ho ritornato a pisciotta

I apologize for the lack of updates. In Venzia, I was only able to access the internet from a bar, and did not have time to update. Very beautiful, astonishing really; such an amazing city in the middle of a lagoon. Much more impressive then i realized (i had imagined something more akin to what Amsterdam was like.) I took the train to Napoli, and had a typically Italian experience in having my train delayed and can elled twice. Chaos and ineffieciency are parts of the Italian way of life, as much as the Brits love to queue. Anyway, I arrived in Pisciotta last friday, around 5pm. It took me a while to get up to the town, and i didnt meet up with the girls until 730. weve been hanging out, cathcing up with the locals, teachers, students, etc. It has been really great being back here, such a higher quality of life. I cannot update too long, as the computer here has a time limit, but perhaps from roma, and certianly from Siena or Paris. I may also stop in Milan, or Nice, and I will prolly take a day trip down to Calabria this week as well, since I no longer plan on going to Prague on this trip. Hope everyone is doing well. Email me! Ciao


ps my italian language skills are shitty, but I am beginning to remember some things, and thus feel slightly better, and frustrated at the same time.

subathing on the danau

can't beat that. yesterday i spent the day on a rented bike, riding around the river area, swimming and stuff. sunbathing. im burnt! finally something of a tan. Austria, Öscherreich, has been interesting. Very relxed, slightly more conservative than Germany, although it has more in common with what i saw of Bavaria then Berlin. Lots of Catholics. ALso, in Germany as well, I noticed that German speakers curse in Italian, and all say ciao for goodbye, instead of tsüß. closer culturally than you may expect, altho not nearly as fashionable. I leave for Venezia tonight, which mneans ill be in pisciotta on the 21, friday i think. I can´t wait, three more days.

ALso, the sky is bluer here. (seems to me...it seems to be. I think it is.)

biergartens and greek ruins

things not to forget about münchen:

germans really do (or did) have a hard on for the greeks\romans. nmice touch painting the temple in the park tho.

the englischer garten.... amazing. makes central park look like a playground.

drum circles, people, animals, bikes. culture.


but still being alone kinda sucks. spent the last few nights hanging out with felix or sara, or reading. so tonight was kinda weird. enjoyable tho. sausage, potatoes. weiße bier.

as far as the greek thing goes, we all know the Nazis, or Hitler at least, had a thing for the occult, and played up the whole pagan thing. this didnt mean, however, that the Nazis rejected christianty; on the contrary they embraced, and understood, the pagan origins of so much christian ritual, and where attemtping to approprioate it, or perhapos reapropriatwe it, into the German conciousness. Spending the last 4 days in germany, it has become obvious that the pagan origins of the german people, and the affinity for the greek, goes back much further than the nazis. (we of course knew this, as im sure sam is thinking blah blah blah, hegel, nietzche, heidegger, hölderlin, temples, the istar, classical education, etc etc.) it is realy overberaring tho, being around it all. münich is more traditional than berlin, altho the parks reallz embrace roman style. this is interesting to me, as the germans were always so proud that they, unlike, say the anglo-saxons and the normans, were never conquered by the romans, and thus there language hasnt been ´poluted´ by latin, or is at least more authentic. yet they wish to be the successdoprs to the greeks and romans anywaz.

ok, tzoo much bier. sleep now. vienna 2moro. Wien. should be fun. eis cream and kafee!

dem deutsche volke...

So I took a train to Bruxelles from AMsterdam, and overnighted from there to Berlin on tuesday night. I am thus in the middle of mz third day in Berlin, which has been fantastic. On Wednesday, I walked around, took a nap and showered, and decided to go on a free tour at 16:00 (4pm) figuring i should take advantage of the city, and its light out until after 10. so i did, and i ran into a friend of mines ex-girlfriend, who went to purchase. small world. shes here as a dancer, and happens to have interesting friends and know the insider locations. after the tour, we hung out at an awesome wine bar, 1 euro for a glass, drink and eat all u want, pay what u think is fare. sweet. then yesterday i walked around everwhere, went inside the Reichstag, shopped, saw the city, and met up with that girl again in order to see the Pergamonmuseum, which houses the Ischtar Gates, from which the Hanging Gardens of Babylon once hung, one of the 7 wonders of the world. Also the Anatolian Steps, with some amazing, intertingly broken friezes.

