The calm before the storm

I'm back in Germany, trying to drink water and rest up in preparation for the storm that's going to hit on Friday. Four of my best friends are flying in from Seattle and we're going to embark on a 16-day road trip through Western Europe. We're starting here in Frankfurt then going from Stuttgart-Munich-Prague-Wiesbaden-Cologne-Amsterdam-Belgium-Paris-Luxembourg-Wiesbaden. Once again, I'm going to be the 5th wheel on this trip but it's a role I've grown accustomed to over the years.

This weekend I took a short trip up to London and I got to see one of the most incredible concerts of my life. Jay Z opened for Coldplay and he killed it with a 16-song set. I was surprised how many Londoners knew all the words to his songs and how receptive they were. I was blown away and I can't believe I got to see Coldplay on the same bill. This was the 159th and final concert on their Viva La Vida tour and they, too, did a phenomenal job. The 80,000 people in the crowd were really into it as well but that wasn't as much of a surprise since the band was performing in their home town. About 10 minutes before Coldplay hit the stage, it started to dump rain and those of us on the floor got absolutely soaked. Almost no one seemed to care and it really enhanced the experience when they came out 10 minutes later. I will never forget standing int he pouring rain, singing along to Coldplay with 80,000 people. I shot a few videos and put them up on youtube and I'll link to them at the end of this post.

I got home from the concert and hopped online hoping to be able to watch the end of the UW-USC game but it was already over and amazingly, the Huskies won! I must have watched the highlights 100 times that night and could feel my chest swelling with Husky pride. The downside to traveling is that every once in a while you miss the incredible moments that happen right at home. Oh well. I do feel like getting put in the top 25 is a bit of an overreaction but time will tell if we deserve it or not. I really would love to go to a bowl game this year.

Anyway, that's it for now. For the rest of the week I'm going to play a lot of poker and try to balance all the spending I've been doing. Wish me luck.





 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Schneckenhof Mannheim

Once again, the Schneckenhof party did not disappoint. I am really lucky to have made such a great group of German friends. I don't know why I always find youngsters to hang out with but I enjoy their youthful exuberance and they don't seem to mind my old man-ness yet. These college parties are unlike anything in the US...they are held on campus, in a Quad-like area, and there are booths set up on the periphery with beer, shots, or wine. There's a huge stage set up on one end and people drink, dance and kick it. And they do it every Thursday night. I love it.

Here are some pics and a video from the night. I took it easy tonight and I'm flying to London early in the morning. I can't wait for this Coldplay/Jay Z concert, it should be phenomenal. I'm having a blast out here but I'm really sad about missing tailgating back home. GO HUSKIES!!!

In Deutscheland

I've been in Germany for the past few days, hanging out with my brother Cliff. He made it home early from wherever he was and it's been really great having him around. No offense to the other best friends out there but there's really no one else in this world I'd rather spend time with. We got extremely plastered on Tuesday night and the past few days have been pretty slow and laid back. Tonight I'm heading to Mannheim for a Schnekenhof, which is a German college party, and I'm fired up.

I left Italy on Monday and I was really sad to go. Everything about the experience was awesome: the people I met, the food I ate, the things I saw, and of course the friends I got to see. Kristi and Davide, the couple we stayed with, are two of the nicest people you'll ever meet. They cooked for us, showed us around Florence, drove us to the beach, laughed, played and drank with us. They really could not have been better hosts.

On Saturday, we drove out to the beach town of Tonfano and partied it up. The beaches in Tuscany are pretty wack...the entire beach is divided into 20-foot sections, each owned by a different guy, and you have to pay some insane fee to rent space under one of the umbrellas that he has on his stretch of beach. There is no public beach and it creates kind of a lame atmosphere: rich old people lying around getting tan. If you want to see something sad, look up Tonfano, Italy on maps.google.com and put the map on the "satellite" setting. Look at the millions of umbrellas covering the beach and shed a tear for humanity.

Regardless, I had fun playing beach volleyball with Davide and his friends. One of his friends is a member at one of the clubs so it was cheap for us to get in. Afterwards we went to his beach house and started to prefunk for that night out. The high class beach clubs become high class night clubs at night time. We ordered a ton of pizza and bought a bunch of beer and vodka. When the pizza arrived, there were 16 of us and one table that could seat 6-8 people comfortably. I got my pizza and was going to look for somewhere to sit in the living room or wherever but Davide grabbed me a chair and told me to sit at the table. Everyone ended up crowding around this table, eating pizza, drinking beer and chatting about nonsense. The moment really struck me because I know that back home, the scene would never happen. People would break up into small groups all around the house, watch TV, etc. Basically, the whole moment of 16 people crowding around a small table showed the importance of family and dinner time in Italy. I really liked it and the next time I have a pizza and beer party at my house, I'm going to make everyone crowd around my small dining room table and we're going to have real conversations. Word.

Anyway, that just symbolizes the feeling I had during my entire trip. I loved how much the Italians valued their friends and family and they were all kind enough to make me feel like I belonged in that circle. I will be back in Florence soon, that's for sure.

On Saturday, I'm heading to London for one small poker tournament and one big concert featuring Coldplay and Jay Z. I've never seen either act in concert before and I'm really pumped to see them together. I leave London on Wednesday then 4 of my best friends fly into Frankfurt on Friday and we'll embark on the greatest Western European road trip of all time. I can't wait. I'm really missing home but having them around will help with that a lot.

Here are some final pics from Italy. Holler.

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Mi dispiace!

