Munich

So I'm back at school after one of the most craziest weekends of my life. I went to Munich, Germany to check out Oktoberfest! I went with my roommate Brian. We stayed at Sarah and Hannes' place. They live in a fancy suburb of Munich. It's one their grandma's guest house. They are a couple at the age of 20. So it worked out perfectly. I found them on couchsurfing.com. Highly recommend it. It was free and amazing.

We arrived on Friday in the morning. We were so anxious to get our drink on. We dropped our stuff at the house first after we met up with Sarah. They didn't even want to go. I guess they hate Oktoberfest. But they live there. So I can only imagine how they feel about it. Brian and I got there in the afternoon. Started drinking. And we had too much too fast. Friday night, Brian and I got so trashed! It was crazy. So much shit happened that night. We had about 3 Liters of beer. Really alcoholic potent beer. In like less than 2 hours.

We made friends with people at our table from Italy and the UK. This big Italian dude grabbed my hand and we arm wrestled. I knew he was gonna beat me. But after he grabbed my hand. I really didn't have a choice. It was like BOOM 123 YOU LOSE! Whatevs. It was pretty funny. We were all started yelling vagina in Italian with our tongues sticking out. It is pronounced Fiha. So we were saying it like FEEEHAAAAHHH!!!! Then there was an embarrassing moment. Some skanky ass german girls were like asking me for cash. And I was like No! They were like, "What do we have to do?" I was like I dunno, I'm not giving you any. They were like should we show you our tits. I replied, "sure, if you want." Eventually one of them grabbed my face, pulled it to her and BOOM we were makin out for like 10 seconds. Then the other one was like "My turn!" and BOOM make out number 2. Well I lost nothing. Didn't give them cash. I guess they got some me out of it. Which is like bonus points for them. The embarrassing part of all of this is that they were not that good looking and pretty young. I just hate thinking about what age they were. Fuckin Gross Max! Thankfully it didn't get out of hand.

After this though, Brian came back with something on his head. It looked like a hat at the time. But he explained to me the next day that it was just some weird combover wig he took from the UK people. But one of those girls from earlier took it. And I started chasing her down. Brian was like "no don't worry about it". But he was already blacking out so I didn't listen to him. Eventually they got away. I was like "Nooo dude!!!! They took your hat!!!!!" He didn't respond. He was blacking out. So I had to help walk him back to the train station with his arm over my shoulder. It was a very brutal walk. We had to take it to the Baldham stop to get to Hannes and Sarah's place.

During the train ride, Brian was just passed out. Eventually I started feeling sick. I had to get out of the train to get some air. He would not wake up though. I was shaking and shaking him and yelling his name I was like "Brian! Wake up man. I gotta get out of this thing. I need some air!" Eventually he got up and we got off at some random stop. The second we got off, Brian just passes out on the ground. And this time, I couldn't get him up. I was shaking and shaking him. This is the point where I believe I blacked out because I'm not fully sure about the next detail. But I realized I had to get back on the next S4 train to get to Baldham. And I think I just left brian there. Because the next chapter was me on a train again after waking up from riding it back and forth through Munich for like 2 or 3 hours. I could've been fucked. Yeah, I woke up on a train. People were just staring at me. And inside my head I was just thinking, "Huh? Where's Brian?" I hope he's okay. Eventually I reached Baldham and got back to the house. Hannes answered the door. I told him I lost Brian. Hannes said you called me like 3 hours ago to tell me you were heading back. I told him "yeah, I fell asleep on the train. that's how I lost brian." But some good news is that eventually brian woke up at some random station, got on a train, and arrived at the house when I was sleeping already. What a night!

The next day, Hannes smoked us up with some dank buds. They gave us an inside tour of the beautiful city. Brian and I went back to Oktoberfest for a couple hours. By the way, there are so many fine chicks in those costumes. Their cleavage is just everywhere! We took it a little easier this time because Hannes and Sarah were gonna take us to a rave. Yep. I was at a Eurobeat DJ rave that was under some club until 5 in the morning Saturday night right after a delicious dinner that Sarah cooked. We almost didn't get in cuz we weren't on the list. It was pretty secret. Hannes talked to the bouncer though.

