Week 13...Last Blog Post :(

Well, as I start my last week in Italy, I am saddened to say that this my last blog post...(I know it is heart-breaking for all of my faithful readers!). Anyway, I had a really good week and I'm in the process of finishing up my internship at the World Food Programme, working on a final report for my supervisor and the WFP. The final report is basically an in-depth look at my experiences, observations, and recommendations for the office. It has been pretty rewarding for me to reflect on my past 3 1/2 months interning...! It will be nice to finish my internship on Wednesday and have a few days to relax before leaving on Saturday night/Sunday morning, back to the "hectic-ness" of moving back to school and class itself. Today, Lara, Agustino, Donato, and Carmelina came over for lunch...Donato is Franco's brother, Carmelia-Donato's wife, Lara-their daughter, and Agustino-Lara's husband. It was really good to see them, I haven't seen them since I was 9! We had a relaxing afternoon and it was nice to catch up.

It's amazing that the summer is coming to an end. This has been quite a journey and experience. I feel much more cultured, mature, patient, and calm. I'm thankful for the opportunity to intern at such an important UN/humanitarian agency, meet some incredible people, travel, and learn a lot about myself. It has been a blessing to be able to live with C+F and everything has worked out perfectly! So, with that, I'll see you all soon!

Con Affetto,

Scott

Week 12!

Happy Labor Day weekend! Too bad Europe celebrate's Labor Day May 1st :( I had a really enjoyable week both at work and well, outside of work. It's hard to believe (I know I say this every week) that I only have two more weeks! At work, I have to prepare and finish my final report for my supervisor, which should be a intense document with observations, experiences, my processes, and recommendations for the office...hopefully they appreciate my hard work and my recommendations, especially being an intern. Chris started work this week, it's weird to have been here when she finished the last school year, and now when she starts a new school year (it's not really weird, but interesting)! Anyway, I had an enjoyable weekend and was able to "recharge" for the upcoming week...Saturday, Chris, Franco, and I went out to dinner in Rome with Gabriella, MT, and one of my aunt's old student's parent (make sense?) . They are all really interesting people and close friends of my Aunt and Uncle's. After the dinner, C+F dropped me off (how nice of them!) at Campo di' Fiori, where I met up with some friends/interns for the night. Campo di' Fiori is a popular "young person hangout" and it is where a lot of tourists spend their Roman evenings. I was able to catch some highlights from the OSU-YSU game and even watched the USC game live at a local beverage establishment. The team looked pretty good and I definitely missed being there. Too bad about C. Wells, hopefully his injury isn't a big problem. Well, I better get back to my "putzing" but I hope everyone has a good week and a good day off on Monday! Take care

P.S. For your viewing pleasure, my lovely parents.... I love this picture! :)

Week 11 + Chris's Birthday

This past week was pretty eventful, but long and draining. Chris got back from the 'States on Wednesday after her first NWA flight was cancelled due to a lack of "crew," which might have been helpful to fly the plane. Anyway, it was good to catch up and it's great to have her back. She starts work on Thursday (8/28), so things are going to pick back up and get a little more hectic, but at least she has some time to relax beforehand. Saturday, for Chris's birthday, she had her life-long friend, Laura and one of her close friends/ex-student's Ashna over for dinner. I had met both before, Laura (kind of) when she came to C+F's wedding in America 21 years ago and Ashna, when I came to visit in the spring (with Jess, Taylor, Brennan). It was good to catch up with both of them and for Laura to see me, 21 years later. The evening was filled with the traditional birthday festivities, good conversation, and good food!

I had a really interesting meeting this week with the Deputy Chief of OEP (emergency preparedness). My supervisor talked to her previously about me and suggested that I meet her. She is a really interesting American, who served in the Peace Corps in the Philippines and than moved on to work for various NGO's/World Food Programme in a handful of African countries. OEP is a very interesting division, in that they liaise with meterologists, politicians, and citizens alike to get information about the situations in countries (and predictions). They act on these signals (be it a hurricane or civil war) to distribute food to those most in need (or redirect aid)... It was really worthwhile for me to venture and see other divisions, their operations, and how it all fits in with the global objectives of the World Food Programme.

Anyway, It's tough to believe that I only have two more weekends in Rome and I'm sure the time will fly by (as has the last 10 weeks). Fortunately, I changed my flights yesterday so I get in on the afternoon of September 14th....before I had a 11 1/2 hour layover in Amsterdam (11:00 pm - 10:30 am --not the best time to go out and see the city, haha). Take care and have a good week!

