I made the Nick’s International Adventures blog into a book title Off the Beaten Path. This book includes all of my travel stories in Europe and Morocco while going to school at Bocconi University in Milan when I was not travelling. Even if you have read the blog, the book has loads of additional content including my Christmas time cruise through the Panama Canal, bonus essays by Matt Reeves and Desmond White, and rankings that vary from best country to visit to the world’s best food. Buy a copy today.

Get the book directly from the publisher or buy on Amazon:

Dear Readers,

With all the experiences I have had and lessons I have learned, I have decided to publish my story into a book. It will be a hybrid combination of a travel guide and a novel and if you liked these posts, you will love the book.

The main addition to the book edition of Nick’s International Adventures will be my upcoming adventures through Central America and the Panama Canal. There is no reliable internet on my ship, so I will save those times for the book.

The book will include all the posts uploaded on the internet along with some completely new European bonus posts and content that I did not include in my posts along the way. It will also feature a variety of appendices, from country reviews, to travel advice, and some writing from the perspective of other people featured in the book. I will also rewrite the entire book to improve its literary quality.

Last, but not least, I will add some more pictures that I took along the way including pictures of myself, because I did not feel like sharing my identity on the Internet.

The book should be released sometime in early 2010. It depends how long it takes to find a publisher (or in the worst case scenario, I will self publish it). I cannot announce a specific date, but the goal is to get it out there by March. I have not decided on what I will title the book (not Nick’s International Adventures), but if the readers have any suggestions for a title or bonus content, please comment on this post.

-Nick

Unfortunately I had to sit towards the back of the plane. During the beginning of the flight I talked to Pennsylvanian man in the export business about travel, European economics, podcasting, and generation theory. I have learned from my four months overseas, wherever I am, that the best way to have a positive conversation about travel. Anybody with an ounce of culture, loves to talk travel and has something interesting to say about where they have visited. This topic can also segway to almost anything and can present positive aspects of yourself without sounding like you are bragging. For the rest of the flight I watched Madagascar 2 which ended up being funny like the first one. I then spent the rest of the eight hour flight writing and editing this book.

Country #13 United States of America

I landed at JFK airport feeling grateful to be back in North America. It felt good to be back in the states, but this was in reality the halfway checkpoint. Customs were easy and they did not even care that I declared food products. Since there were no other place to get a cheeseburger, I ended up going to McDonalds again for lunch. When I get back to California, one of the things I want to do is eat a good quality cheeseburger, but it had to wait at JFK. My phone now worked again so I called my family and some of my friends during the layover. I then waited at the terminal to find out that my flight was delayed thirty minutes. We finally boarded the flight around 4:00 eastern, and I sat at the very back on the plane. This flight was agonizingly boring. I could not sleep on the plane do the vertical seat and both my computer and iPod died halfway through the flight. American Airlines also played a stupid teen movie called Bandslam that I did even bother to watch along with NBC sitcoms which I disliked as well. I do not understand hoe people watch TV outside of live events. It’s very predictable and not entertaining. The only television programs I watch are sports, Glenn Beck, and the occasional documentary on the History Channel. Then at 7:10 PM Pacific, I landed in LAX, and my long day of travel was over.

Destination #23 Newport Beach/Greater Los Angeles, California

Even though the flight took off nearly an hour late, I landed in LA twenty minutes early. I power walked through the gates. I then grabbed my luggage and found my mother and my brother waiting for me at their car on the side of the curb. It was great to see my family again and back home. However, my time at home will not last for long. Within four days, I will board a cruise ship to the Panama Canal. The idea of Christmas on a boat will be strange, but exciting as well. Until I embark to Panama, I am just going to catch up some business and enjoy my brief return to Newport Beach. This book is about my international travels, so I will spare you the details (I may add it to the book if requested).

I then left the classroom knowing I had aced the test. My stomach grumbed and I decided to go pick some calzones. I ordered two freshly cooked calzones and paid for the, by grabbing a handful of change out of my pocket and placed the change on the counter with authority. With my drawer filled with worthless one, two, five, and ten cent coins, I counted up my coins and stuffed the coins into my jacket for the next morning. Some exchange students (along with me) were impressed that I was able to make something out of small pocket change.

After lunch I continued studying for my upcoming more difficult finals. When I did not feel like studying, I read two books that my Uncle Recommended me called Generational Dynamics for Americas Future and GD for Historians. The author explains that a neo-Malthusian population program, along with lost wisdom from previous veterans of war and economic crisis. As a result, one of these “crisis periods” occurs approximately once every eighty years (human lifetime). What spooked me out about these books is that the next crisis war is expected to occur with fifteen to twenty years. Although there are some flaws with his theory, the author makes a compelling and grim point on the predictable causes of historical events. The book also explained how long term trends can help supplement technical analysis for stock market timing.

However, the most intriguing part of the book is my introduction to the concept of singularity. Technological singularity is the idea that since computing power doubles every eighteen months, there will be a point between 2020-2050 where computers will be smarter than humans and produce even smarter machines that they were. The author then explains the science behind it which makes it seem possible, but my philosophical views on the definition of intelligence and consciousness make me skeptical. Singularity began to dominate my imagination and I ended up finding a terrific idea for a science fiction novel. I realized with my ability to write this novel length book in such a short time, I actually have the discipline to write books and will begin my side venture as a novelist when I return to UC Santa Barbara.

As the week went by, it was getting closer to my highly anticipated return to America. I can’t wait, but I still have to focus on my studies. Straight A’s while traveling across Europe and Morocco is a pretty productive semester. I occasionally get distracted by Tiger Woods related humor and reading about geopolitics, but I hit to the grindstone and eventually finish studying. Bocconi sent me a pleasantly surprising e-mail that I get a four hundred euro deposit back from my rent. I retrieved my money from the bank, and try to acquire dollars, but a fifteen cent bid-ask spread was too pricy. I also had my last meals of my favorite Italian dishes. I went out for pizza margherita bufala, gelatos, and fresh pasta. My favorite dish of the weeks a combo of rigatoni Bolognese (tomato meat sauce) and carbonara. I spent an evening walking around downtown for the last time. Milan goes all out with Christmas lights and I saw various light shows and decorations around the duomo and the Galleria Vittoria. My second midterm ended up being easier than expected and I aced that one as well. I get the best feeling in the world when I just feel certain that I did well during a critical situation. This enjoyment comes most often when I just own a test or from intense competition (such as Diplomacy). No emotion in the world feels better than winning, especially winning big. Unlike drugs and alcohol, I can relate to how people enjoy gambling, but I personally like to actually accomplish things through my efforts rather than put my money and life to chance.

