Tripp's Final Blog

Well unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, this is my final post for “Scott and Tripp in Italy”. We hope that everyone has enjoyed following our adventures in Italy. We’ve definitely enjoyed telling you about them.

This has been a pretty good ending week. We got our finals knocked out and had Thursday afternoon and today to just relax and enjoy our last hours in Florence. It has been an amazing time and I can’t believe that the month is already over. Italy is great on so many different levels but it has taught me many things that I should never take for granted when I return to America.

1) shaved armpits

2) Not having to walk home through thousands of tourists and battle creepy North African men trying to sell you a stolen belt, wallet, or Rolex.

3) Grass, front yards, green things…like trees…there is no such thing as a yard in Florence.

4) Arkansas really is the “Natural State”. Tuscany is pretty but there is something to be said about farmland, the Ozarks, Pinnacle Mountain, and the lake

5) Great meals for less than $10

6) Free water at restaurants

7) Free refills

8) Customer service…people actually caring about the person they are serving, helping, or talking to.

9) Southern hospitality…people waving at people just because its nice

10) American deodorant

11) Air conditioning

12) Churches that aren’t just used for museums

13) Family and Friends…yeah sappy I know

14) Being blessed enough to have a car and not have to walk everywhere

15) Clean Air Act…I think I’ve probably smoked a pack a day…just from second hand smoke

This has been a great experience and I will of course always remember it. But if I tend to forget, I can always look back at the thousands of pictures I’ve taken or the fact that my life has been saved on the internet through this blog. Can’t wait to be back in America. *Cliché Ending* Thanks to everyone that has made this possible for me to come over here and experience Italy…maybe next time I won’t have to room with Scott…just kidding…Ciao

Scott's Final Post

Well at the time of this writing its Friday evening, however, our internet is not working, so who knows when this will be posted. We figured we could add some closure and do one final post each. The month has certainly been an eventful one, filled with adventures around Italy. Since our first lunch in this city, we have learned a lot. Not only about getting good deals, but a lot about the culture of Italy. Now obviously, nothing compares to home, but it has been a great place to live for a month. We went to Cinque Terre, Lucca to see Dave Matthews, Venice, Rome, and the Amalfi Coast, as well as many places in and around Florence. The blog has kept you updated for the most part, so there is no need to recap it all, but I guess I could be a little sappy and talk about my favorite things and what I will miss the most. But first, what I won’t miss the most: the top of that list would have to be having to pay for water and no free refills. Now for what I will miss the most is being able to stop practically at any time on any street and be close to a good restaurant or food shop. The food here has been great and I have really enjoyed trying all the Italian dishes, although a lot of times I stick with the safe stuff like spaghetti. Also, the ease of travel by the rail system has been nice. We have been able to see a lot of the country for fairly cheap. Out of all the cities I went to, I would probably say that Florence is my favorite. Venice was nice, but probably better for a romantic couple to visit together, not three college guys. Lucca was fun, but a little too small and not enough going on. Rome was great, but a little too big and crazy. The Amalfi coast was beautiful, but all the villages are on cliffs and who wants to hike stairs all day long? Florence has the perfect balance of beauty, size, art, and fun to keep the typical college student interested. It’s definitely walkable and there is always something new to see in a museum or another church. Also, there are plenty of other American students here to hang out with so there is always something to do at night. Overall, I have really enjoyed my time here and hope to be back. Hopefully sooner than later. Thanks to all our followers for reading our blog and posting comments. We apologize for some of the delays in posting, (the two week gap in the last part of our trip), but we figure you would want us out doing stuff rather than making time to update the blog. So as the trip comes to an end, I am sad to leave but probably more happy to get back home. First stop, Senor Tequila for some chips and salsa and as much Dr. Pepper as I can drink.

Scott

Amalfi Coastin

Look at us go!! Another post! Thanks for being so patient.