Week 10 + Maryann's Visit

I had a really enjoyable week! It was a shortened week due to Assumption Day on Friday (Aug. 15th), so I was able to relax with a three-day weekend. I continue to really enjoy my internship...not only the work that I do, but also the people and atmosphere that I work in. My supervisor has been really, really nice too. He has helped me network with people in different offices and worked to make sure I get the most out of my internship. So it's nice knowing he has my best interest at heart. On Thursday, we had a few parties in the office not only for Assumption Day (what a holiday!! -insert sarcasm, if you couldn't pick it up), but also a few of my colleagues are going on "holiday"...I was listening to the news on Thursday and they said that 5 million Italians were leaving the country for vacation (1/12th of the country)!

Anyway, Maryann came to visit on Thursday-Sunday... She is studying in Dijon, France with Ohio State's French Study Abroad program and has been able to travel during the weekends. She arrived on Thursday, visited the Coliseum/Circus Maximus, and I met her in Piazza Flaminia after work. We rode back to Morlupo together, had a nice dinner, and relaxed. On Friday, we walked to St. Peter's from Piazza del Popolo (along the Tiber), went past Hadrian's tomb and saw the Basilica. It was really odd, because I had never seen Rome so bare before (due to the holiday) and there didn't seem to be any tourists either! Anyway, after we saw the Basilica, we went to Piramide for lunch, and tried going to the Protestant Cemetary (but it was closed), saw Piazza Venezia, the "Wedding Cake", Forum...and headed back to Morlupo for the evening. Friday night, Franco made his famed (he's really becoming a pro) zucchini pasta while I handled the grill. We had a nice dinner, listened to the fireworks from Morlupo's Assumption Day festival, and called it a night. Saturday, I showed Maryann Morlupo before heading into the city. We checked her into her hostel (a block away from Termini) and then went to see the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, and Trevi Fountain. For dinner, we went to a local grocery store to make sandwiches to eat on the Spanish Steps. It was pretty neat just relaxing, eating, and people watching at Piazza di Spagna. We were stopped by the Police (you aren't supposed to eat on the steps), but they really didn't seem to care, and we acted like ignorant tourists. We then wandered around the city, before I dropped Maryann off at her hostel at Termini and caught a train back to Morlupo (she had a 7:30am train back to Dijon, Sunday morning).

So, I had a really nice weekend/week, it was great to see Maryann/catch up, and it is fun to be a tourist every now and then! It's hard to believe I have four more weeks of work left, the summer seems to be flying by! I am really enjoying myself here, but am looking forward to the autumn (school, friends, my house, and a football national championship!). Take care and I'll write back soon!

Week 9!

This week/weekend is for obvious reasons a little less eventful than last weekend; however, the down time allowed me to catch up with work (WFP), school work (internship academic credit), and miscellaneous applications. The work week felt a bit long, maybe it was the 95 degree weather/100% humidity, or the traffic. Oh well, every week can't be too exciting can it? Anyway, it's tough to believe I've been here for two months already…the time has flown by and I am sure this next month will as well. Franco and I are "holding down the fort" in Rome, without Chris, as she doesn't come back from the States for another week and a half. Well, some highlights from my week include:

• I read Wendy Kopp's "One Day, All Children…" which the story of Teach for America and her vision for education equality in America. It is pretty remarkable that her senior thesis at Princeton (TFA) turned out to be such a successful organization.
• Traffic: Thursday, I was stuck in traffic for about 45 minutes on the Flaminio (a two-way road to get to C+F's). I figured that the delay was due to an accident, but when I got to Morlupo, I came to realize that it was just congestion… go figure!
• Franco + My Cooking: Surprisingly good!
• I took the train home on Wednesday, because my ride had to work late. The Met.Ro (get it? Metro Roma?) was so crowded with tourists (I assume, because it normally is not crowded), that the metro would pass stations, because the cars were completely full. Crazy!

Have a good weekend/next week! Ciao ragazzi!

Bratislava/Vienna!