Berlin, especially in the East, where evrything is, is a really hip, cool city. Germans are slightly aloof, and build relationships slowly, but are very nice (mostly.) The city is filled with expats, however, all artists, musicians, and students. Id like to see Leipzig now, where there are students but fewer tourists. This must be siumilar to NY in the 70s and 80s. Warehouses, lofts, artists, freedom. History. Intellectuals. CUlture. and still AMericans, just the interesting ones. its nice. I leave for München late tonight, which I#m looking forward to, as well as Wien, which I keep hearing great things about.

I#m debating if I will go to Prague or not. Its up to Lexy, but I#m leaning towards putting it off until next year. I probably won#t update until I get to the hostel in Wien, so until then, Tsüß!

amsterdam, goodbye

I leave for Berlin 2nite, via Brussels. Lond story, basically there were no direct trains to Berlin, and i didint want to use my rial pass 2 times, so i bought a ticket to brussels. i may have an extra day at the end, but ill use it up im sure. anyways...

Went out with Felix last night, bar hopped a lil, accidently stopped in a gay bar, and then found a jazz club. good quartet, surprisingly. trombone, double bass, drums, and piano. nice. hit up all the museums, visited the heineken brewery today. im ready to leave tho, these places are so packed with tourists. i feel that even tho everyone is nice here, the locals must hate the tourists. its the same kind of ambivalance i experienced in the carribean. they rely on us for econmic reasons, but resent us for it. we ruin the city. public spaces are great tho. community!

forza italia! or not...

Well, it's late and since I slept in an airport (with a cold cold tile floor) I'd like to get to bed. But I feel the need to comment on the World Cup game. Writing here from Amsterdam, where the car horns have finally seemed to die down (are their italians everywhere?) I noticed that, although many people were rooting for France (since the Italians dispresepcted the Aussies and others) Italy's victory is still highly symbolic, for reasons I'll get to in a moment. I think a France victory would have been more positive for Europe, and history, and if it hadn't been for Zinnade's (or whtvr his name is) headbutt, I'd have flat out rooted for them too. The French team is, in my observation, the most mixed team racially of the European clubs. In this way, they have showed viewers, such as AMerican's who have watched this Cup more closly than in the past, that being 'French' doesn't have tp fit the stereotypical french ethnicity. It is thus really unfortunate that the match was won by a rather undecisive penalty kick. It's worth pointing out that of all the 9 shots taken, the goalkeepers failed to stop any of them; the win came from a French players shot deflecting off the goalpost and hitting the line. THis player also, if im not mistaken, is of Arab, or NOrth African ancestry. I hope this wont lead to negative things in France.
But the Italians did play well, with some amazing saves, good defense, and fancy footwork as always. Evive!

lexy still hasnt emailed me

quick update from amsterdam,so i can go and watch the world cup. more later.

I have arrived in amsterdam, but only after suffering my first unexpected setback. I was not really bothered at all, however, and I expect these unexpected things to happen. Reminds me of that line from god of small things. maybe sam can look it up. the 2 things margaret kochama says when visiting the heart of darkness, or whtvr. so, i went to the bsf show, but they werent going on till 930, so i figured it wasnt worth the 12 pounds (22 bucks) since id have to leave at 10 to make sure i could get back to my hostel to get a train to the airport, since my flight was leaving early, and the trains didnt leave early on sunday mornings. i found out, however, at the venue, that a free festival in the park was going on, so i went and missed mos def, but saw the wailers. fun. and then an 0old punk rocker tried to steal my ice cream. london outside of zone one is totally differnt; its filled with londoners. no tourists. i felt out of place, altho most people were nice, i can only imagine what a truly ghetto neighborhood must be like.