This weekend we went to the Amalfi Coast. We went through an organization called Florence for Fun with about 50 other students, many of those were our friends that we've made since we have been over here. It was a beautiful location and a type of Italy that we had yet to see. It was a great place to spend our last weekend, relaxing on the beach, swimming in caves, and cliff jumping. If you own a yacht that is sea worthy and can make it across the big pond to Italy, I would recommend stopping off here. Make sure your yacht is bigger than 250 feet though, otherwise you might feel a little out of place while you're hanging out with Georgio Armani, John Travolta, Julia Roberts, and Bill Gates.

Me and Scott getting ready to get on our ferry. We took a boat tour around Capri Island and then hung out on the beach.

View of one of the villages and beaches. This boat was probably three to four times the size of my house.

The guys that we've made friends with since we've been over here.

This is a video we took going into the Blue Grotto. Tight fit but we made it.

This is a picture inside the Blue Grotto of the water and other boats. Now you see why they named it the Blue Grotto.

Sorry for the Delay

All of a sudden we have realized that we havent done a post in 2 weeks. Sorry for the delay but we want to inform you that we ARE STILL ALIVE. These posts will be short and sweet but have some good pictures. Hope you like. The weekend of the 16-19th we went to Rome. Jordan was there for two of the days and we saw all the sights there was to see. We visited the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Coliseum, ancient ruins, Vatican museum, St. Peters, and everything in between. It was a good time best summed up in a few pictures:

It decided to post them backwards but oh well. THe one with us in our capes is us at the ice bar. It's a bar that is entierly made of ice. We had to go there. Its 21 degrees F inside and they give you capes and gloves. It was still freezing though.

Above is the Trevi Fountain. I threw a 10 cent piece in so hopefully I'll be back.

St. peters Square and basilica. It was massive.

Jordan Tripp and I inside the coliseum. That was right after we battle some angry tigers.

While you wait...

Hello all you avid bloggonians!



We realize that we haven't posted anything in a while and you are probably thinking to yourself..."How do I not Follow these guys anymore...I'm waisting my time. I guess they just aren't doing anything exciting in Italy anymore." Slow those horses down there cowboy, it is the complete opposite. Me and Scotty G have been going 24/7, taking in all the sites in Italy, that we haven't had much time to write on the blog. We greatly apologise. However, we will soon be posting our adventures of Rome from this past weekend. But in the meantime, while you wait patiently, a short adventure with Tripp in the streets of Florence.



Well, over the past couple of weeks, my hair has continued to grow...imagine that...and it was time for me to get a little trim. I figured that this would be a great experience. How many times are you going to have the opportunity to get your haircut in a different country? Maybe this doesn't excite you, but for me, I saw an adventure. Turns out my intuitions were correct.



The program that we are studying under, Study Abroad Italy, gave us a handbook with a lot of nifty information in it. It also provided us with a suggestion for a beauty salon, for both girls and boys don't you worry. The place was called Jean Louis David (I was guessing it was pronounced Gene Lewis David) and of course it was located across town by the Arno, about 15 minute fast walk from our apartment. However, it was peak rush hour tourist time, so this was going to take a little longer. I finally made it to Gene Lewis' place and I was in a complete sweat...perfect for getting my haircut. Judging a book by its cover, this place was fancy and I was going to feel out of place. I walked in and was greated by a middle aged man, I'm guessing it was Mr. David. After a very short look from head to toe and then back to head from Gene Lewis, he said something to me in Italian. All I knew to do was make a motion to my head like I had scissors in my hand and said, "Haircut?" Dumb question apparently, of course I could get my haircut, at the ripe ole price of 25 euros. I would rather eat a 4 course meal than spend that much on a haircut. Shoot, hand me the clippers for 5 minutes, and I could have been done with my own haircut. For some reason, I agreed. He took my backpack from me and then put a robe around me...thanks Lewis. He then led me around to these couches and told me to sit down...I think...it was in Italian. At this point, I got nervous and was having major second thoughts on paying 25 euro. The only thing I could think to do was run. So, I did, right after I took off my robe, brought my cell phone out of my pocket, told them I had an important call to make, and that I'd be right back. They seemed confused but all Mr. David could say was, "Whatever". Perfect, he understood. I quickly walked away from the beauty shop, apparently graced by Prince Strozzi himself, and started to make my way back to the apartment.