These German's were dancing weird though. The dudes and girls dance seperately. You couldn't tell if people were couples or not. Hannes and Sarah weren't even dancing together. But I was in this small circle kinda. There were 2 dudes to the right of me and then 1 good looking chick to the right of them which means she was pretty much across from me. And those guys weren't making any moves. So I started grooving out. She checked out my moves and dug it. She started meandering towards my direction. In my head I was like "Hell yes!" Eventually she was right in front of me and we were dancing together. So after a little bit I decided to get a little closer. The second my hand touched her hip she was like "No!" Like on those shows where you hear a dj scratch his record when the party has a buzzkill. That's what it was like. So that kinda sucked but oh well. So that's my Munich story. It's Monday. I'm gonna try open mic again. Peace!

The Red Garter/House of Sizzle

So I'm back since we talked last. I'm in the middle of my third week now. School is going by pretty quick. But nonetheless, I am making the best of it. Last Saturday I hopped a train and went to Pisa with a small group. It was an alright city. The only reason we really went was to see the tower. And then I saw it. And that thing was fuckin leaning! I was like "holy shit! that's a leaning tower right there!" I mean, you always see it in photos and on cartoons...but once you see it in person, It's a whole nother story. We went to the very top of it. Like the tippy top. You would think that you're at the top, and then you would find yourself wrong because there were all these extra secret flights of stairs. The view was incredible though. You could see the whole town and the mountains in the background. I'll show you all some pics later. We were only there for a couple hours. After that we went to Sienna that very same day. A very old town similar to Florence except even more trapped in time. It is a hilly town too. Walking through it was a work out. It was really cool and midevil. From the black plague era. We would've checked out the Chianti region which is right near that city, along with a small town called San Gimignano but we just couldn't fit it in that day. Chianti is the region where Italy's best wines come from. And San Gimignano is just a super old town that has some midevil character. Even older than Sienna. All these town are an hour away from Florence at the most so I'll just have to try again later.

About a week ago, I stopped at this clothing store cuz I saw some sweet stuff through the window. And the chick working there was hella fine! I tried talking to her for a bit but she barely spoke any english. And my Italian is not that good yet. I asked them to put my shirts I picked out on hold so that I could come again to see this girl. I came again the next day. She was excited to see me. Remembered my name from when I left it for the reserv. So I talked with her some more that day. Tried to ask her to hang out or do something. But she just wasn't understanding me. Man! I wish I was just fluent in Italian. I got her name though. It is Francesca. I know right! Even the name is hot. Unreal. I'll just have to practice my Italian and stop in every once in a while.

More bulletproof good news! There is this bar/restaurant called the House of Sizzle. Well, the Restaurant is called the House of Sizzle and right next to it is the bar called The Red Garter. It is a cool place. I checked out a soccer game on sunday and drank some good beer. It was a really good beer actually. It is a red ale called McFarland. Florence won the soccer game against Bologna. Good stuff. Then the rest of my roommates came to watch some sunday american football since this is one of the few places that plays american football. The menu at this place has Italian food and American food. Not bad, but kinda pricey. This place got way packed that night. I met a bunch of people from the U.S. that were studying abroad also. So it was a fun night. Ended up going over to these girls from new york's place afterward and we chilled on their rooftop. They got hooked up with a nice spot. There were a couple guys there too. One of the dudes had some bud for sale. First time any of us had seen some bud here. All we have found since we got here has been hash. Not even that good of hash. Gets you high, but it might be cut with wax. But yeah, It was night and dark when we were on the roof. My roommates wanted to get bud. I told them I'll check it out. I ask this guy if I can see what he's got. He hands me his bag as he is busy rolling a big spliff for all of us with my tobbacchi. I look in the bag, take a small nug out, pocket it, and hand the bag back. I know I know. Bad karma. At the time I didn't care though. Damn this story is getting long. So later in the night, my roommate Geoff was all like "we should have got some bud from him." And I was like "don't worry guys. check this out." Hahaha. The bud was shit though. The guy selling it knew too. Probably why it was so cheap. But yeah, we saved it for the next day. Why? Cuz Monday night is Open Mic!

