Last week.

We left for Alexandria early in the morning in our own little Van. I slept in the back after watching the scenery for a while and we got there in about 2 and a half hours. Alexandria was a very old looking city (which i think is the trend in egypt...) and has lots of tiny streets and markets. Everywhere people had goods laid out for sale from big burlap bags overflowing with just picked cotton to household goods. It was a very busy city and it took us a while to navigate through traffic that included quite a few donkey pulled carts and camels. Our first stop was an old greek tomb site. Our guid informed us that is was one of the few sites that had both greco,roman art and mythology and Egyptian. The mix was very interesting. The site was two holes that had been completely covered until this century and was only discovered when a donkeys foot slid into the ground. taking the stairs down the large wholes you enter a huge tomb complex. Tunnels ran in all directions and there were burial alcoves for dozens and dozens. there were stone rooms with hieroglyphics that were a really cool mix of egyptian and greco roman. We walked around there for a while but couldnt go down to the third level because it had flooded. After leaving that site we went to Pompei's pillar. This is a large obelisk that myth has it is where Pompei's head was placed after he was defeated in his fight with Julias caesar. It was tall and large and underneath were flooded catacombs. We were told that people swim in from the ocean through tunnels and explore underneath. After Pompei's we went to the ocean front and saw where the great lighthouse used to be. It was a huge space, no wonder it was one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. Right next to it there was an old fortress that sat out in the sea. We went inside and walked all around it but to be honest we were just ready to swim. That day it was just casey and I and we were looking forward to swimming in the mediterraenian. The water was an amazing blue, green and the sand was white. We were going to go to a big hotels beach where foreigners swim but it was too expensive as our guide was kind of uncomfortable taking us to an Egyptian used beach. That was our only option so we went anyway. We saw why he was a little hesitant. Almost all the women (besides 2) were in body swimsuits and some wore the full face cover in the water. After all the hassling Casey got just walking down the street she decided to just swim in a shirt and shorts. We laid out on the beach for a long time and swam some. The water was really nice and warm. After a while we met back up with our guide and headed back to Cairo. Coming back into Cairo we passed right by the Giza pyramids, which is a nice landmark to have. Because it was our last night we had signed up for one of the many options the tour offers, which was a dinner cruise on the nile. We had a few hours so we walked around the neighborhood (the syrian embassy was right next to our hotel, and has very friendly guards) then went to our rooms to change. We were going with a couple other people and we all headed out around 1030. Slowly going through the crazyiest traffic in the world, where people dont use signals, lanes or traffic lights they just honk to get the attention of whoever they are cutting off, we made it there ontime. The ship was much nicer that I expected and had strings of lights going down the sides. This part of Cairo was very nice, with all kinds of nice hotels lining the Nile. We had to wait a while and we happened to share the ship with a wedding party that was having its reception there. We were treated to the brides entrance (she wore a low cut white dress, it was explained that this was the one day in her life where she would be allowed to wear what she wanted) which had trumpets and other horns and singing and the arabic yell which I didn't know was real. It was really cool to see and they all looked like they were having a great time. Inside the ship it was full of people and very nicely laid out. Right next to us was a long table covered with deserts, salads, dips and other foods. The hot food was in the room next door. We were seated and after a while another group of four older men was added. I started talking to one and discovered that they were Iraqi. I felt a little