Snow covered the city while I walked to my last final exam that Thursday. Only two hours until I’m free to go. I go into the test a little more uneasy. From studying all economic theory from Aristotle to Keynes I knew the gist of the material, but not every detail. When I received the test, I knew how to answer every questions, but for some questions, I did not have the precision in my essays as I would have liked. Depending on how tough the professor grades, I could have gotten either an A or a B. I left the test feeling good about being done, but anxious about ruining my potentially perfect semester.

After the test, I relaxed and watched some movies and said good bye to Chi. I wrote an appendix, but felt to lazy to finish the section. I planned on going out to a nice restaurant I went to the first day I arrived, but when I went to retrieve my cash, the safe locked me out again and I had to sit and wait to get it fixed. It was probably caused by mistyping the code, but I was frustrated about missing my dinner. I ended up picking up another bufala pizza, and then tried to go to sleep for an early morning. During the night before exciting events such as traveling, I always have problems falling asleep.  This was no exception as I stayed up long enough to only get a few hours of rest before a long trip home.

The weather has plunged consistently in the 30’s. Snow will be arriving starting Sunday and I’m not looking forward to it. The cold weather has also made me more sleepy and hungry as now I always want to eat. I have to restrain myself to save money and calories.

Speaking of money, the FOREX has been trading in my favor for the first time due to Greece’s default risk. The euro is down from 1.51 to 1.46 dollars per euro in one week. Too bad I have no reason to withdraw money and will actually have to convert some euros back to dollars on a dollar uptick.

I have finished up my groceries, so I am going to treat myself my last week here and go enjoy authentic Italian food for the rest of the time here. It will be a while before I return to Italy and the food has been one of the best bright spots of my travels. I’m also fortunate that I’m done with grocery shopping is because my fridge broke down a few days ago. It’s the only place in the dorm that is not cold.

Usually I do not care about tabloid related stories, but the Tiger Woods shenanigan has piqued my interest. I always thought Tiger Woods had character, but  I guess not. It is amazing how far he has fallen since I saw that news flash of the car accident on the news in Cannes. It seems like another mistress or two, a lost sponsor (I really like the Gatorade Tiger drink, oh well) plus some strange thing at his house happens daily. To be honest, I find this whole Tiger debacle to be hilarious and it may become the next Mike Piazza joke.  Other news in sports I have noticed are the ten game winning streak of the Lakers (my favorite sports team),pathetic Pac-10 basketball, and the ridiculous decision to have Boise State play TCU in the Fiesta Bowl (at least let them play a BCS conference champion).

For the past few weeks I have been counting down my return to America (even though it will be short lived). There is a laundry list of things I want/need to do before the next leg of the international adventures (the location[s] I reveal later to keep readers in suspense). I need to visit my father for Christmas, cut my hair, talk about American sports (including Tiger woods jokes), politics, and financial markets, play some tennis at the tennis club with my sisters, get my Swiss passport, make my Euro adventures into a book for a Christmas gift, play golf, eat some BBQ, Mexican food American snacks, and more of my non-Italian favorites, catch up with my friends and family, see the Newport Beach boat parade, watch the Lakers/bowl games, play some video games with my brother, go swimming, and experience warm weather. Basically I want to get back to doing everything I wanted to do for four months that I have been unable to do in Milan (except the beach which I will be able to at my next destination) along with some errands. I just hope I can get it all in there in a little over four days.

Right now I’m just going to lock down and finish my studying. Straight A’s and traveling around Europe is not too shabby of a fall quarter. There will most likely be nothing notable happening between now and when I fly back to the US, but I will have some supplementary travel guide post coming including how to spice up your travels by mixing up your modes of transportation and the best ways to save money while in Europe.

I am now also back in class. Due to public holidays next Monday and Tuesday. I only have two school days to go before final exams. On Wednesday, it was the first time I returned to my history of economic thought class since I ditched both classes during Thanksgiving week. I did not miss much and heard great news that class was cancelled on Thursday. His class is very boring and the most boring class I had since Asian American studies freshman year (yawn).  It is not really his fault as the history behind the theory of marginal utility does not even interest those who care about either economics or history. Now about only half the class shows up to lecture and that has relieved my guilt somewhat for ditching last week. Tomorrow I am going to Athens Greece, so I am excited for that.

Country #11 Monaco

Destination # 21 Monaco

After a short ride, Roman and I arrived in Monaco. After exiting the train station, we walked around Monte Carlo. The country is the most densely populated in the world as the wealthy from across Europe buy up properties to escape income taxes. The country is very clean and sophisticated as it filled with yachts, private banks, country clubs, and fancy apartment buildings. Roman wanted to test his luck with poker here and we tried to find the Casino. Roman found a sign that said Casino which actually ended up being the name of a local grocery store to his dismay. We then hiked up a steep hill in Monaco to see the prince’s palace and old Monaco. The view from the palace allows to see the whole country from the top of the cliff. We then climbed down and went to the Jardin Exotique, a botanical garden before finding a map and turning around.

After hiking to the top of another hill, we went to the Monte Carlo casino. We needed sports jackets and a 10 euro cover charge to get to the tables so we left. There was a more Americanized casino I showed to Roman, but he could not find a poker table there either. Frustrated, Roman decided to bet 5 euro at a random slot machine. He ended up winning 20 euro after the first spin and I convinced him to cash it in before he could loose it all. We left to head back to the train station and catch our train to Milan. However, we arrived over twenty minutes early. Wanting to press his luck, Roman decided to use this time to gamble some more and took off to the casino. I’m worried that I have given him a future gambling problem.

I decided to wait at the train station. I got some sour gummy worms from a vending machine and listening to a NBA podcast. It was five minutes until the train arrived and Roman was still not back from the casino (Thankfully I made him fork over the tickets before he left). I was worried about if he did not get back in time and how I could rationalize leaving him behind. Thankfully, it did not come to that and Roman made it on time from the casino to get on the train and we returned to Milan.

We got back at 11PM and Roman and I were starving for dinner. Since Roman wanted pasta we went to a past place by Bocconi. I had spaghetti which was especially “al dente” (harder/less cooked). After dinner, we went back to my dorm, and snuck Roman in so he would avoid another night at a hotel. Since I did not have a second bed, I made a makeshift one out my sweatshirts with a towel as a blanket. We watched a little of the movie Wall Street until I fell asleep. Roman watched the rest of the movie and had a hard time sleeping on the makeshift bed/cold hard floor.