The Red Garter has open mic night on Mondays. Brian and I bought a guitar and hand drum here for a decent deal at a music shop. I brought both instruments to the bar. Brian went there and did some stand up. He's a funny guy. What's cool is that he's into Brian Regan just as much as I am. He knows all of the jokes. He did his own material and it was pretty good. I ended up jamming with the man runnng the open mic show. The guy's name is Chris. He had an acoustic. I liked his style. He covered a few Zeppelin songs acoustic style. Also did Beatles' Helter Skelter right to Because back to Helter Skelter. I jammed with him the second set. I was nervous the whole day debating if I would even perform on stage. That was the first time. And it went really well. People were feelin the jam. And some dude that worked at the bar asked for my info so that he could have me come back. I guess I'll be coming there every Monday night. My roommates and I got home and smoked a celebratory J to that. That's that for now. I'm going to Munich this weekend for Oktoberfest!!!!! I'll let you all know how it goes. Peace!

Are We Seriously Doing This Right Now!?!?

Hey Guys. How's it going?
In Italy I try
I try with my roomie
we're fuckin flowin
down a river of rhythm
into a stream of freedom
10 days in I'm not leavin'
can't believe the beauty I'm Breathin
In and out of
my eyes, seein
three times, four times, ten times
the number of women
women seekin peeking out
of da peripherals
hey girl hey girl gotta have the balls
balls to say em
not to say the least
at the least at the last
i sense the day so fast
so fast, in case of the last
the last time
I thought this rhyme
the rhyme of my mind
spiral collagues
thank you buddy
glad I brought this

So that was a rhyme sesh i had with my roommate brian last night. I had us write it down. We would switch off after a few lines. While having Metal Fingers special herbs on shuffle. Trav and I used to do that sometimes. I miss that guy. Oh yeah, the spiral collagues line is from when I looked up at your tapestry Neuscrill. I have it over my desk. Thanks man! I miss all the krew guys. But whenever I do, I'll just pretend I'm with them. Sometimes the people here won't pick up on it. Like when I'll talk in the voice that's like "Sleepin Ova! Talking like this." I'll use that voice a lot with some random sentences. But they just don't get it. They will laugh at it though. It is pretty funny I guess.

So I've been feastin like every night. Just cooking up some bomb Italian meals. I took pictures of a couple of the meals. I'm pretty much the head chef at my place. But Brian will tag team with me most of the times. I just think it up usually. And he'll help make. But I shouldn't take all the credit. He's kind of a head chef too. The meals keep getting better and better. Last night was the best of them all. We had 2 cute girls from our school come over for it. Kristin and Allison. And I bought like a mini keg of becks at the grocery store. It was 5L. Anyone good enough at math to convert it to how many beers that is? But yeah, I got a bit tipsy from it.... which lead to the rhyme sesh after the girls left.

So last weekend I hopped a train and went to Venice. Such an amazing place! We stayed for the weekend. Went with like a group of 4. Friday was a sweet sunset. Saturday it rained all day though. Fuckin stormed. We made the best of the weekend though. We stayed at a camping village. But we didn't camp in tents. It was like a village full of trailors. Like a trailor park. And we got our own trailor. The place was pretty nice. Like a resort. There was a bar and pool table some ping pong tables. And backpackers from all over the world. There was a toga party the first night. Brian joined in on it. I didn't. It was a bit chilly that night. PS - Austrailian dudes that are our age are not that cool. They were kinda getting on my nerves. Like frat guys. They were just acting deuschy like they're better than everyone. When really they were just beligerent fools. Went to some fancy restaurants in Venice too. Ate some seafood. I took a bunch of good pics. If you want to see them, I'm putting them up on facebook right now in an album. The Florence pics will have to wait for all of you. I still haven't explored the whole area yet. I'm thinking about doing that this weekend.

So the title. It's actually a funny story. We all went to a pub. I don't know why. It's like the least Italian thing here. This was during our first week. I didn't even want to drink that night. And I ended up getting the most drunk that night compared to any other night here. There was some old school Dre playing on the speakers. I started doing some king tut pop n' lock footwork. People dug it. We like had a little circle formed around me. All of the sudden. Out of nowhere! Brian pops in. And he's like "No way! Are we doing this!? Are we seriously doing this right now!?!?" And people, including me were like "Doing what? I was just king tuttin." But while I said that, it was too late. He just hopped in the circle and started doing some crazy ass dance. Nobody knew what it was. And it was nothing compared to what I was doing. It was like a C walk with really swingy legs. So from then on, we will bring up that line in conversations cuz it's fuckin hilarious. Alright, I'm out for now. Here are some pics of my meals I have made.