awkward and the whole night felt like I should apologize for whats happening to his country. We talked for a little while and he was a really nice ,intelligent guy and I enjoyed talking to him. He didnt say much about Iraq except that he had a daughter that used to go to school there and that he had to send for her because it might be good there for a short period of time but it keeps getting worse and he couldnt leave her there. Sharing a table with a man who's country mine has invaded was a pretty different situation. The fact that they were all gentlemen made it easy and not awkward. Once they announced the food was ready I headed to the hot food table first. My mistake, I was a rookie. First of all I dont think they use lines here. Everyone would just cut eachother and it made it so you had to push your way forward. Not something an american is used to where cutting in line is a serious offense. When I came back from getting my hot food I saw that the entire cold food/ desert table had been wiped out. I still had a good meal . After dinner I went to the top deck and looked at Cairo as we floated down the Nile. We had some in cruise inter tainment so I headed back down. First was a bellydancer (which caused many women to remove themselves from the room) who had some crazy abs and did an ok job. She pulled some people up to dance with her, including Casey which was pretty funny. After that was a duo of a midget and a male dancer who had some traditional clothes on and did some crazy things while he spun in circles for about 15 minutes. The next morning I packed and met casey downstairs where our tour organizer was. He gave us a couple shirts and helped us get our luggage to the car. The tour went great, everything was smooth and easy. Egypt top view is what the tour company is called. Pretty inexpensive. We took the 45 minute drive to the airport and then had to wait another hour or so before we could check in. Security and airports in general go so much faster outside the US. We got on our Alitalia flight and a couple hours later were in Rome. Egypt was amazing and Im looking forward to going back. From the rome airport we took the train to the main trainstation. I was going to Florence and casey was flying to Spain so after we found our trains we parted ways. Alone again I got into florence around midnight. It was great to be back on last time. Checking my email in rome I had didcovered that the person I was supposed to stay with didnt get their place yet. I was expecting to have to sleep at the trainstation (it happens once in a while) but walked around to all the places my friends hang out at. As most people are gone already i struck out until my last stop: Space Electronica. Outside was my good friend Moe (he works as a promoter with another of our friends, youssef). He gave me his keys so I could shower and drop my stuff off (I had been carrying all my luggage around Florence). That was a life saver. I went back to space and hung out with them for a while. I stayed with Moe until I had to fly to Germany. In my last few days in Florence I did some of my favorite things like; hang out on the Duomo steps, walk around the city, have cappucino and espresso and all that good stuff. This one cafe in piazza republica is world famous for its coffee and cocktails, so i had both. I usually have cappucino there inside at the bar (much cheaper) but this time, since it was my last day. I sat outside and had a cappucino (they really are excellent) then a while later ordered a cocktail. Because it was hot out i settled on a French Mojito. When it came out it was in a very large tall glass and had a large bunch of mint stuck on top, along with strawberrys. A french mojito is champagne, rum, strawberries (mashed) then all the normal mojito ingredients. Pricey but very nice. My flight from Germany was also very quick and easy and once there I took a bus to the town scott lives in. Him and his mom met me at the bus stop and took me home. Once there I was confronted with the two bags i had him take up for me before i went to Egypt (his family drove him up from Italy) and had to figure how to combine them with the 3 bags i had with me. I think Im going to have to pay more money to get home.... The last couple days we've been walking around and enjoying Germany. I leave here the 1st.