That morning, Roman and I woke up at 6:30 for his early flight back to the US. I walked him to the metro station and said goodbye. I was still tired after four hours of sleep, so I returned my dorm and pretty much slept the rest of the day.

It was nice to have Roman come and visit me for Thanksgiving. I was able to have a family member and good friend of mine here for the weekend. Homesickness has really started to creep in and it was nice that somebody from my life at home also visited and we had a fun time in Milan and the French Riviera.   When Roman was here, I also realized that I have burnt out from living overseas. Ever since I returned from Morocco, I have slowly grown tired of the foreign experience and the struggle associated with it. I have had a great time here, but I feel ready and anxious to return stateside. I have one major trip left to Greece this weekend and then final exams, so I am still somewhat busy until I return.

I have also learned that I would prefer not to work overseas after graduation (especially outside the Anglosphere or Switzerland). I love traveling and seeing/experiencing new things, but living abroad is a totally different story. Even though I dislike American politics, I love just about everything else about my home country and a lot of the things I enjoy the most out of life relate to my home environment (my deprivation of them has caused the bouts of depression/homesickness). Traveling will still be a large part of my life and I plan on visiting at least thirty more countries and many regions within countries I have already visited during my lifetime. However, I plan on keeping my permanent home in a warm weather part of the US unless if an opportunity on Wall Street comes up or other investment management entryways in the northeast.

While Roman was in town, I also found out that one of my applications to Morgan Stanley was “accepted” for the strategy analyst position in New York. I have received no e-mails from the firm, but I will call them today to find out if I have an interview or position with them. That would be a great opportunity to break into Wall Street and I hope something comes through.

The day started out with some breakfast at the hotel. As Roman checked out, he was tacked on with a 70 euro charge for having me over for the night. Now Roman knows the European tradition of nickel and diming  people. We boarded our train at 11 AM to Nice and it would be a long ride. The rail line broke at Ventimiglia (a small border town in Italy) and we had to get off of the train to catch a bus to Nice. The parking lot was chaotic. There were six buses lined up and none of them had signs to where they were going. After pushing to crowds to talk to the bus drivers, we found our bus to Nice. The was ride was smooth until we entered Nice’s city limits. Traffic built up to a standstill and the delay caused Roman and I to miss our train to Cannes.

Country # 10 France

Destination #19 Nice, France

While waiting on the bus, the traffic delay ended up being caused by some teenagers who decided to park their car in the middle of the street while eating at a Moroccan restaurant. They took their sweet time to move the car and it reflected the arrogance I have previously seen with French people. A few minutes later there was another care parked in the middle of the street, but the bus was able to get around it. Although we missed our train to Cannes, the trains ran regularly so we caught the next one fifteen minutes later.

Destination #20 Cannes, France

It was around 5:30 when we finally arrived to Cannes. We first checked into our hotel directly across the street from the train station and dropped off our stuff. We had not eaten since breakfast, so Roman and I looked for a good place for dinner.  We walked through the shopping streets and towards the coast. There was Christmas village on a square next to the harbor which featured varies gift shop booths shaped like Swiss chalets and creperies. We then saw various restaurants. Roman would not eat there because they were empty, but this was due to us eating early (for French standards) not the quality of the food. We also went to walk inland but got lost. We bet a crepe about which side of the street where the hotel was located. Roman won, and now I owed him a crepe for breakfast on Saturday. After finding where the hotel was, we walked around the blocks in that area and found a lively French cafe with plenty of steak. Since I only had pizza on Thanksgiving, this was my default Thanksgiving dinner. I ate peppered steak with fries and fresh bread while Roman went extravagant, ordering duck liver and lamb shanks.

After dinner we walked around a little more and stopped by a casino. I’m not a gambler, but Roman wanted to play Texas hold ‘em poker. Unfortunately for Roman, the only poker option was tournament with a $400 buy in which was too expensive for him. We then went back to the hotel. I watched a little BBC (the only English channel) and got frustrated with the leftist green propaganda that filled its programming. I then read a little bit of a finance book that Roman lent me. Roman was considering bailing on a family trip a week early to work for my Uncle Chris. I try to convince that he missing out and that why would he put himself through working in a crummy situation to avoid international travel. I then went to sleep.

The next day we slept in and ate crepes at the Creperie in the Christmas village. We then went on a walk up the coast and looked at prominent hotels and yachts from everywhere from Los Angeles to Austria (landlocked which is strange). The crepes were not filling so we got some lunch at another French cafe. Roman ate steak tartar (which I thought tasted strange) and I had a sirloin steak. We then realized there was not much left for us to do in Cannes, so we boarded the earlier train to Nice. Once in Nice, we realized we could catch our train to Milan from Monaco, so we hopped aboard a train to Monaco and decided to spend our afternoon there.

After having a difficult time sleeping on Tuesday night, I overslept Wednesday morning and did not have enough time to get ready and get to my class that morning. When I got out of the shower, I studied the powerpoint for that lecture until it was time to meet Roman at his hotel.

Roman is my cousin that came to visit for Thanksgiving weekend who goes to Lehigh University. I know him the best out of any of my cousins and we have similar interests in finance and sports. We also have a similar ambitions and outlook towards life. However, Roman can somewhat be a workaholic and ties almost every conversation topic back to investment banks. However, this also makes him perhaps the most focused and driven person I know.

I walked towards his hotel called Hotel Greenhouse on the far southwest side of town. I got lost on the way to the hotel, but I found a metro that took me directly there. Arriving much earlier than Roman, I ended up waiting in the lobby and surf Wikipedia until he arrives.

Roman arrived at the hotel and we headed off towards a pizza place on the way to my dorm. We stopped at a grocery store, so Roman could buy salami and kept going. However, it seemed like we were walking for a long time up a canal and I did not see the Navigli which is right next to my dorm. We stopped at a local pizzeria and the pizza was tasty. However, when we saw some traffic signs, we realized were in the suburbs and not even the city. We managed to catch a bus that took us back to the metro and I found my way back from there.

After arriving at my dorm, I rested while Roman checked some things on the computer. We went downtown to get dinner at a good pasta place. On the way I showed Roman the galleria Vittoria and the Duomo and there was some display of giant pink snails on the sidewalk to remind people to relax. The pasta place I wanted to eat at was closed, so we wandered around until we found another place. However, the pasta was sub par for Italian standards. I think it came out of the microwave because I saw something stuck in there while waiting for the food, and the pasta was served suspiciously too quickly. I then got a gelato for desert and headed back to Roman’s hotel. Since Roman had an extra bed at his hotel, I decided to sleep there so I can sleep without being freezing cold (no heat at night in the dorm). After arguing about random things with Roman about random things such as China’s manufacturing and James Loney’s ethnicity, I went to sleep.