That means "I'm sorry" in Italian. Sorry it's been a few days since the last post. We decided to stay in Florence for longer than anticipated because we're having so much fun with Kristi and Davide. I'm going to miss out on Ljubljana and Croatia and just fly to Germany on Monday. Today we're driving out to a beach town called Viareggio for one night and then, on Sunday, I'm hoping to attend the Fiorentina-Cagliari soccer game. I will have tons of pictures to unload on Sunday night but I just wanted to throw up a quick update before heading to the beach. Go Dawgs!

Buena Notte

This is gonna be a quickie. I just finished watching the US National Team beat Trinidad and Tobago in World Cup qualifying and it's time for bed. Today was an awesome day. Siena was beautiful as always and after a long day that featured a lot of walking, we were treated to a huge home made Sicilian-style dinner. I will let the pics do the talking, life is good. Ciao.

Italian Happy Hour

My first night in Florence was awesome. We went to a bar named Zoe and they have a pretty sweet deal where if you purchase a drink, you get all-you-can-eat from a buffet of different Italian foods. So for 5 Euro I ate 6 plates of pasta and cous cous and bruschetta and salad. Brilliant! The company was really cool too, Davide and Kristi's friends are all really friendly and I enjoyed talking to them about soccer and Italian life and whatnot.

After Happy Hour, where I ended up having 4 or 5 drinks(that's how they get you!), we went to a sweet bar that opens up into a church square. There were people break dancing in the square and the bar crowd was gathered around them, drinking beers and chatting. For most of the night I drank something called a Kir Royale which is Strawberry Cassis mixed with Champagne and is really delicious. I probably had 10 or so on the night and surprisingly, I don't feel awful this morning. Usually that much Champagne really hurts.

Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera last night but hopefully I can steal some pics from Brooke or Stacy and post them later. Today we are going to Siena for the day. I've been there once before but it's a really amazing medieval town and I don't mind visiting again. I'm going to remember my camera so stay tuned for pictures. Holler.

Adios Barca, Buongiorno Firenze!!!

Just a quick post before I head to the airport and try to buy my ticket to Florence. I'm not usually so last-minute about things but there's a non-stop flight that leaves at 3:30 PM and arrives at 5 PM and I've been unable to purchase the ticket over the phone or online. The website seems unable to take credit cards but I talked to someone at the Barcelona airport and they said I can come in today and buy the ticket in person. Wish me luck.

Yesterday was pretty uneventful. I woke up pretty late after being up until 6 AM for a Fantasy Football draft and wandered the city for a while. I hung out with my buddy Tim, who is here getting his MBA, from 6-8 and we talked about cool travels we've done. He's done a ton of great stuff and just came back from Cuba which is a place I want to see really badly. I realllllly want to go before the embargo is lifted and it turns into the Bahamas or whatever. After that, I went out with a bunch of poker media and we drank until 4 AM. Those guys are amazing, I have no idea how they do that every night and then work the next day. Very impressive.

I'm fired up to get back to Florence. It'll be fun staying with locals and having them take us to the best restaurants and whatnot. I'm not sure what the Internet situation will be but I'll try my best to update when I can. Here are some random Barcelona pics I took yesterday, hope you enjoy them. Peace.

Busto in Barca

Today was one of the more painful poker days in recent memory. I lost a huge pot early with AA against AK and then just blinded out the rest of the day, folding hand after hand for 6 hours. My table was extremely loose and aggressive and I just couldn't find a single decent hand. I ended up finishing around 90th place with 72 getting paid. Blah.

Sometimes when I'm card dead, I try to change the music that I'm listening to in hopes that it'll change the card karma that I'm receiving. Today I listened to:

Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
Thursday - Full Collapse
Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends
Hot Hot Heat - Make Up the Breakdown
Taylor Swift - Fearless
Jimmy Eat World - Futures
Rise Against - Siren Song of the Counter Culture
Weezer - Blue Album

I lost the AA hand while listening to the KoL CD so that's never getting played again. Hot Hot Heat is my go-to CD when I need a good rush of cards but even that failed. I was really calm while listening to Taylor and JEW and that felt nice. Rise Against came out once I got under 20 BBs and I ultimately busted to Weezer. I think I need to listen to more Rap while I play poker, maybe that'll help. On day 1, my iPod was dead so I just wore my headphones for the noise-canceling feature since it was so loud in the Casino. Maybe I'll give that another shot.

After busting, I came back to my room to shower and I noticed that a big $215 WCOOP Tournament was starting on PokerStars so I logged in and started playing. That was a huge mistake because I'm tired and tilted and I am playing terribly. I really just want to go out on the town but I think I'm going to stay in tonight and hit it hard tomorrow. My buddy Tim is going to Business School here in Barcelona and he flies back from summer break tomorrow. Hopefully he knows where to go on Monday nights and I'll have some good stories and pics for the next blog.

On Tuesday, I'm flying to Florence to hang out with my friends from school, Stacy and Brooke. We're all staying with our friend Kristi who came to Italy 4 years ago as an exchange student and never left. She lives with her boyfriend, Davide, who is one of the nicest people I've ever met. I'm really stoked for the 3 days we're going to spend there. Male readers, stay tuned for pics as these are some of the prettiest gals I know.

After Florence, things are up in the air. We might go to Ljubljana, Slovenia but there is also talk of visiting some of Stacy's cousins in Austria. If they end up doing that, I might just head to Germany to chill for a week before heading to London for more poker. I'd really like to see Slovenia and head into Croatia but it's their trip and I'm just tagging along for a while. Anyway, that's the latest. The next post should have pretty pictures and entertaining anecdotes. Holler.