I know I said in my introduction I was going to be talking about never giving up on the Philadelphia Eagles. I really just wanted to put some awesome clips of the Eagles in there and utilize my picture folder entitled "Awesome eagles pics." I think I did just that.
This blog has been about my experiences abroad and enjoying them live in color and with sound. I've just given a little snippet about what it is like to be abroad. To be honest, nothing could ever seem to match it. It was a fairy tale. Responsibilities were nearly nil, sure money was tight, but the rich diversity of foods I was eating, wines accessible to me in Italy, and Italy itself just serving as a pretty central hub for places around Europe...sigh, I cannot even begin to capture the experience in words. In 4 months I took extended visits all up and down Italy, France, Spain, Morocco, Germany, Monaco, Great Britain, The Netherlands and Belgium. I met philosphers, wanderers, trend-setters, smelly people, poor people, exceedingly wealthy people in all shapes and colors. The one characteristic they seemed to hold collectively (well, almost) was this jarring genuine interest in strangers. Whether it was yabbering on in broken Italian with an old couple in Sorrento about local seafood or learning about peace and terrorism through the eyes of road-weary 80 year-old-Moroccans high on hashish, I'll take the experiences I had to heart.
As such, my last post will be on my favorite place in the world within my favorite places in the world: Coastal Italy. These are scenes from Cinque Terre, 5 small mountain villages overrun with wildlife and beauty, Sorrento, Almafi, Positano, and Capri. Enjoy. I did. And I'lllll be back again!
Northern Europe-Amsterdam!
You really can't say enough about Amsterdam. What a place. Rich in culture, food, music, art, language...
Of course there's the other side. The degenerate side. The carnival side. The Red Light District, coffeeshop, massage hause side. The fun side?
Alright, well we're not going to go into expletives here, but Amsterdam is one fun place. I think its biggest misunderstanding is how rich it really is. The concentration of museums is mainly only matched by Florence--you can see tons of exquisite original Van Gogh's, Rembrandt's, the Anne Frank Hause, The Heinekene Experience...all in a short walk from Vondelpark. Enjoy some pics.
Of course there's the other side. The degenerate side. The carnival side. The Red Light District, coffeeshop, massage hause side. The fun side?
Alright, well we're not going to go into expletives here, but Amsterdam is one fun place. I think its biggest misunderstanding is how rich it really is. The concentration of museums is mainly only matched by Florence--you can see tons of exquisite original Van Gogh's, Rembrandt's, the Anne Frank Hause, The Heinekene Experience...all in a short walk from Vondelpark. Enjoy some pics.
Northern Europe--Belgium and Netherlands
Words cannot describe the joys brought to me in northern Europe. Belgium was a country rich in food, drink and culture. Apparently the people there have the highest happiness and satisfaction ratings psychologically than any other country. I guess if I drank beer and ate waffles and fries all day I'd be pretty happy too...because that's what I did while I was there. Belgium inspired me to start experimenting with Belgian candy as sugaring agents for my beer-brewing here in the states, and what a great decision that has been! Nothing like a homemade Belgian Dubbel to go along with a fun fun fun website project (I kid)! Anyway, here are a couple shots of Belgium, in all its glory...
Italy!
So this is my home base--Italy! Florence, to be exact. A city of wonder and art and blahbiddyblahblah. It was too cool. I took classes through Gonzaga University.
I basically had 5 class Mon-Thursday, and was allowed to miss EIGHT of each! So I could miss 40 classes the whole semester, without grades transferring to BC, getting major credit, and already have long weekends with fridays off. Basically, once Wednesday came around, I was packing my bags for some cheap European flight thanks to Ryanair (like, 20 dollar flights, literally!) to shelp around some exotic country on a minuscule budget. It was unreal. The food was out of this world, the wine cheap and delicious, the amount of art unmatched. I took many excursions around the city and neighboring towns in Italy. Here's some Florence info! Anyway, here are a couple of my pictures of Florence, including the Duomo, the largest dome cathedral in Europe and the Ponte Vecchio, the lone surviving bridge from many wars over the last 500 years:
click for high-res
Or just check out my Florence facebook album!
I basically had 5 class Mon-Thursday, and was allowed to miss EIGHT of each! So I could miss 40 classes the whole semester, without grades transferring to BC, getting major credit, and already have long weekends with fridays off. Basically, once Wednesday came around, I was packing my bags for some cheap European flight thanks to Ryanair (like, 20 dollar flights, literally!) to shelp around some exotic country on a minuscule budget. It was unreal. The food was out of this world, the wine cheap and delicious, the amount of art unmatched. I took many excursions around the city and neighboring towns in Italy. Here's some Florence info! Anyway, here are a couple of my pictures of Florence, including the Duomo, the largest dome cathedral in Europe and the Ponte Vecchio, the lone surviving bridge from many wars over the last 500 years:
click for high-res
Or just check out my Florence facebook album!
never gonna give never gonna give
Here is my magnanimous, magnificent, megalotropic super Eagles iMovie tribute.
If you don't have audio, be sure to click the "Read this first" archive post to get a real understanding what this site is all about. Thanks!
Also check out my favorite Donovan McNabb play!
Read me first!
So this is my blog. What in the world could I have to say on the Internet that the world wants to read? Nothing, actually.
Nonetheless, I'll give it a whirl. Ya see, last semester I went abroad. I saw some amazing thing and experienced some intense situations. I was studying in Florence and did a lot of backpacking around Europe alone. This blog is going to chronicle some of my adventures in the forms of photographs and text, but also focus on what I truly missed from the good ol' USA.
And that's playoff football and the Philadelphia Eagles.
You see, I left in January of 07, right in the heart of the 06 Eagles playoff push. I had a Slingbox to try and catch the games via IP on my laptop, but the connection was crappy and I found myself scrambling with the 6 hour time difference anyway. It was palatable watching games on choppy feeds at 2 AM, but sometimes there is no European substitute for that raw feeling and thrill of a BIG PLAY in a big game. Phew. I hope you clicked that. Gives me the chills every time. Or just watch it here!
So thanks for visiting the Never Gonna Give You Up blog. Feel free to browse my different countries visited with a little tale about each and don't forget to check out my shrine to the Philadelphia Eagles. If you like, enjoy some Rick Astley in the previous link, and surf away!
-Jon C.
Nonetheless, I'll give it a whirl. Ya see, last semester I went abroad. I saw some amazing thing and experienced some intense situations. I was studying in Florence and did a lot of backpacking around Europe alone. This blog is going to chronicle some of my adventures in the forms of photographs and text, but also focus on what I truly missed from the good ol' USA.
And that's playoff football and the Philadelphia Eagles.
You see, I left in January of 07, right in the heart of the 06 Eagles playoff push. I had a Slingbox to try and catch the games via IP on my laptop, but the connection was crappy and I found myself scrambling with the 6 hour time difference anyway. It was palatable watching games on choppy feeds at 2 AM, but sometimes there is no European substitute for that raw feeling and thrill of a BIG PLAY in a big game. Phew. I hope you clicked that. Gives me the chills every time. Or just watch it here!
So thanks for visiting the Never Gonna Give You Up blog. Feel free to browse my different countries visited with a little tale about each and don't forget to check out my shrine to the Philadelphia Eagles. If you like, enjoy some Rick Astley in the previous link, and surf away!
-Jon C.
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