Buon Giorno da Roma

Last night Sean and I stayed in Arricia, which is a suburb of Roma with my aunt and uncle. From their house, you can see the Mediterranean Sea.

We are on our way this morning to Venice.

Rent

I just paid my last week of rent at the hostel. I can't believe it!

This is a picture of me in front of the hostel door shortly after I first arrived.

"Time and tide wait for no man."

Craven Cottage

Tomorrow me and some mates will be attending the Fulham vs Stoke City match at Craven Cottage.

Here is an aerial view of the stadium. It is situated on the River Thames in Putney. I can't wait.

Side note, all five London based Premiership clubs are in the top 10 and I've seen them all!

Romeo and Juliet

Last night I saw the season opening performance of Romeo and Juliet at the Globe Theatre.

Over the weekend, Phil and I attended an open house at the Globe in honor of Shakespeare's birthday and the upcoming performance season. We went because I wasn't expecting to get to see a performance because Romeo and Juliet sold out and the next play was scheduled to begin after I left. So I was pleasantly surprised when I was able to get my hands and a ticket.

The performance was excellent even though it was opening night. The energy from the actors and the excitement from the audience was high. Romeo and Juliet was performed the exact same way it would have been back in Shakespeare's time. No mics, only shouting.

The Royal Shakespeare Company and all those would put time, money and effort into the rebuilding of the Globe Theatre did an incredible job. Watching the performance last night made me feel like I was watching the play in it's original form -- minus the planes flying overhead!

Fulham

Saturday I will complete my goal. I am going to see Fulham play Stoke City at Craven Cottage and I stoked (pun anyone?).

I can officially annouce which club I will be supporting. I haven't released this information yet because I've felt compelled to see each and every club's ground in London before I officially made my decision.

Any guesses?

In other news, I am getting closer to having my full itinerary planned. I've dotted the i's, but haven't been able to cross the t's. Soon.

I'll release my itinerary as soon as it's final.

Traveling

I'm still in the planning phase of my backpacking trip and I must say, it is a lot of work. I have set out the general timetable of my trip. Now I'm trying to coordinate the logistics of trasportation and accomodation.

I am using STA as a resource and they have proved to not be very helpful. Oh well. I'll keep you posted on my itinerary after I meeting tonight.

Backpacking Trip

I have an official start date for my backpacking trip through Europe -- May 2! I will fly into Rome and head to northern Italy. From there, my friend Sean and I will go through the south of France and head to Barcelona.

In Barcelona, Sean and I will go our separate ways. I will continue through Spain and he will head back to the States.

I'm stoked!

2 Months Left

It feels like just yesterday I was celebrating my two month anniversary in London. Now, I'm counting down from two months.

Yep, that's right. I officially only have two months left from today to be in London. It is nuts. I am now in overdrive. I have so much left to do and only a little time left to do it!

My Morning Commute

On a clear day in London (as rare as it is), this is the view I have on my way to work in the morning.

I walk along the Waterloo Bridge and I have this view, which is of "the City", and I have a view of Big Ben and the House of Parliament in the other direction. It is very picturesque!

Above is the same view, but at night!

Arsenal

I am well on my way to accomplishing my goal of see all five Premiership teams in London. I just got tickets for the Arsenal vs Blackburn on March 14.

So far, I've seen Chelsea vs Stoke City and West Ham vs Portsmouth.

All I have left now is to see Tottenham and Fulham!

Horsley Park

I know I have been delinquent in my posting, but it is my new week resolution to be better. It's hard to make time to "reflect" on what I'm doing because I feel like I'm so busy. Starting Monday I plan to get back to my old ways of posting.

This weekend, I am going on a weekend residential with all of the students in the marketing program. We are going to a place called Horsley Park, which is an old Victorian castle.

I will report back Monday. Cheers!

Football Five

There are five clubs in the London area that play in the English Premier League and one of my goals is to see each time play. The clubs are Arsenal, Chelsea, Fulham, Tottenham and West Ham. So far, I've been to Boleyn Ground to see West Ham play Portsmouth.

I am happy to report that I have tickets to see Chelsea play Stoke City on 17 January! Chelsea is one of the big four in the Premier League and I jumped at the opportunity to see them play.

Another aspect of my goal is to see 10 of the 20 Premiership clubs. In other words, I'm not going to attend an Arsenal vs Portsmouth match because I've already seen Portsmouth.

Stoke City is one of the weaker clubs, but nonetheless being Stamford Bridge will be an experience in itself!

This is Amber and I in front of the apartment where all the Beatles besides but George Harrison lived in London!

Happy New Year's!

Happy 2009! I am truly excited and eager to see what the year of the Ox has in store for me, my friends and family. The most notable event on the horizon is my sister’s wedding in June. I am excited to be her Man of Honor!

It has been two weeks since my last update because I’ve been busy enjoying my holiday! LSBU was closed for Christmas so I had a week and a half off to hang out with friends and explore London.

Charity and I were invited to spend Christmas Day with Kara and Lana and their British Family. We had a traditional Christmas lunch, which is very similar to our Thanksgiving. We had turkey, potatoes, gravy, plus a few vegetables that were new to me.

First, we had boiled Brussels sprouts. Despite my preconceived dislike for them, I actually enjoyed them. In fact, I’ve eaten them three times since Christmas. The other vegetable I tried was swede, or as we call it in the States, rutabaga. It was served mashed and seasoned with salt and pepper. Again, I quite enjoyed it!

The family was great and were very warm to us. There are four kids, Rory, Billy and twin girls Holly and Cloe. The two girls were featured in a film called St. Trinians, which we watched at the end of the night. We had a grand time playing Wii and charades. One of the clues I had to peform was the TV show Alias. I tried really hard to act it out, but to no avail. That was the only clue my team didn't get when I was the actor!

For New Years, my friend Amber from college came to spend the week in London with me. During her week here, we saw the sights and sounds of London plus we took a day trip to Cambridge.

On New Year’s Eve, we went to a Mardi Gras themed party at a nightclub called Digress. About 15 people from the hostel went so it was a good time!

For New Year’s Day, Amber and I cooked the traditional “Good Fortune” food. We cooked black eyed peas, cabbage, bacon (for pork), and we had grapes and mimosas. The black eyed peas, cabbage and bacon were symbols of money and wealth. The grapes were a general token of good luck and if you ate a sour grape you would have a sour year and vice versa. And the mimosas…well, they were just for fun!

Amber is a huge Beatles fan and on Saturday we went on a Beatles walking tour. Our guide has the title of being the Beatles Brain of Britain. Needless to say, he was very knowledgeable.

I enjoy Beatles music, but I do not know very much about the history of the group. So a lot of the sights he pointed out were new to me. The coolest place we saw was the apartment owned by Ringo Starr, which at one point in time housed Ringo, Paul McCartney, Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon and Yoko Ono, not all at the same time mind you. Also, the famous virgin picture with John and Yoko was taken at this apartment.

I hope everyone had a great holiday!