Funny thing that happened on the train

     So when I got on the train to go back to Venice from Paris there was this really cute American girl in the same compartment as me. We start chatting for a while about why we're in Italy, what we did in Paris, school, Disneyland, tattoos, and whatnot and she turns out to be pretty cool. After she told me about her tattoo, I rolled up my sleeve and showed her Kermit, which got a laugh. She was getting off at Milan because she had to change trains to go to Florence, where she's studying abroad with her school. I told her that I was going to Milan on Saturday for a blink-182 concert and she thought it was cool and said how she hadn't gotten to see blink in concert yet but that she thinks their concert would be a lot of fun. After hearing that she likes them and might want to see them I started thinking, "Okay so she's really hot, into piercings, tattoos, and at least likes blink enough to want to see their concert... there's just one more thing we need to know about."


     When the lady came around to check our tickets and passports I took out my wallet, which has a Panthers logo on it (as everyone knows). She says to me, "You're a Panthers fan?" I reply, "Yeah since I was a kid." Then she says to me, "Me too! I love them." I thought to myself, "Dude! There's no way this is real life right now..." The chances of this happening have to be like at least one in a million. After a while, since it was the night train that you sleep on, we both went to sleep. I hadn't slept in 2 days and was exhausted after running around Disneyland so I passed out once I closed my eyes. Sadly, when I awoke the train had already passed through Milan and she was gone. I never even got her name or said goodbye to her. The only thing I know is that for the next two weeks she's going to be in Florence. And thus ends the sad tale of Reese's missed opportunity on the train in Paris.

Maybe I should take a detour through Florence before going to Milan. Lol

Trip to Dolomiti Mountains

     So…. We went to the Dolomiti Mountains on Friday. We had to meet at Piazzale Roma at 6:45 am, and we live on the other side of the city by San Marco so we had to wake up at like 5:30. I accidentally overslept for like 15 minutes so I was late getting out the door, then I realized I forgot my headphones for my iPod so I had to run back and get those and then take off towards Piazzale Roma. I felt so gross when I got there because I pretty much sprinted across Venice to make it on time. But it was all worth it because there was this little café where we met that had this awesome croissant filled with chocolate. It was almost as good as that Men in Black donut they had at Dunkin Donuts. The one that was shaped like a star and had chocolate frosting and sprinkles on top and the inside was filled with more chocolate awesomeness. That still is the greatest thing I have ever tasted. It’s like a party in your mouth, and everyone's invited.

     The ride to the mountains was a long one. We got on the people mover to the bus station which was cool. The people mover in Venice is like riding the monorail at Disney World it was so fun. I’m wondering why I spent like 250 bucks on a trip to Disneyland Paris when there’s this awesome people mover thing right here that only costs one euro. Anyway, we got on the bus at 7:30 and rode for two hours towards somewhere on the Swiss-Italian border. I charged my iPod for two days straight before this trip and the fucking thing died before I even finished listening to one album. Then at the end of the night when I vapped it back home I listened to it and it stayed on the whole way. Weird. So during this two hour drive I passed out, and when I woke up there were huge mountains everywhere it was weird. We stopped at this little place to eat that had a playground in front, so of course I ran to the swings and did that for a few minutes. After we left there we stopped at this big lake for about an hour. They had paddle boats to rent so we hopped on those and had a little fun. I was freaking out because the boat was so little and was like sinking and we were in this huge lake. At any moment it felt like Jaws could jump out of the water and eat us, and there was nothing I could have done about it. I hate being on the water or near the water. I made a video of us on the boat but the language of the other boys is like rated X and the internet here is too slow to put it online.

     We ate lunch at this cool restaurant it was good, and then went to the top of the mountain. It was treacherous at the top of the mountain. I kept slipping on the snow and almost fell to my death on at least two occasions. Kids, don’t try to climb a mountain and film a movie at the same time. But I have a really cool video of me being stupid on a mountain so it was worth the risk of death. There’s nothing really more that I care to write about regarding the trip to the mountains, so that’s it. The pictures on Facebook should allow you to see somewhat what it was like up there.