Thursday morning began my Thanksgiving, which did not feel like Thanksgiving at all. I ate breakfast at Roman’s hotel and then headed back to the dorm to get ready for class. I gave Roman a Bloomberg umbrella I received from a recruiting event as an early Christmas present and then went to class. My financial markets class covered the operations of commercial banks. Roman fell asleep and it felt strange to have a class on Thanksgiving.

After class, we went to a local place for lunch. I ordered a ham calzone and Roman ate spaghetti. We returned to my dorm and watched the movie The Boiler Room about a fraudulent brokerage house. It was a pretty good movie. After that we went to Pizza OK for dinner. We both ate buffalo mozzarella pizzas, but Roman said that pizza is better in New York than Italy. Roman often compares thing with New York City as his benchmark (even more than I do to southern California). I packed for the weekend trip to Cannes back at my dorm and tried to Skype my family for Thanksgiving, but they were not there. We then went back to Hotel Greenhouse to get some sleep before Friday’s train ride.

When I arrived in Levanto, I found out I had to wait another hour before I can catch the train to any of the towns the Cinque Terre. Instead of waiting around, I decided to explore Levanto. There was not much to see there. One block was particularly crowded because a funeral mass just ended as I was walking by, but other than that it was empty like a ghost town. The only things there old houses, a soccer field, and rows of deciduous trees. When I took a picture of a house, an old woman with metal teeth told me not to take pictures of houses.

Destination #18 Cinque Terre National Park, Italy

I then returned to the station and caught a train to Riomaggiore, the southernmost town of the Cinque Terre. The Cinque Terre (Italian for the Five Lands) is a series of five small towns and the surrounding national park that is famous for being one of the most scenic hikes in the world with the five towns connected by hiking trails that follow the Mediterranean coastal cliff side. In my opinion Cinque Terre lived up to its hype. The rustic Mediterranean flora along with the scenic cliffs against the sea is an incredible scene and a relaxing vibe. The weather was excellent as well with it being sunny all day and temperatures between 65-75 degrees. The town resemble old Genoese fishing villages and bring a time capsule of pre-industrial Italy. November was actually a better time to come here compared to the summer as I avoided humidity and crowds. After having my pass validated, I began my hike.

The first step of the hike was the Via d’Amore between Riomaggiore and Manarola. It was a really easy 10 minute (estimated time on sign 20 minutes) and it provided some nice views.

By now I was starving.  Since it was off-season, almost all of the restaurants were closed. I was left to choose between two pizza stands where the pizza looked really crummy and a nice seafood restaurant. I chose the seafood place and my lunch was delicious. I had a freshly caught Italian lobster and linguine with tomato sauce for around $20. It was delicious and one of the better meals I had eaten in a while (good deal as well). After eating, I was off to the next town of Corniglia.

The hike to Corniglia was a little longer and tougher, but was still not rigorous. It provided a lot of great photography options (including the picture above) and took me about 40 minutes to get to Corniglia. At the edge of the town there stood a large staircase that led up the cliff to the village. I climbed it and reached Corniglia. Since I wanted to maximize my hiking time before my train headed back to Milano, I only stayed in Corniglia briefly and went on to the next leg of the hike to Verranza.

This was the toughest leg of the hike. It provided both steep inclines up and down along with some tricky fork in the roads. There were a small amount hikers going the opposite direction that assured me I was not lost, but not enough of them to bother me. This hike took a little less than an hour and a half and ended up being somewhat strenouous.

When I arrived in Verranzo, I realized I did not have enough time to reach the last town of Monterosso, so I spent the rest of the day in Verranzo. I walked around the town, visited a church and a shoreside castle, and sat on the rocky edge of the shore for a little while. Then it was time to go and I headed on a train back to Levanto and then to Milan. Overall, the hike was great. The combination of the scenery and the fact that it was not to strenuous of a hike (not longer than 6 hours or too steep) made it one of my favorite hikes of the many trails I have blazed across the world.

I returned to my dorm to find out where I will be living when I go back to UCSB, so I don’t have to worry about that anymore. I also learned about some good political news that hurt the credibility of climate change. After that, I talked to my dad on skype and chilled the rest of the night.

On Thursday when returning from class, I got another package in the mail. It came from my Aunt Nini and family and contained two Swiss white chocolate bars, passes to the Cinque Terre trails, and 20 euros.  The Cinque Terre are a serious of five villages and the surrounding coastal area that make the supposedly best hike in Europe. I was pleasantly surprised by its arrival as in an e-mail three days ago, she told that it probably did not make because it was sent a month ago. One month to send a package 135 miles, that beats out the USPS in inefficiency.

The package really cheered up my mood. Since the weather is getting colder by the day I decided to go to the Cinque Terre on Saturday where its still a mild 66 degrees on the Mediterranean coast. It also gave me something to look forward to for the weekend. Whenever I have been in Milano for more than a week at a time straight, I start to get in down mood. Whether its the urban jungle, the bad weather, lack of things I enjoy doing, or other factors, Milan is a pretty depressing city to me. Unfortunately, I have become a little bit more pessimistic in general recently. It might have to do with my recent effort to pay more attention to American politics again and the imminent socialization of America. If the US becomes socialist as well, I might as well stay in Italy or Switzerland. The Europeans can do it a little more efficiently than Americans (Swiss have lower tax burden as well). Hopefully that’s not the case.

On Friday, I slept in and bought my train tickets to Levanto, the starting point of the Cinque Terre. I first waited in the shorter line for twenty minutes, and told me they could not help me with what I needed so I had to go to the main ticket booths. I usually go to the travel agency line and pay my one euro per trip commission to save an hour’s wait, but this I could not do that. So about an hour later I finally got my tickets. The rest of my time, I have been just going to class and chilling out.

Pros of Study Abroad:

1) Spend more time in Europe and in a country of particular interest- On a normal vacation or cross continental trip, you are always on the move and can only see big cities and resorts. By living in Italy, I have been able to explore the entire Italian peninsula which I found significant and would have been able to do this if I just rushed through the usual triangle Venice, Florence, and Rome (I did spend time in all of these places though).  I have learned a lot about Italian culture and been able to explore major sights along with hidden gems off the beaten path (San Marino, the bone church in Rome, etc.). I have also had time to go to a variety of Italian restaurants and try a variety of incredible dishes of new varieties of food for the first time that are not available in America.