feels good to travel...

Germany was great. I got a chance to walk around A LOT and use the trains many times. Scott was a great host and showed me some really cool places. His parents were also great. Very generous and nice. Scott and I cooked the ravioli recipe that I invented for my final for his parents and they enjoyed it. The morning I left we went to a different christmas market first. I had some glovine which is mulled spiced hot wine and the best potato soup I've ever had. We also had some fried potato batter which was called krampuffin or something. Scott took the train with me to the airport and walked me as far as he could go. I was flying air France and I had heard that they weren't that great an airline. The people checking me in had been great tho. My flight was leaving about 4 and I was there pretty early so I watched a movie on my laptop and shopped in the airport stores. It was amusing seeing that the airport had better stores than Alaska. I boarded (touching the side of the plane, of course) and sat in my aisle seat. This first part would be only about an hour and a half so I barely had time to put a movie in before we landed. when we landed in Paris I had about 2 hours to kill. I found the gate I was supposed to board then wandered around. The stores here were even better and I enjoyed walking around listening to people speaking French. Italian and French are the "romance language" but to me Italian sound much smoother. The Paris airport was beautiful and much more user friendly than any US airport I have been to. There were long rows of computers to use (for a fee) couches set up where you could play playstation 3's (for free) and an area with desks and plug ins incase you have a laptop. I found one of those and looked through my photos for a while. With about 30 minutes to departure I started wondering why there werent that many people waiting there. I looked at the screen and in red letters it was blinking a different gate number and the word "boarding" in french and english. I was surprised that they hadn't made an announcement. I had enough time to get to the other gate so it was okay. To get on the plane I had to show my boarding pass about 5 times. The plane was huge, with pretty nice seats and a new feature that i had never seen on a plane. There were video monitors in the headrest in front of me that were touch screens. You could touch them to select from about 20 movies, different TV shows, games, news, sports or flight information. I was sitting next to a young guy from Haiti that only spoke french and a young lady from Brasil They were both nice. I was beginning to think that who ever said the airline wasnt a good one when my thoughts were confirmed. They begin passing out free champagne, wine or beer and we weren't in first class! That was followed by the best airplane food Ive had. It was bree cheese, a baguette, wine, beef and rice in a kind of tomato sauce with eggplant, a salad yogurt and a little desert. That was followed by more drinks. After they were done serving drinks they put soda and water and fruit juice at different stations for people to help themselves to. Pretty good service. I couldnt sleep so I read for a while and watched Seinfeld. With about 2 hours to go they served a sanwhich and a couple other little snacks. As we begin our decent I started to get excited. Europe (especially Italy) and New York are the 2 places I've always dreampt of going too. Now I was doing both! After We landed I made it through customs pretty quick. waiting for my baggage took a while tho. When I walked out of the arrival area I searched the crowd. Mario had sent me his sisters myspace page and said she would probably be the one to pick me up. I saw a lady with a "Sean" sign and after she asked my last name she introduced herself as Mario's mother. I could tell right away she was a good person. We loaded my bags and set off for the house. Although it was about 5AM my time I was excited. Just on the way from the airport I saw the New York times printing facility, Shae Stadium (where the mets play), the US open tennis court and 2 huge bridges. We drove by Flushings which she explained was chinatown. She was a good tour guide! We went through a nice neighborhood and pulled up to a beautiful house with large columns in front. She explained that they were doing some renovations but that I would have the 3rd floor to myself until Mario came. Even with the work being done they had a beautiful home. Nice wood floors and antique furniture. My room was awesome. With wall to wall windows on one side I could see the two bridges and across the water, part of the city. Beautiful. I met one of his sisters and I could tell it was going to be a nice stay. They were the type of people who make you feel at home in a place you've never been. I loved getting into the big bed after the little thing they give us in Italy. I woke up this morning about an hour ago and I'm getting ready to head out and explore. P.S.: I HAVE LAKER TICKETS!

Meintz

Im in meinz (SP?) Germany right now until the 19th and its beautiful here. Scott took me to a christmas market yesterday and then we walked around the city for a while. Its a beautiful place right on the Rhine river. Its also the site of the worlds first printing press. On the way back to his house we walked over a huge bridge and he showed me an area with incredible grafitti.

Mi Piachi Birra di Germania

First I would like to thank my Momma for the care package. Thanks Mom! Everything I can use and I appreciate your thoughtfulness.