Well, where do I begin? This past weekend was a three country/three city tour of tremendous proportions… my adventures started Thursday night. After work on Thursday, I went back to Morlupo (home), had dinner with Franco, packed, and showered before boarding one of the last trains back into the city at 9:30pm. I was staying with my fellow adventurer (intern) in the city, because of our early flight the next morning. I arrived in Piazza del Popolo around 10:30pm and expected to take the metro to his flat near St. Peter's. I was, however, greatly surprised to find the metro closed (they close it once a week at night to do repairs-go figure). So, I decided to walk to his flat (and possibly catch a bus). I made it as far as Piazza Trilussa (by Campo de' Fiori), before realizing that I still had quite a walk ahead of me (I had been walking for about 30 minutes), so I called Khush and he came to pick me up-which I should've thought about before, right? Maybe I was being a bit stubborn… (End Adventure #1)

We had to wake up around 3am, in order to catch a night bus to take us to Termini (main train/bus station), where would then take a bus (run by RyanAir) to Ciampino airport. When we got to the bus stop, the bus was pulling away, so we ran after it. The driver luckily stopped and we were on our way to Termini/Ciampino Airport (End Adventure #2).

Milan:

Well our 7am flight from Rome landed in Milan at 8am, but since we were taking a cheap airline, it didn't land near (relatively) the city. We took a 45 minute bus ride to the Milan main train station. Milan is very unimpressive. I had been there briefly before with the family—but I'm glad we didn't spend too much time there (I think we just picked up a rental car or something). Milan is the antithesis of Rome, new buildings, uptight Italians, second-rate monuments, etc, etc. Anyway, Khush and I went to the Duomo-the second largest gothic cathedral in the world. It was kind of funny, because we saw the cathedral, took some pictures of the piazza surrounding it, and it was 10am, so we were like well, "what else is there to do in Milan (minus museums)"? So, we wandered around the city, and happened to walk upon Castello Sforzesco, a 14th century castle. We then grabbed a bite to eat, before boarding the bus back to the airport for our afternoon flight to Bratislava (End Adventure #3)

Bratislava:

What an interesting city/country! Places (cities/countries) always seem to be a lot different than you imagined them, and Bratislava was no exception. I pictured Bratislava to be a city, like Prague, with rolling hills and a bustling metropolis (Prague/Bratislava are both capital cities, so Bratislava, I figured is about as big as it gets). Bratislava was actually a small, quaint little town that still had the scars from the Soviet influence (Slovakia is known for the Carpathian Mountains, but Bratislava is in the lowlands…fun fact!). Anyway, Khush and I took a bus through the city and took a tram to get to our hostel. The hostel was really "hip" and new….and it was easy to find, because it was one of the tallest buildings in Bratislava (seriously). We unpacked and hit the town for some dinner and adult beverages. Strolling through the town proved to be a little more calm than expected (for a Friday night). We grabed some Kebap (vegetarian Kebap for Khush-which I had no idea existed) and people watched. A surprising feature of Bratislava and Slovakia as Kush and I came to realize wasn't the old city center or the Bratislava Castle, but Slovak woman. They were all quite beautiful; while the men were quite the opposite. It was a really noticeable, which is why I mention it. Obviously there are a lot of beautiful people in the world, but it was a very high concentration, make sense? Anyway, we went out for a couple of drinks, to help us soak in the Slovak experience (pun intended). We headed to a former KGB pub, which adorned the walls with Lenin/Stalin pictures, Soviet-communist flags, and a life-size statue of Lenin. I think patrons/bartenders were a bit surprised to see a Canadian-Indian, and a blonde haired, blue eyed American walk in. We then headed to a traditional Slovak pub and then called it a night; we were both tired from the 21 hour day (End Adventure #4)

We woke up early the next day, checked-out of our hostel, grabbed a quick breakfast, and walked around the city. The city was empty except for a Polish and a Chinese tour group…The city was very pretty, with narrow streets and beautiful architecture. We then made our way down to the Danube River, to try to take a ferry to Vienna. Luckily, we got there early enough to be the only people to get on the boat without a reservation (they had to turn away a lot of other people). I really enjoyed the boat ride to Vienna; it only took 75 minutes. There were castle ruins, little town, and it was a really nice day. We arrived into Vienna at about lunch time…. (End Adventure #5)