2) Learning a Language- Living in a country outside the Anglosphere serves as a great environment to learn a foreign language without the pressure of grades. I am not the most gregarious person, but I have increased my Italian skills to basic understanding and competent reading, writing, and speaking abilities. I cannot have a conversation about the merits of Plato versus Aristotle, but I can do basic things such as navigate the city, order food at restaurants, read pamphlets, signs, and other things and speak with a basic vocabulary. When I was accepted into this program, I did not speak a single word of Italian, now due to being surrounded by it all the time, I have caught a lot quicker than I learned Spanish with four years of classes.

3) Saves Money/Time in Transit- Since costs usually are similar to the levels of tuition at my home university (for readers this depends where you go to school), basic expenses such as food and shelter are not an additional costs. Therefore my only travel costs ended up being flights, a eurail pass, activities, and lodging.

4) More of a Learning Experience both in and out of the classroom- Study abroad provides a chance to learn about cultural differences between your host country and your homeland (the US in my case).  You also learn a lot about yourself and your inner character based on how you adapt to new series of challenges you handle every day. I also learned what I valued the most of my life in America and what truly is important to me in life. My classes also teach economics from an international perspective. Seeing how the rest of the world views American policies and culture also provides interesting insight. I have also learned a lot in the same ways from my travels outside of Milan.

5) Getting to know local people- Even though I am a bad example of this, study abroad provides an opportunity t expand your network to people from around the world. If your language skills are poor or are somewhat introverted, this may be tougher than expected.

Cons of Study Abroad:

1) Being separated from friends and family for a long time

2) Schoolwork- Traveling and time studying in Europe is not as carefree as a vacation. You still have to study, take tests, worry about grades, and possibly have homework to deal with. At my school, grades are solely determined by exams, so I did not have to worry about papers or projects, but some of my friends such as Matt from Rome had to write essays for his classes. If you plan your studying right, this should not be a problem. However, students already are prone to procrastinate without opportunities to travel across Europe.

3) Shorter durations of travel- Since you are restricted by school days and exam times, your time in a individual place is limited. However, this is not that much of a problem because three day weekend are common in European universities so you have at least three days per destination. Also there are breaks for midterms and state holidays that can give breaks from five days as long as two weeks depending on the break. Overall the combination of weekends gives plenty of time of travel, but usually in smaller increments. This may also limit destinations that require connecting flights, because the time getting takes too long for the destination to be even worth going. This is one reason I chose to go to Marrakech, Morocco instead of Istanbul, Turkey.

Recommended Cities for Students to study abroad to maximize travel opportunities: London, Paris, Milan, Madrid, Dublin, major cities of Switzerland, Brussels, and Berlin. These cities are major hubs for discount airlines that can take you pretty much anywhere in Europe for under $180 round trip (usually $80-120). Also they are close (3 hours or less on train) to a lot of closer destination within their country or surrounding neighbors. Even though, I’m not the biggest fan of Milan, but its role in European business has allowed me to go anywhere from Morocco to Greece at a reasonable price.

Pros of Eurotrip:

1) Spend times with your friends- It is more fun to travel with your friends versus going on your own or with strangers. Fortunately I know people who live/study across Europe and had visitors from the states to travel with, so my solo journeys were limited to Portugal and parts of Northern Italy.

2) Possibly cover more ground – A Eurotrip depending on the traveler’s budget, will be able to cover a significant portion of Europe and several countries over a few weeks. With no central place to return to for class, you can simply take one way flights, and trains from Portugal to Turkey. During my time I have been able to cover a significant amount of countries (see blue and purple colored nations on map below)

3) No need to worry about academics- Since you on vacation, you do not need to worry about school, work, or really anything. Being carefree is a nice and relaxing way to travel.

Cons of Eurotrip:

1) Costly in both time and money- Traveling across Europe is not cheap, especially if you have no prior reasons of being there. First it is difficult to find a block of time where you can be gone for several months at a time. Second, it’s not cheap to get to Europe, find places to stay, and transport yourself all over the place. A weak dollar only compounds  this. Many Eurotrippers force themselves to slum it and sleep in only the cheapest and crummiest lodging and live off of Ramen, fast food, and beer. What’s the point of travel if you have to spend your whole time slumming it along the way? It is also nice to have a home base at where you attend class, so you don’t always have to be walking around with a huge backpack and constantly wander like a Mongolian nomad.

2) Lack of time in one place to immerse yourself in a culture- Eurotrips are intended for those who have not traveled to try to see everything in their single opportunity to visit the region. Therefore you don’t have the time that an exchange student does to really experience a particular nation’s culture or learn any language.

3) Spending too much time in transit- A Eurotrip if you are not careful can become a blur of train stations and airports. Often in the desire to maximize the places one can see, people often just try to breeze through the continent in the short few weeks in the summer they have time to be there. By studying abroad, I have been able to spread out my travel at a less breakneck pace. Also its not enjoyable to sit in planes and trains all the time.

Recommended Eurotrip Route (If I was going to do this and did not go to Bocconi and had a large budget) : London-Marrakech,Morocco-Lisbon-Madrid-Barcelona- French Riviera/Monaco- Provence-Paris-Brussels-Luxembourg-Zurich-Other parts of Switzerland-Venice-Florence-Rome-Naples/Pompeii-Sardinia-Sicily-Malta-Puglia (Southern Italy)-Dubrovnik, Croatia-Athens-Greek Islands-Istanbul-Vienna-Berlin-Copenhagen-Stockholm-Bergen, Norway-Home

Another option is to combine the two. Spend a semester abroad and after finals, go spend a few weeks on a mini-Eurotrip. This can possibly provide the best of both worlds.

Extent of my European Travels (as of December 8, 2009 including future trips)

Blue= Countries I visited the first time during my time here

Purple= Countries I revisited during my time here

Red= Countries I visited from previous times to Europe

Gold dots= Cities I went during my time here

Things that I have done here this weekend include more reading, oversleeping, teaching myself more about geopolitics and finance, and going on a walk on Saturday night. I also started auditing a Stanford class about geopolitics through lectures recorded on a iTunes U podcast. It’s amazing how much information prestigious universities give away for free as I did this also with a Berkeley class about the Roman Empire when I lived in the Best Western. Geopolitics is a topic that I find interesting and the knowledge I learn about it also helps with international investing decisions. Overall, that can summarize my weekend.

How do you readers feel about taking a Eurotrip versus Studying Abroad? Please share your opinion by commenting on this post.

