) were being moved by men carrying it on their backs. That was the intense part, having to have a huge float on your back and marching around the city. Some processions lasted from 2am to 2:30pm. That is a LONG time. Although people do switch and replace each other, it is still quite a tiring job. Meanwhile, thousands of people gathered to see the processions. Most of them were Spaniards, and to my surprise not many Americans were there. I think they were mostly out getting drunk, like what most Americans do nowadays. 

I got to visit my really good friend Val. We grew up together at church. Although she hated me for the longest time, she finally figured out how awesome I was and our friendship grew strong nearing the middle of high school. It was great seeing her and she gave us a wonderful tour of little spots of Seville that Miya and I would have never been able to see or get to. 

Miya and I tried to get to a Flamenco show... we went into this really hot and musky room, packed with lots of people. Many were Americans. I really enjoyed the Flamenco show, it was very flashy and mesmerizing, but Miya said that it wasn't very good and that there are much better ones that we could have seen. the down side was that many were expensive shows, while this one that we went to was free. 

The food in Seville is amazing. Because they are quite near the ocean, and a really big river (forgot its name) actually supports some sort of marine life and thus their seafood was great (unlike the Tiber river back in Rome, which is home to shit and trash). One of my favorite dishes was called the Paella-- risotto (rice) with a blend of different types of seafood. Mmmm yum. 

We left Seville indenting to come back again. We have 3 more things we have to do in Seville. 

1. Go up the bell tower. We were so pressed on time and the line to get in the Cathedral was always too long that usually a procession near us caught our attention. We still need to go up the bell tower so we can see all of Seville. 

2. Go to a better Flamenco bar and watch a legit Flamenco dance. I thought the free one was really cool, but if Miya and Val say its not that good, then a paid performance would be even better.

3. Drink Aqua De Seville: An alcoholic beverage that looks really interesting. Translated it means Water of Seville, but obviously it is not water. We wanted to try it out but the only time to get it was at night, and that's usually when Miya and I were too full from tapas, too tired, or out following a procession. 

I guess the only downside was that Seville was too expensive for my taste, but because a lot of people from all over were coming to Semana Santa, I don't blame them for raising up the prices. I also suck at spanish, and I ended up speaking Italian to them, even when I couldn't help myself, it just popped out. Weird. I did miss speaking Italian though. 

picture 1: Tapa Bar

picture 2: Seafood Paella

picture 3: Us at the Alcazar

picture 4: Hooded creatures

picture 5: A procession 

Spring Break in Sicily

It's been a while. I know that you guys couldn't get an ounce of sleep because you didn't know what was going on with our lives. I am here to let you know that it is safe at night, now that you know what we did in Sicily. 

From Rome to Palermo

 Read last blog. We went to this one street/ally that was known for really cheap cocktails. Miya got a flaming B52 (grenadine, kalua, baileys, and then lit on fire), and I got a mango colada. all for 3 euros. HUGE deal. Then we went to try out the Sicilian kababs, but they sucked compared to the ones we get in Rome. We drank more at this kabab place (they spelled kabab "kabap" which was funny). We were then drunk. and went home to sleep it off. 

Palermo to Monreale and Segesta. Monreale is known for an amazing cathedral, all covered in gold. Segesta is known for an amazingly preserved temple and an amphitheater. During the summer they still perform plays/dramas at the amphitheater. The amphitheater was nested on top of a mountain where we climbed a few kilometers up. It was tiring but extremely well worth it. It overlooked the plains and fields of agricultural land. It stretched for miles and miles. Probably 80+ miles away there were a heard of sheep and you can hear their bells all the way from the amphitheater. Nuts, I know. 

Palermo to Agrigento

Much shorter ride, about 4 hours-ish. Agrigento is known for the "Valley of the Temples", about a mile and half of ancient greek ruins, including 5 temples, some in ruins, some in great condition. There were some amazing restaurants in Agrigento, the problem was that they were always closed when we wanted to go eat. In general, southern Italians eat dinner much later, around 9:30-10, but restaurants open really early around 7ish, but on random days they would be closed. We ate at this one restaurant, it got a Michelin (spelling?) food reward. We were the only customers that night and the owner pulled up a chair and sat with us while we ate and we had fun italian conversations with him. He was extremely nice, his name was Carmello. That dinner took almost 2 and a half hours because he took his time cooking, and he gave us a break from eating before serving us more food. He also gave us a lot of food for free/ discounted prices. We were extremely full.

We rented a car (don't tell my school because its prohibited) and we drove to Selinunte (another ancient greek ruin) and Villa Romana (famous for almost perfectly preserved floor mosaics of a house thought to be owned by a roman emperor). Driving was fun, although we almost died once. 

The last 4 days it rained non-stop and it also hailed. It was the first time Sicilians have ever seen water fall from the sky for such a long time. 