So, last Friday I posted that I was going to Oktoberfest. Oktoberfest is in munchen (Munich) and the last day was Sunday so I decided that I had to go before it closed. I was going to go with three of my roommates; Jason Scott and Steele by train and stay in a hostel Saturday night and leave by train around midnight, as we had class at noon on Monday. Friday night me and Brittany went out to a nice restaurant right next to the Ponte Veccio bridge (the signature bridge of Firenze) It was a great meal with a beautiful setting. When we sat down the waiter brought us complimentary prosecco (Italian champagne) and the menus. We ordered in the traditional way, with different anti pasti, primmi piatti, secondi piatti and side dish. I ordered mixed meats, linguine alla funghi, duck with a citrus glaze and seasonal veggies with vino di casa blanco. Brittany ordered a sausage and cheese pate on bruschetta, ribolita and chicken in an amazing cream sauce. Everything was great and perfectly prepared. After we finished eating we had desert... I had white truffle ice cream and she had freshly made wild berry cheesecake. Of course with caffe. After dinner we had a nice walk along the river, where there were live musicians playing. The next day I was supposed to meet my roommates at the train station but I didn't have all my Eurail pass stuff together so I decided to meet them the next day. I had my first lazy American day since I've been here, sitting inside watching movies with Brittany all day. The next morning I headed off to the train station for OKTOBERFEST! I had heard great things about the specially brewed Oktoberfest beer, served only in liter glasses and with a higher alcohol content than regular beer. I headed for the train station at about 7 am (Firenze at early morning is great, no crowds of people, just peace and quiet) but when I got there the early train had been canceled so I had to come back at 9am. Nothing could stop me from reaching my destination tho. At 9 i boarded my train, a much slower one than the Eurostar I had taken from Germany to Italy when I first came here. The bathroom was just a toilet seat with a hole in the bottom that led to the tracks so whatever you put down there ended up on the ground. A little different than how we do it in the U.S. So the train went through some beautiful country side, including Austria (which is not on my eurail pass so i had to pay an extra 25 euro) but was VERY long. I didn't get into Munich until 630. When I got off the train in Munich i was met by hordes of people in leederhosen(the men) and ladies in low cut but traditional dresses. Even in the train station there was a sensation of a party. I took a taxi to where Oktoberfest was (with a very funny cabbie that told a few off color jokes about Europe), which only cost 6 euro and was about 8 minutes. He dropped me off at the main gate, which was very big. I was surprised that it was held in what seemed like the middle of town. I expected it to be in a Field or separated from the city. I called my roommates and Jason came to meet me. I was shocked by the size of Oktoberfest. It was massive. I had read that beer halls would hold up to 7thousand people but this was so much more than I expected. There was stall after stall of food and souvenirs and then the massive beer tents, which were very extravagant. Everyone seemed happily drunk. Steele and Scott were still in the tent so me and Jason walked around and I got some food, as I hadn't eaten all day and its not wise to drink special German beer on an empty stomach. I had a half meter German sausage with spicy mustard, which was excellent. I followed that up with a bratwurst on a roll and french fries with mayonnaise. Good start to the night. After walking around for a while we sat down at an outside beer hall. As soon as you sit down a beerman swoops in with liters of beer. I was expecting a bitter, heavy and dark beer but this looked like an ambe. The beer was crisp and very tasty. We went inside one of the massive beer halls that unless you have seen one you cant imagine what its like. Thousands of people standing on tables drinking beer and singing together. There was a live band on a raised structure with a man leading the singing. The atmosphere was electric and INSANE! And this was just one of about 14 been halls. We walked around some more and ate more good German food (one odd thing that stuck out was the whole, large fish on sticks that were stuck in fire pits the eaten whole. I should have tried one). We went to one more beer hall which was even rowdier than the last and I ordered one more liter. The roar of thousands of people singing is something I will never forget. Our train was leaving at midnight so we started to head towards the exit. Me and Jason stopped to get on a ride that earlier had looked like it was for kids but for some reason now felt very fast and almost scary. At the train station I had a strange craving for junk food so I ate at the local burger king. Normally I hate fast food (besides European kabobs) but at that time it seemed like it had to be done. The train was full of drunk people streaming out of the city. We had a little compartment on the train and Scott promptly fell asleep on the floor (sorry Scott but its part of the story). We maneuvered our bodies into semi sleepable positions and tried to get some rest. The rhythms of a half different foreign languages bounced around the train, slowly dying out as it got later. For some reason the train had no water and no concession stand, which most of them do. We were parched. Worse, what was supposed to be a 6 and a half hour ride turned into a 10 and a half ride. We didn't get to Firenze until 1030 AM. I got a decent amount of sleep and only had one class that day but that was the worst train Ive ever been on. Oktoberfest was great.

Monday was Italian traditional cuisine which is usually Damiano but he was in Spain so we had a substitute. We were making a kind of strip steak with balsamic sauce. In Italy, but particularly Tuscany they like all their red meat very rare. We put balsamic, red wine, garlic, rosemary, sage and sale pepe in a pan and let it reduce to a thick sauce. We grilled the meat very briefly in olive oil that had cooked with rosemary and garlic. When the sauce was done we drizzled it over the meat and ate it. It was a very simple recipe but we learned about how meat is traditionally cooked, plus it tasted amazing. Monday night meant sportsnight and that was a great way to work the soreness and stiffness from about 20 hours on a train.