     Oh and on the way back my professor was like trying to get people to sing because on the bus there was a microphone.. I didn't sing anything but I told some jokes. What do you call an elephant and a rhino mixed? Elefino! After I told that joke I said wocka wocka and then my two Italian professors proceeded to sing Mahna Mahna. I filmed them singing it, too. I don't know if they noticed, though. If I get better internet I'll post it on Facebook.

Random Thoughts

     Tonight we went to an Irish pub named Inishark.. it’s supposed to be like "in a shark" but it's stupid. It’s no MacLaren’s but they had wi-fi there so it was okay I guess. We stayed there for a few hours drinking Bacardi (I fill my fish tank with pure Bacardi cuz guess what, fishes? This is how I party! Flula, anyone?) and Coke while watching Italy play Russia in soccer. Italy got their asses kicked 3-0 and looked like a joke. I’m never coming back here again after watching that pitiful display. Since just about everyone else went away this weekend it was only me and two of my roommates who went out. I was so glad to be able to watch tv that I didn’t give a crap that I was watching soccer. After Italy got trounced I got to catch the end of the basketball game between OKC and the Spurs. I thought the Thunder were supposed to be like awesome but apparently not since San Antonio was up 2-0 in the series. The Thunder did win the game, though, so maybe they’re not so bad after all. I want to watch basketball, but the problem is that when the games are played in the United States it’s usually like 3:00 in the morning here. Maybe one day I’ll just wake up a few hours early before my 8:00 class and try to catch the Heat.

     So after we got back from the pub I helped burn some chicken on the stove for dinner. Ketchup does a decent job of making up for the burnt parts. I'd rather clean the dishes than cook because I don't know what the hell I'm doing when it comes to cooking. The only person in our apartment who knows how to cook is in Paris this weekend so we’re kind of screwed. But apparently he said before he left that he’s not cooking for us anymore because he felt that everyone wasn’t doing their fair share as far as cleaning up and whatnot. And I guess I kind of pissed him off when I made a joke that I’d rather go to the girls’ apartment for dinner because then I could just eat and leave without doing dishes, although I washed dishes at their house, too. Random side note, this dude went into the phone store and started screaming that they rob Americans because we used up our bandwidth and they hadn't yet recharged our internet. I understand why he was upset and that it's a stressful situation, but I couldn't help but laugh when I heard that. Thank God I know how to speak the local language so I can at least fly under the radar a bit instead of waving a red, white, and blue dick in everyone's face. But whatever! Back to the cooking... I don’t give a fuck because I know how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and there’s also a box of Corn Flakes in the pantry. Corn Flakes taste pretty bland but after you dump a shitload of sugar into the bowl they taste pretty good. I've got this under control.

     After dinner we watched Paranormal Activity 2. It was pretty dumb. I never saw the entire first one, but I figured the chick got possessed and killed the dude, which she did. And then after that she evidently went to her sister’s house and killed her sister and brother-in-law, then kidnapped the baby and disappeared. The ending was really poor. It built up and built up and then she just like pushed them into the wall and they died. It was very anticlimactic, which is why I just blatantly said what happens without offering a spoiler alert. The way it ended didn't leave me feeling shaken or scared at all. It was just like, oh hey she killed them movie over. I like to at least feel a little anxiety after I watch a horror movie, like how when I saw A Nightmare on Elm Street when I was a kid I couldn’t go to sleep for weeks. And speaking of horror movies, I’m trying to get the other people here to watch The Human Centipede with me but I’m not having any luck. Everyone keeps saying to me, “That movie looks fucking gross I don’t want to watch that!” It’s a human centipede for god’s sake, what’s not to like about it? It’s not the kind of movie you watch by yourself, that would be weird. You need to watch it with a group because of how awful it is.

     I never found this mythical suit store that my professor told me about. I found one sort of in the area of where she told me, but the suits there cost like 1,700 euro. No thanks. Speaking of everyone going away, I’m kind of glad just about everyone here went on some sort of trip this weekend. The more time I spent with them, the more I kind of wanted to be alone. It’s nice to have a break from them. Still not sure whether or not I want to try to maintain any kind of friendships with them back in the United States, but you know who can solve that problem? Future Reese.

Two Weeks in Venice

I wrote this almost a week ago, but haven't been able to post it.