Sicilians are extremely nice. We wouldn't have survived without their kind hospitality. I left my Camelback waterbottle in the rented car after we returned it and the owner drove into town to give it back to me, and then offered me and Miya and ride back to the central train station. Too nice, that man. It was also cool for the owners of the restaurant would come and talk to us in Italian. Miya really got to practice her italian. She wouldn't let me speak so i just sat there feeling dumb. haha. We met a really nice travel agent who hooked us up with the car, 80 euros for 2 days, unlimited kilometers. Too good to be true. 

Agrigento to Catania

We stayed in a youth hostel. We entered the place with loud noises coming from the mouths of loud drunk people. the beds were full of bugs. I got bit over 10 times. I even got bit on my left eyelid and when i woke up i could barely see out of my left eye. It reminds me of the main character of the hunchback of Notredame, without the hump on my back. Just the weird looking eye. We had to wake up really early to catch the train back to Rome, but we couldnt sleep until 3am because everyone was being way to loud and obnoxious. 

The train boards a boat to cross the strait between sicily and italy (just to let you know, sicily is an island off of italy. just for those who don't know geography all too well) so the train boards the boat, and you are free to wander around the boat. the view was amazing. 

tomorrow: going to a small town named Tivoli. which means hardian's villa. which means awesomeness. which means that there will be another blog to describe the awesomeness that is Tivoli.  

ciao-ness!

Ciao from Sicily

Hey guys, we are currently in Palermo, Sicily. Palermo is the capital of Sicily, or maybe just the most important city in Sicily. I should do more research in the future. 

The trip here was an exhausting 12 hour train ride (about the same amount of time from los angeles to taipei, taiwan). We had some entertainment: hours of playing gin, cribbage, and watching jack bauer kicking ass. Oh, and we watched the Mummy 3, which sucked but a good time waster. Oh the joys of pirating! 

Sicily reminds me of downtown Seattle-- and very much not like Rome. First of all the roads here are PAVED which is amazing. In rome there are all sorts of cobble stones that are out there to break your ankle or if you are lucky your neck. bus rides in Palermo is quite smooth, whereas bus rides around Rome is having a seizure in and around your balls. (i guess this only applies to jason). Secondly there are lots of designer stores and tall buildings, just like walking around in seattle. then there's a fish market not too far away, which reminds me of Pike's Fish Market. 

The streets are relatively clean and there are lots of huge open spaces for people to loaf around. In Rome its so packed and congested there's not much loafing unless one is at a historical monument like the Colosseum or St. Peter's. 

Our "hotel" is very interesting. It's someone's apartment and she and her husband has two extra rooms (they are quite big) and they let travelers/tourists rent out the room. It's cheap: 45 euros a night, and split that in two and its only 22.50 euros a night. We get a kitchen with food and drinks included, a communal bathroom (with no shower curtains, which sucks for the unskilled shower-ers like Miya) a roof terrace, and a pet dog that is extremely shy and won't come up to you. One bad part of this "hotel" is that it is extremely cold at night. even body warm and down comforters got the best of me and yeah, our first night was pretty miserable. Jason woke up with a head cold and his nose was running like a snot faucet. Miya was just stuffy. 

The first day of wandering around was okay... there were some complications and we will spare the details about it, and we had to cut our sight-seeing short for the day. Sicily really take their time with the siesta, unlike Rome where some places do take the siesta, and some places they dont. tomorrow we are making a trip to Monreale, which is supposed to be really awesome but to tell you the truth i have no clue what it is famous for. will update you soon.

ciao for now!

J&M

Its gonna top all frat parties

TOMORROW will be the beginning of an escapade of the greatest orgy ever. An orgy of masks, loud music, feathers, balloons, make-up, screaming, alcohol, and confetti. I am, of course, talking about Carnivale in Venice. I don't really know what to expect, but I will try to remember as much as I can with whatever state or condition my mind and soul will be in. Im sure my pictures will remind me of what I did. 

Last weekend I went to a class fieldtrip to some ancient greek and roman cities. Some include Pompeii WHICH WAS FLIPPIN AMAZING. It was so wonderful. Cumae, the city name itself is funny because of how inappropriate I am, but it also based off of the Iliad. So that was tight. Supposedly the entrance of the underworld is in this city, for the water of the lake was black because of volcanic soot/rocks/sand and it is said that a Sybil of Apollo lived in a mysterious cave. Another Ancient Greek city, Paestum, has one of the most preserved Greek ancient temples, and it was SO amazing. The temples were so big that one would feel very insignificant approaching it. 

The fieldtrip was described by my professor as a "Nazi death march", but it wasn't as bad. It was tiring, but it wasn't extremely draining. The worst part was having to march places take detailed notes about a site, and not have enough time to take pictures, but I managed to sneak some in. pics on flickr soon! 