Tuesday was professional cooking and was a great class. We made 4 different kinds of pasta, one with white flour, one with semolina flour, one with cocoa(chocolate pasta) and one with spinach. The pasta was all made the same way, with 100 grams of flour with 1 egg and a tiny bit of olive oil and salt, only with spinach or cocoa added for the difference. We set the dough aside and began sauteing broccoli, onion, peas, shallots and zucchini with lots of olive oil, sale pepe and garlic. We set that aside and made a bechamel sauce (50 grams flour 50 grams butter for 1/2 liter milk) which is a thickener. we then rolled out the spinach dough and the semolina dough and cut it into taglioni. We cooked the pasta (make sure to put sale in the water) put the veggies back on the heat and added the bechamel sauce into the veggies. Use about a cup of the bechamel sauce, maybe a little more. It should be creamy. We then added grated parmigiano and mixed the cooked noodles into the pan with the veggies and sauce. We stirred it together then put into a baking or casserole pan. We sprinkled more parmigiano and put it in the over until the top browned. We didn't do it but I think it would be good to put bread crumbs on top also. It came out amazing. After that we had wine class, which was great because we had an hour lesson then a trip to a wine making villa. The lesson was about how to pair food with wine, which I will go over later. We took a 40 minute bus ride towards Sienna and arrived at a beautiful hilltop villa. When we were introduced we discovered that it was owned by an old noble Tuscan family. We were introduced to the descendant of the lady who posed for the Mona lisa, and actual real princess who also is a famous Italian actress. She was very nice and friendly. We were told that the family (I believe the Strossi family) made the first DOCG (the top classification of wine) ever in Italy in the 60s. They had owned the land for over 1500 years and had on the property wine from every year since the end of the 18th century. Amazing. We took a tour of the old wine making areas that they had turned into a museum and into the modern manufacturing areas. We then sat down for a wine tasting and had an excellent, very floral and simple white (simple is a characteristic of Italian wine vs the American trend to try and make a complex wine) and a very dry, excellent Chianti. It was a great experience. After that we went home and It was my turn to cook. Im the package my mom had sent me was some spices that you cant find here, including habanero. I decided to make Habanero chicken, but since I had never made it before I decided to make up a recipe. I call it San Zanobi habanero citrus chicken (San Zanobi is my streets name). Ingredients: Chicken breasts. (I used 10) Red or yellow bell peppers. White or yellow onion. Honey. Habanero seasoning. Chili powder. 5 oranges. 2 grapefruit. 1 lemon. 1 jar caramelized bell peppers. So I made it up as I went so if anyone makes it go ahead and change it to your taste. I put a jar of honey into a bowl with a little water and olive oil and stirred in about a tablespoon and 1/2 or the habanero spice. I set that aside. In a large bowl i squeezed the juice of the oranges (pulp is good) and the grapefruit and half the lemon dont throw away the peels. In a large saucepan I added the juice, the honey and habanero mix along with half the bell peppers (chopped) half the onion (chopped) and the jar of caramelized bell pepper also add some sale and olive oil. On medium heat i let it cook down for about 30 minutes. Adding habanero and honey to taste. Drop in a teaspoon of chili powder as it simmers. Rinse the chicken breasts and place in an olive oiled large dish. Squeeze the other half of the lemon onto skin. Pour the sauce pan of liquid over the chicken. The sauce should almost cover the chicken (covering is good too). Cut the peels from the squeezed fruit into pieces (not small) and place on top of chicken. Throw other halves of the bell pepper and onion on top also. Place in oven and baste with own sauces periodically. I thought it turned out great, tell me what you think.

Wednesday I got a call from a man I had emailed about jobs advertised on the Internet. He told me to meet him at a club he worked at that night to talk about job opportunities. I need money so a job would definitely help. In class (Italian regional cooking) we made liver over onions and risotto. Very good. After that a girl that lives in Brittanys building took pictures of me and B by the river for her photography class. Italian class was next and we did a little review for our midterm, which is next week. After class I went to Brittany's for a while before heading out to the Club (mericana) to meet the guy for the Interview. Basically I would get money for each person that I got to go to the clubs or bars that they promote. Could be fun. He also said that they were opening up an American style caffe and that I could work there. After the interview I hung out there with my roommates and danced for a while. Hopefully I can get back to my posting schedule Ive just had a really busy week and no good computer access. I dont have my camera cord with me, just my hard drive so ill add pics from tuesday and wednesday later.

Ciao!