Italia!

So I'm in Italy now. Let me rephrase that. I'm in Fuckin Italy!!! Oh shit! I don't even know how to feel. It still baffles me that I am living in such a beautiful place. I fuckin love it here. I got here last Friday night. It was late. So pretty much like early Saturday morning. Saturday was a good day. It was orientation. I met everyone. Everyone is really chill too. It is a good group. There's like 9 of us guys and like 24 ladies i believe. Which I gotta love. And 3 of the guys and ladies came with their bf's and gf's. So 6 guys and 21 girls. Amazing! And the ladies are all nice. I've had a couple long walks with some cuties already. so thats the girl guy sich here in italy.

This city is just really convenient for my interests. The deli meat and cheese here are mouth watering. the bread is so soft and wonderful. I have gone to a couple deli's and built a sandwich there already. I think I figured out the best place for them though. I'll become good friends with that guy. Babuda boobada! Beebada babooda! (haha! Peter Griffin with a mustache). Plus this place is right across from the best gelato and espresso bar I think. There's a ton of these places though. On every little cobblestone street. But those places are the best and only a couple blocks from my school. Not only that but every place in this city has wine and beer as well. So you can go to a gelato or espresso or deli place and also get some wine or beer there at the same time. pretty convenient. along with being around the most beautiful women in the world. no joke. also, i haven't seen one obese person yet. america has to fix their diets.

my roommates are all chill. i definitely got hooked up with the good crowd. but out of the 9 guys, everyone is pretty tight so it doesn't even matter. we live in a condo on the 3rd floor with a balcony. alright so i need to get a voltage converter. i bought the adaptor but that isn't enough. i was gonna trim my beard yesterday because i do that like once a week too keep it clean and not itchy. i plugged in my clipper. all the sudden it was like RNNYEEEEAAAAHHHHHHRRRRRR. so loud. like a chainsaw. so i turned it off and was like k, not putting this on my face cuz i dont wanna die today. i still had to trim though cuz it was getting itchy and burly as fuck. so i grabbed a razor and tried trimming it down part by part. it was all patchy. looked like shit. so then i was like fuck it. shaved my beard smooth like a baby's bottom. i hate it. i feel like part of me is missing. and i look like i'm 15 again. so i gotta wait like 10 to 15 days to look like myself again.

the first night, we went to this really hoppin bar that was outdoors. by we, i mean me and my roommates and their girlfriends. I have 3 roommates. 2 of them have gf's. Tim and Geoff do. Brian is my other roommate. but yeah, this bar was no bigger than a newstand. it was right near a beautiful park along the river. I took some pics during the day so i'll show you. and there was some foosball action going on as well. Brian and I ended up finding some hash. I guess bud here is not that popular. But hash is. We got it from Moraccans. Got pretty twisted.

I actually did find some bud though. Just didn't buy any cuz i don't really plan to smoke. I do miss Amar rolling the best spliffs ever though. So i bought some kind of English type shag and roll a cig every once in a while when i'm out and about at night. i'll probably get a little bud too for the weekends and inspiration. Especially since most of my courses are art classes. I'm almost getting the hang of rolling these Neuscrill. This stuff is called Virginia Golden. I don't know if I like it. I might just buy the American Spirit shag instead. The dude that had some green runs this sneaker shop. I walked by and was like OOOOOhhh! Some sick shoes for sure that aren't in the U.S. Crazy colored reebok pumps, dunks, blazers (finally figured out what they're called), vans, converses. Whisney would be in heaven. But yeah, i was in my tye die shirt so the dude asked me if I liked bud. He had long hair and was from the states. I believe his name is Tom or Todd.