I still can't believe I'm in Rome and doing some high-class tourism stuff.

Stares

~Jason~

When I was back in the States, I was told by a few people that Italians were a bit racist towards Asians. And, like what anyone else would feel, I was a bit worried. On the other hand I was also told to not worry about such things, that I will not experience any sort of racism when I will be studying abroad in Rome. Here are my thoughts.

I've noticed a few things while in Rome that have caught my attention about Italian sentiments of Asians. 

There are so many Japanese tourists. Although people from China are mixed with the Asian tourist population, the Japanese dominate the majority of the tourists who come to Rome.

The Asians who live here in Rome are usually from South East Asia, ie. Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Shri Lanka and some people from Hong Kong. All of these populations, excluding people from Hong Kong have very dark skin, and to any white person (for white people can't differentiate any sort of Asians apart) MAY clump them with the Indians. 

The majority of Indians are street vendors or people who try to sell people shitty things like flaccid and wilted roses, some sort of ring that it made out of a string (sources say that they try to steal your wallet because they tie your fingers together and thus not be mobile), and other useless things. Thus, the Indians are seen as the low-lives, the ones that gain money by selling unimportant items, never really doing any of the more dress shirt-suit-fancy shoes ordeal. 

Lastly, because the color of the skin seems to be the main epithet that sparks racism, dark, brown skin is lumped with the Gypsies. (for this sake, I will not include Africans, although they basically do what the Indians do, but specialize in fake sunglasses and stolen/fake purses). The Gypsies had a dark and depressing history in Italy. Currently, the government is finger-printing all the Gypsies and deporting them out of Italy. Sounds familiar? Lemme give you a hint: it starts with "Holo" and ends with a "caust".  

As you can see, there seems to be an over all "clump" or classification of non-Italians, specifically those who have darker skins with weird slanty eyes on their faces. and that strange, almost awful language.

So now I invite you to slip into some nice Italian shoes. Bring a scarf because its "cold" (and you look "sexy"). Wear your tight jeans and wear your sunglasses because it's dark and cloudy outside but you don't care because you're Italian. 

You are walking to buy some lunch, but you've got to cut through the Vatican to get to your favorite spot. As you enter the Metro, you hear the accordion being played by a gypsy with his pregnant wife (she looks 9 months due, but you've seen her with the same belly for 2 months now) and she's coming with a broken sprite bottle begging for money. Sometimes you would see a child asking for money, but strangely you could have sworn that the child's dad looked like someone else. You find out that this "child" had more than 3 "dads". Most likely a way to grab the hearts of the compassionate but you know better to be scammed by one of them. 

You walk out and you make your way to the Vatican. There, you are bombarded by flocks of Asian tourists, posing for cameras doing that really stupid "peace sign" with their two fingers. You quickly realize that there must have been over 15 tours going on, each having 30 or more Asian tourists in each group. 

They are everywhere.

You eventually get to your favorite bar (not the American bars) but, since the bar is so close to the Vatican you are waiting behind a band of Asian tourists. They try to speak Italian but they butcher it so badly that it makes you want to cry. Meanwhile everyone else is taking pictures of everything they see. 

Can you see why this can be a bit annoying? How Asian tourists, who flock by the millions really make things inconvenient and annoying? Just imagine if herds of Asians were to come and "tour" your favorite places in the US. Santa Monica, 3rd Street, Century City, Long Beach, San Diego, Seattle, Pikes Place, Tacoma (kidding with this one) etc. It would suck. 

So not only do Italians despise Americans, but I feel like they are a bit annoyed, cold, apprehensive, and unwelcoming of Asians too. Lucky for me its 2 birds with one stone, you know, being Asian American.

It's true, I havn't gotten any real, tangible, first encounters of racism, like what they would do to the Gypsies or some of the Indians, but I do feel extremely "different", even under some sort of spotlight in some areas in Rome. I get a lot of stares, especially when I'm with Miya. I don't think Italians can cope with the fact that an Asian guy can be with an American, let alone white, blond haired, blue eyed gal. I find pretty amusing actually, because many people in America can't understand that phenomenon either(it's always the asian girl with the white guys, not asian guys with white girls). Also, when we do interact with Italians, they always face and talk at Miya more than me. Perhaps because she's a pretty girl and I'm just a dude, but who knows? Maybe its all subliminal and done unwittingly. I digress....

I'd be truly impressed if you have read this far. I'd love if you will give me some of your thoughts about what I've wrote. Do you think this is a fair assessment? Am I looking too far into it? For those of you who have been to Europe, or are in Europe, how do you feel about my responses? I'm really interested in what you have to say. So, dica, per favore! And also I can continue my streak of comments while Miya still has 0 for every blog she writes. haha.