I found another barber shop and decided to try my luck. Of course, no one spoke English but they said 18 euros so I was in. I was sent to go get my hair shampooed. This was a pleasant surprise. Then I was led to the chair. I spoke English, he spoke Italian...but that didn't stop us. The barber finally got the idea of what I was saying and started to buzz the side of my head. He asked me if I liked the height...I didn't really have much options, it was little short but no turning back now. After my clean cut, I was again sent back to the shampoo girl. After almost falling asleep, I was sent on my way with a fresh Italian haircut...short on the sides and goofy looking on the top. First and last haircut in Italy I guess...its the experience right?

Caught you red handed!!!

On Friday, we took a school guided trip to the outskirts of Florence to a local vineyard and wine production estate. After a 45 minute bus ride on public transportation (always guaranteed to be bumpy, hot, and slightly sweaty ride), our guide decided we better continue our journey up a huge hill where the estate was. Finally reaching the top, we realized that our effort was worth it.

This was one of the vineyards that we were able to walk past while coming to the top of the hill to the Malenchini estate. We walked through grape vines on one side and olive trees on the other to a wonderful chateu established in the 11th century...no big deal.

This is the courtyard at the estate. The land and villa came into the hands of the Medici family and our tour guide's husband's family purchased the estate in the 1830s...I'm going to say this was a pretty good investment. Everything about this place screamed I'm rich, our house is older than your country, and our wine is a secret...thanks for coming and looking.

Our guide decided to take us around the other side to show us the front of the villa...not a bad view to wake up to. The pots holding the lemon trees are over 300 years old...I'm not sure Home Depot sells these anymore. The only thing we could think about was how perfect the grass was for a football game...true Americans I guess. Nevertheless, this chateau was something else.

Another view of the villa, it might look old...well it is...but it has alot of character.

Our guide finally decided to take us down to the cellar and show us some of the prized family barrels. If you notice the latter, these barrels are rather large and contain enough wine to fill a small swimming pool. She said that the cellar remains a constant temperature perfect for the wine all year long. As we walked around, we couldn't help but think about how old this basement was and what old famous politicians had been there before us...very cool.

The best part of our trip definitely occurred when Scott's curiousty got the better of him. Being the curious engineer that he is, he wanted to know how tight the plugs were on the barrels. So he decided to play with one. Well if you notice the fourth barrel on the left, some wine has come out. That is from Scott playing with the top. Of course, he pulled it out and wine went everywhere. Luckily the only person around was me to witness this thousand dollar mistake. After quickly wiping his hands off and me taking a picture, we ran out of there laughing. Maybe 2009 for the Chianti Classico from barrel 24 at Malenchini estate isn't the best vintage. The only thing I could think of as we ran out of the cellar was, "They are definitely going to catch you red handed!"

The trip was great. We learned alot about wine production and was able to experience another side of Florence that we hadn't seen before.

Venezia

After our adventures in Pisa and Malenchini, we caught the train to Venice. The train left at 8:37 and we got to the train station about 8 so we decided to indulge into a local Italian favorite, the BIG MAC. Yes the golden arches do exist in Italy and surprisingly, it tastes exactly the same. We each got a Big Mac, fries, and a coke and man was it good. After the quick bite to eat, we hopped on the 2 hour and 40 minute train ride to Venice. It went by a lot faster than other trains because it was one of the big boys, a Eurostar train. Where as the smaller ones go about 60-70 mph, this one goes closer to 120 so you really feel like you are getting somewhere. We filled the time with important things such as playing snake on our old school Nokia phones and discussing how we missed Mexican food and BBQ. (However, apparently there is a good Mexican place here that some people went to last night. We will definitely be trying that out)

We arrived in Venice about 10:15 and Jordan was waiting for us in the train station to meet us. He had been there working for the week and extended his stay to the weekend to explore the city with us. The plan was for the three of us to stay in his room with him but, as is often the case, it didn't go according to plan. I ended up having to get another single room and Jordan and Tripp stayed in Jordan's. When I say single room, I mean small. The bathroom (shower, toilet, sink) was probably the size of most of showers in the US. Also, for those who have been to the small room in Fayetteville, formerly mine, formerly Zach's, and currently belonging to the Ropeman, the actual hotel room could have fit in that room a good 2-3 times. It was tiny. Other than that, it was great! Small twin bed, 13" tv, the works. But it was ok because we only slept in our rooms and thats about it. The picture below shows our hotel right on the water on the left side, facing the bridge.

