DANCING, DISCOTECAS, AND DANGER!!!

so last night (friday) trevor, scottie, and i went to meet the girls (angel, katelin, niki, amy, renita, jessica, melissa, sharron, ashley, laura, and katie) for a night of dancing. yes dancing. we decided to go beyond our normal bar/dance hall to a part of the city unfamiliar to all but some of the girls. testaccio is a part of town is known for their clubs. so we headed out from angel, katelin, niki, amy, and renita's apartment. we had to take the metro which means no walking home. from the metro we went to ashley's apartment and looked at the latest elle magazine while eating hot tamales. after making a mess of the apartment we headed out for a night full of dancing. we walked down to testaccio where all the clubs were located, there we met up with trevor, angel, and katelin. there we walked around until we found a club that didn't look ridiculous. these clubs have a absurd cover charge of ten dollars for guys, although we didn't have to pay them because of the ladies. the first club was all alright, they played nothing but gangster rap. it was pretty funny because we were the only people dancing in the club. the italians just watched as we all cut the rug to shreds. after about an hour it was time to find a club that had more people who wanted to dance. we then went to a place called coyote. after we got in we dance on the veranda to kylie minogue. this is where the night turn interesting. scottie and i were taking a break on a railing when some guy came and sat down ext to us. i got up and went back out on the dance floor and trevor took my place on the railing. all of a sudden trevor was pushed into the crowded dance floor. he then quickly turned around and headed back towards the guy who was sitting next to him (the guy wouldn't move over even when he had a foot of room on the other side of him). by this time the guy was theratning trevor ready to throw fists. trevor told him what he did was uncalled for and he was retarded for resorting to pushing (i was really impressed with the way trevor held his composure and was so calm in that situation). scottie was next to trevor, niki was in between the guy and trevor and i was trying to calm down the guy who was flipping out. all of a sudden i was shoved into the railing by his friend. so i confronted him and told him with colorful language that we were trying to resolve the situation. after everyone calmed down they left. i really hate this american male tough guy attitude, i thought i left that stuff back in ames. this kind of stuff makes americans look horrible to everyone else who is observing. so out of a packed club the americans are the ones causing trouble. wow.

NORTHERN EXPOSURE

last weekend (november 2 to 5) our class went on our northern field trip to zurich and venice. we spent about 18 hours on trains this weekend. my roommates and i left for termini around 6:30 a.m. we then had a four hour train ride to the milano centrale where we a quick transferred to our next train which took us the rest of the way to zurich. on the train we went through the swiss alps also on the train people started to get crazy. zak started throwing bree rines at trevor while he was sleeping (maybe it would be funnier if you were there and trapped on a train for eight hours straight). when we finally arrived at the zurich bahnhof around 5:00 p.m. by the way zurich was COLD... Very, very, cold. it was nice though it actually felt like november should feel. i exchanged some of my euros into swiss francs and got on tram number 7 and headed towards the youth hostel near morgenthal. the hostel was amazing. it was very clean and nice. it had an fantastic common room with a fusball table, pingpong table, etc. i roomed with reid, scottie, and brenton in room 312. after getting settled we head back into the city and found something to eat that wasn't made entirely out of sugar. we found a nice mexican restraunt, it was pretty good. after that we headed back to the hostel and played some fusball. i went to bed early because the train wore me out and i needed to get pretty early the next day.









after waking up and getting ready for the i ate a nice breakfast buffet which consisted of a hard roll, yogurt, cereal, juice, and a cup of coffee. it was nice to finally have a decent breakfast. after the hearty breakfast scottie and i went and explored our neighborhood. we then headed back to the hostel to go to the plakatraum (poster gallery). there we saw some fantastic 40's and 50's italian/swiss style posters. they were absolutely amazing and i felt inspired to design for the first time in quiet a while. i bought a book on hand made posters which blew my mind. after the poster gallery we went across the street to the museum fur gestaltung, at the museum we viewed the swiss federal design prize and japanese poster today exibits. both were amazing. after the museum i ate lunch in the bahnhof which included a brat and roasted chestnuts. then i went to siegfried odermatt and rosmarie tissi's studio, their studio was filled with original famous posters that i've only seen in text books. i then helped them setup for their lecture to our class at the hulls school. after the presentation i went back to their studio and bought a siegfried's book which he signed for me. i went back to the hostel and met up with the guys and went out to dinner at a chinese resturaunt. after dinner i went to bed, i was still tired.













































we had to get up early the next day and head to venice. the train ride was LONG. during the ride niki and amy put salad on me while i was out cold. they called me an oriental salad. i also heard that italians passengers where even taking pictures of me. after arriving at the train station we took a vaporetto to guidecca island (the zitelle stop) where our youth hostel was located. the hostel was nothing like the one in zurich. we shared a room with random travelers. some put his crap all over and left his beer cans on the floor of our room (thanks). we then went to piazza san marco and had a quick lecture from paula and cheri. the piazza was empty. after the lecture we had some free time in venice to have dinner and explore the island. most of our group at a sitdown restaurant, but scottie and i didn't feel like spending ten euros on a coke and a fruit cup. so we went to mcdonalds. i know but would you want to spend ten euros on a fruit cup and a coke? the answer is NO. exactly. after two hamburgers for two euros we explored the island. we made it back to the hostel around 10:30 and sat in the common room and played cards with leah and hana. did i ever tell anyone how bad i suck ate card games? i'm horrible at card games. around midnight the employees turned out the lights and told us to go to bed. so i did, but not because they told me to, but because i was tired. after a nights sleep i got up and decided to stay in venice with the group for the day. i was planning on coming home for the AS ROMA game against FLORENTINA, but when is the next time i'm going to be in venice. i spent the day walking through the streets of venice where we finally found our way to piazza san marco. the piazza was packed with people and pigeons. after spending an hour in the piazza we made our way back to the train station to pick up our bags and catch our trains back to rome. we made it back to rome around 12:30 p.m. so by this time the metro and buses had stopped running so i spent the night at niki's apartment. on monday afternoon i got back to the apartment. end of story.













































so this trip has solidified that swizterland is one if not my favorite counrty that i've ever visited. hostels can be nice or a complete dive. and that mcdonalds is always there when you need it to be. also on monday night i saw the DEPARTED, it was the best film i've seen this year. warning it is violent...very violent.