also, on the aniverseray of the bombing, i, without realizing it, travelled more than any other day in london on the tube, and visited the station where the bombers met, twice, inadvertantly also. on that note, im a tremendous nerd, as most you know, alto it may not be obvious from looking at me. (collects comic books, music snob, played d&d, etc). ON that note, the british museum and british library were phenomenal. seeing the oldest copy of the bible, in greek, or original works by william blake, music by mozart and bach, etc. it made seeing joyces notebook and wordsworth original seem unimportant. plus i saw the rosetta stone, among other treasures at the museum, which was beautiful. i also got a british library card, for special research. ok, more later. mathc is on

a few truisms about london

at least in the summer. this is what I've observed to be true.
-they really do like to queue.
-they really go love football and rugby.
-pubs are all over.
-they do have messed up teeth, for the most part.
-it rains quite a bit, but never really poors.


also, theyre are really a lot of muslims here, mainly from pakistan, i think. in greater london at least. veyr interesting. seemingly well integrated, but i could be wrong on that. kinda like hispanics in the states i guess, altho ive witnessed more racism at home.

BSF tonight. I haven't called anyone I said I would, gragory, morris, and i didnt try and get in touch with rachel's boyfriend. or whtvr. I've been busy. I feel kinda weird calling people I don't know, and I feel like hanging out with Morris outside of the school setting would be awkward, for me at least. I know, I'm silly and I have no excuses.

Well, I leave for Amsterdam early tomorrow morning. World Cup Game is 2moro. Today I'm gonna visit the London Buddhist Centre before goin to the show 2nite. Next update will be from the continent.

SO little time! (and less money)

I have alot to update, but no time to do it in. The British Library and the British Museum are phenomenal, though.

Sorry to those who left comments. I haven't been checking the actual blog, and it doesn't alert me. I'll try and check now. I think i figured out how to use the fone card. More updates tomorrow or sunday. Love

fuck what fireworks stand for

So today, I kinda overslept. By the time I had showered and gotten my things together, it was around 10am, so I had missed breakfast. I quickly hopped on the tube and made my way to Paddington Station, where I had my first encounter with the British National Railway. Scenic, rolling hills, and hideuos powerplants. I went to Oxford, for RT £17, about an hour long trip. I spent the day wandering around, doing scenic things. I visited the school Caitlin studied at 2 summers ago, altho the main meadow was closed to visitors. I had a good day walking. The girls working in all the shops seemed very nice and eager to talk. THat'smost british girls so far, tho. Many more foriegners in Oxford, tho, tons of students, many who I can only assume are still in HS.

I went to the Modern Art Museum of Oxford and went to a great show feauturing contemporary works from Beirut. Very moving. It's amazing how much a city shelling itself looks/sounds like fireworks.

Tomorrow, I explore London, possibly with some kids from the Hostel. NIce french kid, and some Australians. Lotta those. G'day

night one

well, that was an amazing game, no? i mean, it was kinda boring, in that they were so evenly matched, but it had some great moments, and what an ending! forza italia! eviva! etc etc. anyway, so london is nice. I haven't explored much yet, although after the game ended I walked along the Thames from the Northside, from London Bridge to wherever. Nice view, not too many people. I saw a rat. Reallllly close to me. I'm looking forward to the next few days exploring, going to free museums, and shows and what not, although London still feels very Americanized. Too much money. People here are happier than at home, in NY at least, but still not compared to, say, the southern Italians. I can't wait to get to Pisciotta! and see Lexy and the other girls and whoever is there i know. La ragazze, of course. But anyways,..

Having trouble with payphones so far, so email me for now to stay in touch.

Not a bad first day. I think I'll visit Oxford tomorrow.

K, Love

London

I am currently at St. Christopher's Village, a hostel in London, a short walk from the London Bridge. The plane ride here, on Air India, was not bad, lots of space and empty seats. My individual screen was turned off, but I didn't feel much like watching a movie anyway. We landed around 7 or 8. The airport was packed. Although the tube is rather easy to use, especially when compared to the NYC system many of us are accustomed too, it was still a rather long ride from Heathrow. I am quite tired. My bag isnt too heavy, but 40 or so pounds is plenty of weight, I think. I'm going to be checking in soon, and then checking out the scene here. More updates soon.

Beginnings

Today, at 8:10 pm, I will be beginning my journey, flying from NY to London. I'm am mostly packed and ready to go. Visiting Philly, DC, Toronto, and Boston got me in raveling mode. I'll update once I get settled in the hostel in London.. Send emails to thenewobjective@gmail.com, or just comment here. Let's go!