About 11, we headed out to walk the streets, or should I say canals, of Venice. The front desk guy for some reason kept telling us to go to Margherita square because thats where the young people and many girls hang out so we swung by. Afterwards, we walked along several side streets and made our way to San Marco square, the location of the San Marco cathedral. Mark is buried under the church. Apparently he was originally buried in the Holy Land but his body was smuggled out in a cart of dead pigs and brought to Venice. I guess a good way to keep and claim his body is to build a huge church on top of it. After that, we went to the Rialto bridge which is similar to the Ponte Vecchio in Florence because it has a lot of shops on it. Naturally, every time we saw a little side canal or a fast boat we wondered if thats where the Italian Job was shot. We will have to go back and watch. After walking around for what seemed like forever, and getting lost several times, we made it back to our hotel in one of the most confusing cities I have ever been on. It seems like every street leads somewhere new and its really tough to get your bearings because there are so many bridges and different canals.

Saturday morning we got up about 9 and went downstairs for the breakfast. It wasn't the best but it was free. First we went and bought our boat pass. It was 18 euro for a 24 hour pass and we made it worth it. We went to Murano which is famous for its glass making. They had a free demonstration where a guy would explain how its made in about 4 languages for everyone to understand and another guy was making a little vase out of glass. Pretty cool stuff. After that we just went and walked along the main street and saw probably 100 glass stores.

Next we got on the wrong boat so we skipped our next stop and just went straight to Lido Island. It's right in between the main city of Venice and the Adriatic Sea. The far side of the island has a really long beach. We went to it and walked along the beach for about 30 minute while we worked on our tans. Needless to say, the Italians really take the phrase, "less is more", to the extreme. Guys wore speedos and women wore two pieces, no matter their weight. And of course there are the few women who still prefer the one piece, so they decide to take off the top piece. The beach wasn't really white sand but it was still pretty and we worked on our tans. We also saw one of the coolest sno cone stands ever. It rolled down the beach on tracks.

We came back to the mainland and went to the San Marco cathedral and went in for a look. It was covered in what looked like mosaics made of tiny tile and a lot of gold. It was really pretty. There was even a service going on in one part. It was funny though because I think they were speaking Spanish, either that or I suddenly got the gift to understand Italian perfectly.

While walking around we found where we had left our boat.

We didn't get on one but I had to get a picture of the gondola. And that's the Rialto bridge in the back packed with people.

For dinner we went to a little place and we sat outside right beside the building. We were right on the edge of the covered part which was unfortunate because right after we sat down, a bird decided to drop down a little gift right on Tripp's hand. Other than that, the meal was good. Below is a good view of the Rialto bridge at night the lights reflecting off the water. The lady in the bottom right seems interested.

We wanted to find a good place to relax after dinner so we started walking around. Harry's Bar had been suggested so we walked in wearing shorts and t-shirts and quickly walked back out when we saw everyone was wearing nice shirts and ties...next option. Hard Rock Cafe would have been fun but it was full...next option. We stumbled upon a band playing in a plaza that was comparable to the worst wedding band you have ever heard. As we walked up they were playing SHOUT and all the Italians were dancing. It wasn't the best performance or best dancing but people looked like they were having fun so we decided to join in. The hits just kept coming until 11 when they shut it down and we sadly walked back to catch a boat to our hotel. It was a great ending to a wonderful day in Venice.

Don't know if you can tell but the lead singer has on a superman undershirt, an open black shirt with flames on it, pink sunglasses, and a bush for hair...classic.