Vienna:
When we got off the boat, it felt like a completely different world. Vienna is a beautiful city, with a much more defined history (or so it seems), and is much bigger than Bratislava. It is a very imperial city, evident in the architecture, but it lacks a certain romantic appeal (that you find in Rome, for instance). Anyway, Khush and I found our hostel, and started exploring the city. We went to the Old Town, Parliament, City Hall, St. Stephan's Cathedral, and the Modern Art Museum at Museumsquartier. The Modern Art Museum was different, to say the least…I'm not too terribly interested in it, but it was neat to see. We then had dinner in the Naschmarkt, which is a farmer's market that also has many restaurants. After our long day out in the city, we went back to the hostel, and happened to meet our two other roommates. They were both backpacking (separately), one was from China, but studying in Dresden and the other was from Finland. They were pretty interesting and we went out that night with the Fin… We got up early Sunday morning, ate breakfast at the hostel, and headed out to see more of the city. We went to Albertina Museum (classical/impressionism), climbed the bell tower of St. Stephan's to get a good look at the city, Mozart's House, and went to Café Central, which was a local favorite of Lenin, Trotsky, and Freud. We had a great time in Vienna and there is a lot to see and do! Oh, I also ate an apple strudel in honor of Mom/Grandma, who advised me that, that was the "thing to do". Also, it was interesting to see how different Austrian German is from German-German… (End Adventure #6)

After the long day of sight-seeing, we headed to the Vienna Airport to catch our 7:25pm flight back to Rome. However, the trip couldn't be as picture perfect (with regards to transportation) as it had been, so AirBerlin decided to delay the flight for an hour, for no apparent reason ("Ach du lieber Himmel", as Grandma would say) Anyway, we landed in Rome at about 9:35 but by the time we taxied/took a bus to the terminal it was close to 10pm. I took the train back to Termini with Khush and then took the Metro to Lepanto, where Franco was waiting (how nice!). (End Adventure #7)

Overall, it was a great weekend, with many adventures… It was really happy that I was able to go to three unique places and have such a good time. It was also nice to get out of Rome for a while, but it felt good to get back and get back into the "swing of things" at work. My internship is still going really well and I am enjoying my time at the World Food Programme. My supervisor got back this past week from his home leave travel to Kenya (he was gone for a month), so it is good have him back in the office and have his advice/guidance/approval/etc. Chris left on Tuesday for the U.S. and Franco/I are "holding the fort" here in Rome. We are becoming real chefs and haven't reverted to ordering food from a restaurant, yet. Take care, I'll write again soon…I hope you enjoyed the long blog and many pictures!

Week 7!

Well, this week was a little more low-key, compared to last week...but, I have some exciting news! Next weekend (Friday-Saturday-Sunday), I am going to Bratislava and Vienna with one of my intern-friends, Khush. We wanted to go some place random and looked at all of the low-cost airlines, which happen to be not so low-cost after "service fees"+"credit card fees"+"just because fees", for potential weekend trips. We found that Rome isn't a major hub for RyanAir, but Milan is...and RyanAir flies to Bratislava, which happens to be about 30 miles from Vienna. So, Friday (August 1st), we are flying at 6:30am to Milan, going into the city for a few hours, and taking our 4pm flight to Bratislava. We are staying the night in Bratislava and leaving late-morning for Vienna, where we will stay until Sunday evening. It should be a really interesting trip, because these are two cities (especially Bratislava) I wouldn't normally go. Anyway, work is picking up, and my supervisor, who was on home leave in Kenya for the past month will be back next week, so I am looking forward to having him back in the office. Oh, I took the train home from work Thursday/Friday this week and I witnessed something I didn't think Italians normally did...preach publicly. In America, it's standard practice to see individuals that feel inclined to force their religious views on others (i.e. the Oval on any spring day). Haha, well, this lady got up in the middle of the train, which was already packed with "9-5ers" and started yelling about God's salvation and that we were all an abomination of some sort. The moral of the story, I thought she was pretty innovative, because normally when these people "preach" in public, you can walk away...but on the train, we are locked in! Haha, and I am starting to understand more and more Italian (I could understand bits and parts of her yelling, so I found that exciting)...Last night, my Aunt and Uncle had Gabriella, Nicole, and Julian over for dinner. Gabriella is one of my Aunt and Uncle's closest friends, Nicole, her daughter, and Julian, Gabriella's grandson. We had a grand ole' time and it was a nice start to the weekend. Well, that's about all for now. I hope everyone has a good weekend! Ciao

P.S. The last picture is cantalope in my Aunt and Uncle's garden! (Grandma+Mom, I thought you would appreciate it!)