     I’ve been in Venice for two weeks now, and I’m not sure what I think of it. For the first few days it felt a little weird to be here since I can’t just go back home if I get bored or whatever. After settling in, I really began to enjoy it here. It’s out of my little bubble I live in and I was basically forced to meet new people that, back in Boca Raton, I never would have said a word to. I’m not the kind of guy who enjoys going out with big groups; my idea of fun is locking myself in my bedroom and playing guitar. Speaking of which, I haven’t even touched a guitar since I left the United States, and I’m losing my fucking mind over it. Anyway, I’ve met a lot of new friends since I’ve come here and done a lot of things that I normally don’t do or that I’ve never done before. This past Thursday was one of those nights that I probably won’t forget any time soon.

Era veramente una delle più bellissime notti della mia vita!

     We went over to the girls’ apartment after school and dinner to hang out. At one point we were sitting around and one of the guys started talking about if you just be yourself and do what you want to do things will work out (or some shit like that) and behind me from the computer the song “You Can Go Your Own Way” by I think Fleetwood Mac was playing. I don’t know why but it was like the most epic moment I’ve ever experienced. It reminded me of like one of those 80s brat pack movies like The Breakfast Club, except it wasn’t as fucking stupid as that movie. It was great.

     A little bit later everyone went to the bar by our apartment but since I was still pretty stoned I wasn’t really feeling up to walking down there so I stayed at the girls’ apartment by myself, and sat on the couch listening to Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon. It was pretty epic since the album faded in right as they were walking out the door and everyone came back right after the last note played. Venice is such a quiet place so when you listen to music, all you hear is the music and the rest is silence. I’ve never enjoyed Pink Floyd so much. Normally there is always something else happening that distracts me from the music, but that night I just sat there by myself listening. Everything sounded so much clearer and I could hear every little detail of the album perfectly. The whole album just made perfect sense. David Gilmour is one of my favorite guitarists so it was great to really listen to his playing. I’ll have to crank the Buckethead up one day while I’m here that way Big B can melt my face off with his super cool solos.

     After I came out of my Pink Floyd coma by way of Gina scaring the shit out of me, I was in a weird haze all night. I was extremely relaxed and just sat there listening to music and enjoying the company of the people around me. For the first time I felt totally at ease and content with everything around me. This is why I came to Venice! Right? Well, this feeling lasted through the next day when we went on our tour of the villas (more on that some other time) but it faded quickly on Saturday. We went to the beach on Lido and it was fun but as we were waiting to vap it back home (vap it: to take the Vaporetto, the water bus service in Venice) I got tired of being with these people. All of a sudden, I just wanted to be alone.

     It’s a strange thing how fleeting a moment of ecstasy can be. Luckily, I don’t fret over most things like that. I try to enjoy things as they happen, because I know how the universe sometimes likes to work. John Keats talked about this shit all the time in his poems and odes. The very presence of extreme joy necessitates pain because the joy isn’t going to last; it won’t last. There is always loss. The very fact you have joy means there will be loss, because the world we are in will bring about pain and suffering. But here’s the good part: the opposite is also true. Just like you relish joy, you should embrace the painful times because that won’t last either. So I guess from all this bullshit I just wrote here the one thing I’m trying to say is that while I had one amazing night followed by a turrible day, there are many more great nights ahead and many more turrible days as well. I have four more weeks before I leave Venice and go to Milan so we’ll see where my adventures will take me between now and then.

Now for some photos! I have a few hundred photos on my computer that I haven't been able to upload since we don't have internet.

Finally got a decent photo of the bell tower

Inside the Doge's Palace. You don't want to get mixed up with a guy like me. I'm a loner, a rebel.

Reese

San Giorgio Maggiore

Night shot.. probably the best photo I've taken so far.