Not much has gone on since I wrote my last post. I have gone to class, listened to some podcasts, studied a little, and conducted some financial  research. I have also used some of my free time to watch movies: Fargo, Up!, and Where the Wild Things Are. I don’t understand why people like Fargo so much, it’s a dark comedy that lacks humor. Minnesota accents cannot carry a movies. The other two movies were actually pretty good. Up was surprisingly sad (for a Pixar movie) and there was a funny scene where dogs play poker like the painting. Speaking of that, one day I’ll probably get a copy of one (originals sell for $500,000) when I have a house of my own. It’s one of the few paintings I like from the 20th century. I’m not going to talk about art because I already ranted about this on a podcast.

For the next few weeks I will be writing extra posts more about my opinions on things than things I will actually be doing (not very exciting).  One thing I noticed since I turned 21, is that I am going through a make or break period in my life.  It will determine whether I land on the fast track to success in my finance career, my life, and my development into a better more relevant person. If I set my foundations correctly the next ten years will be the rise of Nick and the beginning of me making a real difference and being successful. However, if I screw up this opportunity I could end up stuck in a path of mediocrity of the average Joe. Mediocrity is unacceptable to me and would amount a boring an insignificant life. With the way the economy is going into poverty and becoming a psychological wreck like the people living in the Obamavilles of Sacramento. I have been on the verge if going crazy before, so I’m not going to take my chances.

Overall, I’m beginning to the feel the pressure. I feel like I have all that it takes to get into the fast track except with my increasingly difficult time breaking into asset management and some weaker aspects of my personality. However, those can easily change. It’s time for m to step up and make the 2010’s the decade where I rise to prominence.

The biggest lesson I have learned about myself from studying abroad is my intolerance of cold weather. I know my complaining of sub 60 degree (15 Celsisus) weather has been a theme of my journey, but for some region it really bothers me and hurt my productivity. The weather has been that way (now 40’s) for a month now and I cannot stand being outside. Whenever I am not in class or going to get food, I stay inside. But now it is cold inside as well. All I ever feel like doing is eating or sleeping. Basically for the past three days (Mon 11/9-11/11). All I have been doing is class, eating pasta, and then sleeping. It’s actually been relaxing. In between this routine, I have done some work including my reading for the rest of the semester, “bookifying” the adventures, being ignored by Goldman Sachs, and taking care some business back in the states.

My mood is still good, despite the temporary hiatus from travel. I got A’s on both of my midterms, the Lakers are winning, my trading skills have recovered, and I have been saving more money than expected. Other than a few bulge-bracket calls, I’m not going to worry about the job hunt until I return to UCSB in January. I have decided to just enjoy my last month here. Chi is still waffling about whether he will come to Greece or not with me in December, but I have planned what my itinerary for the trip and it will work whether he comes or not.

Today I took this hibernation to the extreme. After class ended at 11 AM, I ended sleeping until sunset, lying in bed the entire day. I woke up refreshed but still felt I could I use another day sleeping. Sometimes I feel like I’m cold blooded like a lizard (even though this is impossible). My activity level/energy rises and falls with the temperature from any weather up to 90 degrees (After 90 I just chill inside or underwater also kind of like a reptile). Since it’s cold in Milan, I will deal with and spend some time to hibernate I’m not going to have this kind of time to sleep when I’m on the road or back in the US, so I’m going to take advantage of these next two weeks to hibernate and enjoy it.

I warned Matt not to get his expectations up because Milan is no match to Rome when it comes to history or things to see and do. The first stop was my school. I returned my backpack to my room and showed him around campus. We actually found a WWI monument on campus that I did not even know was there. We then ate doner kebab sandwich for lunch: sort of a pregame for Morocco.

I then showed Matt the Duomo and the Galleria Vittoria. There was an exhibit in the town square that showed some military vehicles including fighter planes and navy seal equipment. A fun fact is that the average fighter jet costs over $64 million dollars to build (more expensive than fanciest mansions in the world).We then went to the castle Sforcezo and the park around it.

Matt wanted to see the Brera Art Academy. I did not know the specific location, but knew the general area around it. Like many times in Milan, I ended up getting lost and wandered in a random part of the city. I saw a store that sold American sports magazines (SI, Athlon College Hoops Preview, etc.), but they sold the for 12 euro ($18) a piece which was not worth it. After an hour of wandering I found Constantine’s cathedral and the Mexican restaurant Papas and Beer. From these points I knew how to get back and took Matt to the metro station to go back to his hostel. At the metro we split up and I went to bed early for a long day on Friday when I arrived to Morocco.

Saturday was a jammed pack day. The first monument I visited was the Coliseum. Some costumed centurions wanted me to take a picture to them and pay them a tip, but I refused. They asked why I was crying which was strange because I was in a good mood and not crying. I went inside the Coliseum and looked around both the stadium and the museum of the Flavian dynasty inside the stadium. The Coliseum to the day has been an inspiration for modern stadium building and is an impressive structure. After the Coliseum Matt and I headed to the Forum. The Forum was filled with the remains of the old Roman market places and republican centers of government. It also had a hall of marble statues including a tunic made of red marble. The Forum also included the Palatine hill was where the imperial palace was built. I found it interesting how much ruins have survived the past two thousand years. As a fan of Roman history, I spent hours looking at the ruins of the Forum, the Palatine hill, and the Circus Maximus on the other side of the Palatine Hill (the word palace come from the name of the hill).

I then picked up my jacket at my hostel and then headed to the Pantheon. The Pantheon is in the best shape of all of the Roman remains as it was converted into a catholic church that includes the tombs of some old Italian kings. It was an interesting building, but I did not find it interesting as any of the other ruins I saw.

We then went to the Trebi fountain and back to the Piazza Navona. These fountains reminded me of resort pools and Jacuzzi and suggested Matt should apply some his artistic ability to designing modern pools and architecture.

Before dinner we decided to do something very appropriate for Halloween. We went to a chapel/tomb that was decorated by human bones. It was interesting how the artists were able to arrange human bones to create elaborate designs. This place was extremely creepy to see the remains of hundreds of people becoming decorations. The proverb at the end of the chapel saying “We were once like you, but you will be like us” added to the creepiness. Instead of tiles, each piece of the floor is also a tombstone so you walk on the dead while you look at the dead.

After the crypt, we ate spaghetti carbonara for dinner. It was delicious and tied the Naples dinner from the night before as the best pasta I have had in Italy. We then walked to the Spanish steps and climbed them. Then Matt showed me the pilgrim’s gate, the Barberini house, several Egyptian obelisks, Augustus or Marc Antony’s mausoleum, and some other sites. After a long night I headed back to wake up for mass at the Vatican the next morning.