All of my classes are cool. Good teachers. My school is a 15th or 16th century building! I'll show you some pics. You guys will see some sick pics. But it's just not the same. It is hard to capture the city. I mean, you'll see all the cool places and small places and beautiful scenery. But you won't know what it's like to just walk through these small streets daily and people watch and almost get hit by crazy drivers on vespa scooters. I think that's all I have for now. I'll post some pics up hopefully soon. In the meantime, I bought a cell. You guys should buy a calling card and hit me up. I think I'm 7 hours ahead of you guys. You dial 011 then 39 which is the city code, and then my number which is 3315709484. Ciào!

Packing Break

So right now I am packing while listening to The Allman Brothers Band's 1973 New Year's Eve Show featuring Jerry Garcia, Bill Kreutzman, and Boz Scaggs. It's unbelievable. I leave for Italy tomorrow! I can't believe this day finally came. It feels weird. That's the only word to describe it. Man I have a lot of clothes. I wanna bring almost all of it. But I don't wanna overpack. It's a tough decision weeding out some of the items. Cuz I really like most of my clothing. I fuckin sound like a chick right now.

I saw Mike Gordon last night as a final show before I leave. So glad I saw it. The show was incredible! I was amazed for sure. It was his own band. The guitarist in the band was really sick. Sounded a lot like Trey. I think it's because he his guitar was made by the same guy. A Languedoc I believe? But no, he totally ripped it like trey too. And Mike was just funky as hell! Also Leo Kottke came out as a very special guest since he lives here. They did an acoustic set. It was tight. I was inspired from it. It reminded me of when Ostlund and I used to just jam as us two in his room. We haven't jammed alone in a long time. These days we just jam as a group with trav drumming or mark or spiggs who both play the guitar very well. Everyone was just waiting for 1 Phish song. Just one is all I wanted at least. I love Mike's new stuff. But c'mon we gotta here 1 at least. And we did! They encored with Makisupa Policeman. A very good song to pick. I was expecting something different. He played at the Varsity Theater. I have never been there before last night. But that place is beautiful. I love the way it is set up. It's gotta be one of our best indoor venues we have. I highly recommend everyone to check it out if they haven't yet. And to top off all of that, I met Mike Gordon and shook his hand!!! I never thought that would happen in my entire life. He's a nice guy. But I felt bad for him cuz he was all sweaty after the show and looked really tired and had to deal with people coming up to him. So I just thanked him for an amazing show and told him I enjoyed it very much.

Peter called me yesterday morning and woke me up. We caught up on a couple things. Talked about our travelings that'll happen soon. Talked about spiritual growth. He's a very spiritual guy now. I think it's pretty cool. It's good for him at least. I'm a little different now that I think about it. I didn't tell him this. But I am not very spiritual right now. I feel that this reason is because before I can start believing in something else, I have to believe in myself first. Right now I don't believe I know who I really am. I'm kinda lost. I gotta get it together. Gotta gotta getit. Gotta gotta getitogether. We talked about how we both simultaneously watched Good Will Hunting together across the world from eachother without even knowing. Had to be fate for sure. FERSHER! (you knew i was gonna say that next). We also talked about personal issues we've been dealing with. Anyway, to sum that up, I look forward to seeing him in a few months.

So you guys remember how I had this little school boy crush on chick. Well that's all that it was. To be honest, it's not even there anymore. I don't know what I was really thinking. I mean I still like her and all. She's beautiful and a really tight person. Has some heady friends. Always a plus. But I don't know. Whatevs. I'm over it. I'm not sure if she liked me that much. I definitely made it kinda awkward between us. And I don't really wanna waste my time with that awkwardness. This guy at my work totally moves quicker with her anyway. Or at least it seems this way. Life lesson right there. It's titled "Get Some Balls and Start Making Some Moves Max!" But Brady saw me say I'm over her right to his face. And he was like, "No you aren't. I can see it in your face." So that got me thinking for a couple days. And I realized, yes I am. The only thing I can't get over is that I told her that stuff earlier. Because now things are way awkward. And I don't like that. I would still like to be friends and just chill with her. Maybe smoke some spliffs. I quit smoking weed pretty much. But spliffs aren't that bad. They're easier for me to handle in my head. Yeah, I'm not an idiot. I know there's weed in spliffs.

I still have so much shit to do before I leave. Man, I'm way behind. I gotta get on that. So this is my good bye to Ptown and Minneapolis. Next time you guys hear from me, I'll be in Florence, Italy! Peace!