St. Mark's Basilica

Went to St. Mark's Basilica... I honestly had never seen any photos of the inside before so I went in there fresh (Frank Costanza: I like to go in fresh!). I live in my own little world so I don't know much about historical things like the Basilica, but while some people may think that's a bad thing I think it's great. It brings an element of surprise and allows me to be in complete shock when I see these things for the first time, like a little kid who has never seen Star Wars before and finds out that Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father (spoiler alert). I'm not the type of guy who is easily impressed by things. In fact, I hate almost anything new that anyone shows me. Admittedly, when I first arrived in Venice I thought, "Yeah, so what?" It was probably because I had just gotten off a thirteen-hour flight and been up for well over 24 hours, but it just didn't pop out at me the way I expected to and I was a little disappointed. But that's a good thing, since usually the things that initially grab my attention are the things I end up liking the least. Anyway, when I went up to the terrace of the Basilica and saw the lagoon shining in the sunlight behind the piazza I thought it was incredible. I took some photos but they couldn't capture the moment, sadly. But I'll take memories over photos any day. I don't know.. it's just something that stuck out to me. Photos below. Oh and just a side note, walking between the two pillars you see in the photo is bad luck because back in the day they used to do public executions between them. So of course you know that Reese walked between them.

Thoughts After My First Week in Venice

Tomorrow will make it one week since I've been in Venice. It's kind of weird because I like skipped over last Friday on the flight.. idk how to explain it haha. I stopped going out with a map a few days ago since I can just wing it now if I get lost. One thing I found out is that stupidity exists in all countries. The tourists here don't know how to walk around and stop in the middle of the street. But I'm one of them I guess so I can't really say anything. But it's such a pain in the ass to get home because we live right next to San Marco. I'll have to go exploring this weekend to find a less crowded way to get to school and back. Going to go to the thrift store to find me a suit this weekend hopefully. We had our group dinner last night and I didn't have anything fancy to wear and all these other people got snazzy and I'm just sitting there with my polo shirt and jeans. It's been freezing cold here so far, like the other day it was in the 40s and raining. That was the only time I missed Florida so far (besides the absence of Mtn Dew and Taco Bell).
     Looking forward to going out and seeing some more places here in Venice this weekend. I'll probably go to either the Rialto or the other bridge over the grand canal at night to get some photos. I need to go out by myself so I can actually get decent photos without the group leaving me behind. I'll probably go up and down some back alleys to get some photos that aren't so touristy like the ones in San Marco or from the Rialto.
     Oh and after the initial shock of being in a place where everyone speaks Italian I've finally started speaking it to people. It was a little intimidating at first since they're all native speakers and know the language like I know English, but now that I've settled down I feel a little more comfortable speaking it. It's so cool being able to have little conversations in Italian with people because in the United States I have nobody to practice with besides when I go to class. I'm glad I came here after studying for a couple years because now it's really just applying the language skills that I already have and expanding my vocabulary. From what the beginner students have said they seemed extremely intimidated by the language at first, probably because they're surrounded by so many people who are fluent and they don't really know it at all. I would definitely recommend anyone who wants to study abroad to study the language for a few semesters before going. But then again almost all the stores and restaurants speak English because it's a big tourist area, so it's not really difficult to communicate if you're not interested in learning the language. Well, It's almost 2 pm here so I need to get in the shower so I can go out and do something.

Finally in Venice

     I am finally in Venezia. Everything here looks like Pirates of the Caribbean buildings to me. But that's just me. You can like feel the buildings sloshing around or whatever because it's all built on water. It's kind of trippy. The best thing of all is that they sell Happy Cola at all the supermarkets because it's a European candy. They have no Mtn Dew or Dr Pepper here but they do have Coke available everywhere so I can get my caffeine from that. You can get a six-pack of 2 liter bottles of water for only like 50 cents it's ridiculous. I was surprised by how much graffiti is everywhere.
     All the shops are like the kind of touristy shit that you see at Old Town in Orlando. But there is a Disney store on the way to school with Mickey Mouse shirts that say I <3 Venezia lol. I'm still going to Disneyland Paris, though. Everyone here speaks English, sadly. Our apartment doesn't have internet and the tv doesn't work so we have nothing to do at home. But we usually go out and walk around or try to meet up with the other people in the group even though nobody has a phone and we have no idea where anyone is. I'm hogging this girl's computer so I'm gonna cut this short. I leave you all with my initial impressions of Venezia. Everything is different, but the same... things are more moderner than before... bigger, and yet smaller... it's computers... SAN DIMAS HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL RULES!!!!!!!!