The next morning I arrived to the Vatican for mass. Catholics around the world flooded St. Peters as I pushed my way towards a view of the Pope. I usually lack enthusiasm (pretty wrong of me) for church, but a once in a lifetime opportunity seeing and sharing mass with the Pope actually made less impatient towards church. After mass, I left to have a pizza for lunch in the Vatican and boarded the train back to Rome. It was the last train that I would ride in Italy (other than the metro) and I took notes of my Roman weekend.

Monday and today (Tuesday Nov 3rd), I took two midterms and studied for them. I feel that I aced my first test and the second one was much harder, but I still feel that I did well on the test. I also e-mailed my professors about missed classes associated with visiting my grandmother’s 80th birthday which is a very important family event. I also returned to work on the finding a finance job front with more follow ups and new applications. Now after a hectic few weeks, I plan on relaxing the next few days until I leave to Africa on Friday.

As soon as I woke up on Friday, I was out of town. I got out of bed, got dressed and hopped right on the train to Naples. After three hours on the train Matt and I arrived to the Napoli Centrale station.

Since there was a little over an hour until we had to catch the train to Pompeii, we decided to explore Naples. Southern Italy is a very chaotic place. Drivers follow the road rules even less than they do in Milan and Rome and there is a general sense of relaxed laziness where people just take their sweet time doing anything without caring about anything in the world (including customers). When Matt and I returned for dinner that night, the restaurant was open at six, but the owner said in Italian, “wait until 6:30, we don’t feel like serving you right now.” This is making my me consider changing my mind about going to Sicily in future years because the further south in Italy you go, the more pronounced this attitude becomes.

In Naples we got a map at a local hotel and then walked around a cathedral and by and old castle in the historic district. Since we did not have much time, we headed back to the station afterwards. However, our train was in a separate set of underground platforms. We made it there in the last minute and got on the train in the platform. Even though it was in the same platform at the same time as our scheduled train, we ended boarding a maintenance train instead. The conductor said that we have to go back to the central station and had to wait five minutes to change a timetable or something at the station. Fifteen minutes later, another train came at the platform across and since I was impatient, we went to check if that one was going to Pompeii. While asking the other conductor the other train took off with out notice. Great two missed trains in a day. Fortunately, the one we were talking went back to the station five minutes later. Instead of going through the hassles of Trenitalia, we just took the Vesuvius Express metro and got to the ruins.

Waiting at the train station was a bus heading towards Mt. Vesuvius. We boarded the bus which took us to the entrance of the Vesuvius national park. We then switched to a tank like bus that would give us a ride up the mountain until we reached the hiking path to the crater. It was a bumpy ride, but an interesting path up the mountain.

We then reached the drop off point we began our trek up to the crater. It was a quick twenty minute hike to the crater and the ground was cover with black volcanic ash and rock. We reached the crater and a tour guide discussed the mountain. I learned that the mountain next to Vesuvius actually was the remains of the base of the original crater that blasted in AD 79 to destroy Pompeii. Today’s Vesuvius is only a fraction of the size it was in Roman times but it was still impressive with a crater over a mile long and several miles deep. We walked around the crater and took in some views of the crater and the region and then hiked back down the mountain.

The next stop was the ruins of Pompeii. Due to a special promotion we got in for free. Pompeii was a large city for Roman times so there was a lot to see in the sprawling complex. We walked through the common areas of the town, the markets, mansions, houses which also served as storefronts, and a large ampitheater where I hurt my ankle on a loose piece of cobblestone. I also saw the volcanic casts that preserved the corpses of the citzens, slaves, and even a dog. Pompeii was an impressive sight to see, but as the sun set we headed back to Naples for dinner.

For dinner I ate a Neopolitan feast. I started off with a pizza margherita with buffalo mozzarella cheese from the city that invented pizza. It tasted great, but I was still hungry. So I ordered some spaghetti with bacon. It was the best spaghetti I had in Italy so far. Not much longer after I ate, I had stomach pains like in Portugal. I think as I have gotten older I just cannot eat as much as I used to when I was younger (even though I’m only 21). It’s good for my long term health, but I can no longer feast like I used to and will stick with one course smaller meals.

After dinner we boarded our train back to Rome at 8:30. We sat next to an Italian who was quite a character. He was  a thirty-two year old who is divorced but still lives with his ex-wife  and three while going to Rome on Friday nights to go clubbing and then comes back the next morning train with no sleep in between. A character to say the least. After a late night arrival to Rome I headed back to the hostel to sleep in and prepare for a busy day in Ancient Rome on Saturday.

Tuesday were Wednesday were spent primarily studying for midterms. On Thursday morning  I began my four day trip to Rome.

The train ride was smooth until the train broke down in Bologna. It ended up causing a delay of about thirty minutes. On the way to Rome, and old Italian lady sitting across from me randomly gave me a ham sandwich and a water bottle. I thanked her for the free lunch and then arrived to Rome.

At the Termini station, I wandered around a little until I found my friend Matt near the bus depot. Matt is a friend of mine from college who happens to also be studying abroad this semester. While I am studying finance in Milan, he is an art student in Rome. Like meeting up with Marte and Sofie in Norway, it has been great to be around friends who are locals and know the area I am visiting.

First I stopped by my hostel, which was right next to the station to drop off my stuff. An error from Sxipper (a Firefox app that fills out online forms for you) caused the first night of my reservation to be registered under my last name twice instead of my actual name, so I now have to switch rooms on Friday morning due to this error.

Matt had class, so I decided to audit his Greek history class with him. Matt’s school situation is strange. He goes to an institution called “UC Rome” where it is a bunch of art and history professors teach solely UC students in small classes in Rome. In fact the whole campus id just two floors in a Roman office building. I found it odd that he only went to school with other students from California and with no Italian or International students. Nevertheless, his Italian is still better than mine.

When I was told I cannot audit the class, I decided to explore Rome on my own. I first went to an old papal palace/Hadrian’s villa which is now an art museum. It was overpriced (9 euro) and it had impressive stuff, but not worth the money. It contained some old frescoes, Renaissance and Baroque sculptures, some nice views of the city, and a treasure chest big enough to fit a horse.

Country #8: Vatican City

After that I walked around until I saw the bridge to the Vatican. I crossed the bridge and decided to go visit St. Peter’s Basilica: the mecca of the Catholic church. As a Roman Catholic myself, visiting the Vatican is kind of like a modern day pilgrimage and the whole area had a strong vibe of holiness to it. Nevertheless, it was strange to cross the street and an international border at the same time. After going through airport like security I got in to St. Peter’s Basilica. First when you arrive there in person, you realize how much larger the cathedral is in person compared to your perception in photographs. The interior of St. Peters is a mix of a fine art museum, a church, and a symbol of the might of the church. Meticulously well carved marble statues from Renaissance greats as Michelangelo litter the building. Gold lines all of the walls and ornate frescoes cover the ceilings. It all just wowed me when I walked in. After the touring the interior, I went to the Treasury museum next door. It was filled with centuries of donations from wealthy Catholics all over the world compiled in this collection. After that I went under the cathedral to the papal crypt, where several of the Popes including St. Peter himself (that is why the Vatican is where it is) were buried. It was interesting to see two millenia of Popes all sharing a resting place. I then got a phone call from Matt telling me he was performing in a play of To Kill a Mockingbird by his school. Since those were poor directions, I ended up not finding the play and doing other things. Overall, St. Peter’s Basilica beats out the Taj Mahal for the most impressive building I have seem both inside and out. It kind of makes you think nothing short of divine motivation inspired Italians expend so much time, attention to detail, and resources to build such an astonishing place.

After St. Peters, I failed to find the entrance of the Sistene chapel before closing and grabbed a gelato on the north side of town. Since Matt did not give me any directions to his play, I did some more exploring on my own. I walked past the Italian house of representatives and the Pantheon. I then spent some time listening to some live music at the Piazza Navona and read a travel guide to Rome in an international bookstore. It was 8:00 and I went back towards Matt school to meet him for some pizza with his cast and crew. However, Matt was forty-minutes late so I ended up sitting there for a while listening to my iPod and watching a fender bender involving some Smart cars.

I then went to a pizzaria with Matt and the cast who were celebrating their performance. They were all middle  aged (36-60) expats except for Matt and all of them congratulated themselves for a good show. After talking with Matt and some cast members, the pizza came and it tasted great. I also ate some great panna cotta for desert. After a long dinner, I walked back towards Termini and my hostel. I saw a monument dedicated to Italian reunification and Trajan’s column. Since I was meeting Matt at 7 AM Friday morning to catch a train, I immediately went to bed upon returning to the hostel.

Yesterday morning I slept in and did not get much stuff done before leaving the house. The majority of the day was dominated by travel and my hectic arrival to Oslo. At noon I walked to towards the metro to the central station. I then took the bus to the Orio a Serio airport in a suburb named Bergamo because the only flights that I could find to Oslo were Ryanair which was based there. The bus took over an hour and put me in a rush to get to the gate. Once I reached the gate, I realized that my backpack was too big to carry on, so I had to get creative. I reorganized my clothes and stuffed my pajamas up my jacket in order to take the stuff.

However, when I was about to board, the flight staff denied me boarding for lacking a stamp on the boarding pass required for Non-EU citizens at check in. I did not check in any bags and was not notified of any stamp so I panicked. I ran out of the gates and dived through the line markers to get back to check-in. I then had to wait for some confused Portuguese tourist to chit chat with the receptionist to get my stamp. I then dashed at a speed I thought I could never run, but then had to re-enter security which slowed me down because they thought my computer was a bomb. Then I ran to the gate and just made to the plane as the last person to board. Relieved and tired, I just rested and wrote some notes on the flight.

Two and a half hours later I arrived in Oslo. I called my friend Marte about the bus and I needed to exit off the Lysaker stop. I got on the bus for about an hour, got off the wrong stop, but was still able to get picked up. From when I arrived, Oslo wad horrendously cold. Even wearing two jackets and two layers of pants, I was still freezing (30’s degrees Fahrenheit). Being from southern California it was like entering the frozen tundra.

I came to Oslo to visit Norway and to catch up with some old friends of mine who are a family I know as the Norwegians (only people I have met from Norway as well). Their two daughters, Marte and Sofie, picked me up from the bus stop and took me to their house where I will be staying my time here. We ate some Mexican food for dinner, and then went to rent a movie. We ended up watching the movie Knowing, which was a decent movie with kind of a weird ending. After that, I went to sleep for a long day of sightseeing on Saturday.

On Sunday night, I returned from Lisbon back to cold and dreary Milan. Ever since the day before I left to Portugal, the temperature has plummeted. It now averages a high in the low 50’s and the days are filled with dark gray overcast and patches of rain. As someone who has lived in southern California for most of my life, I never really experience cold weather below 55 degrees unless if I’m snowboarding. It is very dismaying that this is only the start and the temperature has nowhere to go but down like the US dollar ($1.5 to euro now and going south). Outside of class and running errands, when I am in Milan for the rest of my time here, I plan hibernating inside.  I now understand why people in the Midwest and East Coast tend to be fat and pale compared to warmer parts of the country. Cold weather just makes you want to sit around in your house with warm clothes and do nothing but eat and rest to keep warm. It does not help that the heating situation is similar to my air conditioning problem (only keep it on like 6-7 hours per day in afternoon).

I’m glad I was able to explore the city back before the chill started to kick in so I don’t feel guilty about missing anything. Everyday this week I have had one class per day and after that working on business projects or  have been reviewing for midterms and my stock trading. I have finally got fully in touch with the markets again and I miss Investment Club and my trader friends from the states (However, the month without internet killed my profile). Others things I have done this included talking with Chi more and my discovery of a bowling alley in Milan.

Today, I tried to go bowling to do something actually fun when I’m in Milano. I invited Chi to come, but he left to Brussels today, so I went on my own. It was on the southeast part of town in semi-sketchy neighborhood that a lot more graffiti than the rest of the city and Arabic/Albanian shops and delis. When I got to the bowling alley, I found out it was a nightclub style bowling alley that was only open in the evening. It was two-thirty in the afternoon and I did not feel like loitering around in this area, so I decided to come back tomorrow night.

This recent cold front is just the beginning as I am going to Oslo, Norway for an extended weekend.  Norway is much colder than Italy, so I have it coming for  me. At least I can somewhat escape Norway’s exorbitant prices since I am visiting some family friends, but my one way bus ticket from the airport is over $30 to the city center. Norway is known for its nature (primarilly fjords), so this will test my toughness to the elements. When I checked weather.com, there is the possibility it snowing when I’m there. It will be really interesting to see Scandinavia fot the first time, and I am looking forward to visiting despite my aversion to cold weather.