IVE BEEN IN EUROPE 88 DAYS...and this is what ive learned

1. learned more english then i thought possible
2. learned how to cook awful pizza surrounded by 12 guys from other countries cooking what looks and smells like the equivalent of roadkill
3. throw all my trash in the street because salford actually fines you for not littering
4. i dont like saying its 20:20 at 8:20 because it sounds like im using a catchphrase and not telling a time
5. pay for a train ticket twice, the second time being a 180 dollar ticket that i then was refunded for and have never wanted to climb through a glass ticket window and hug someone so much
6. dance in adidas sambas
7. eat salsa
8. see homeless ppl whose dogs were dressed better then they were
9. walk back from the tesco market with 18 bags on my arms because i didnt want to go back there ever again
10. live without eating
11. live without natty light
12. get over it jeff, ive done this 6 out of the last 9 months..talk to me then
13. do laundry and the dishes in the same sink....at the same time....ha jk
14. wear clothes that weigh more then i do
15. make fun of a guy for wearing white womens pants while sleeping in burger king
16. get made fun of for sleeping on a train, and have 7 megapixel picture documentation of it
17. want to slide accross the floor at john lennon airport on my belly
18. sleep in everyday because class is a joke
19. know what its like to be one of the most attractive guys in an entire country
20. be one of the only ppl in the entire country with straight teeth
21. not shower in a room bigger then a small closet for 3 months
22. swim in line to get to see the sistine chapel
23. walk on water...no wait that was jesus....nevermind
24. pay for ketchup
25. live without food with flavor
26. watch the osu michigan game surrounded by ppl that know as much about american football as someone thats been in a cave with their eyes closed and ears covered for the last 50 years
27. pay for ketchup...seriously...wtf...its ketchup just give me it you freaks
28. work on my cricket swing and bowling in class
29. bring pete to the grocery store
30. seeing half of the population under 16 with babies
31. having my birthday in manchester
32. start my weblog...which i think we all agree is turing out to be a good use of my time
33. got harrassed by a bum in london at 4 a.m. with a red basket
34. drink hot wine
35. drink extra cold guinness
36. feel smart because i could probably teach design here
37. go to a gym that charges 10 quid for an hour of basketball
38. listen to a drunk norweigan tell me about american geography at a hard rock
39. not sleep in josh's living room
40. having pete cut my hair and cutting petes hair so well that we almost believe that we were wasting our time in design because we may be the two most gifted hair cutters in the entire universe
41. walk roughly 1800 miles in london in order to reach our hostel which i believe was closer to manchester then london
42. dress like khaki mckhakerson in rome...no wait that was pete
43. see an englishman see good design for the first time in his life
44. use skype..that is quality
45. shop for clothes at t.k. max instead of t.j. max because apparently something got lost in the translation from english to english and the same store is one letter off in two diff. countries for no f'n reason
46. having everything smell like it was washed in my sink with biological washing powder
47. being called a bloody yank and tomusa
48. being mistaken for a dutchman
49. hear violin and organ music in st. pauls in london
50. be in the christmas spirit right on time because its illegal to listen to xmas music before thanksgiving and you should know better then that jeff
51. have a traditional dinner of wings and beer on thanksgiving
52. not working out for 3 months
53. sleep on a bed i could make out of toothpics and those little springs from the clicky pens that you always take apart for some reason or another..probably to make a gun to shoot your friends with which while it didnt happen on this trip, is really funny anyhow
54. watch espn.com's video highlights and dream of sportscenter
55. ive never wanted to hear jeffs goofy laugh this bad, because i know he enjoyed this ridunkulous list.....see you in london buddy.....

ROME day 3

this is some guy that i met in line waiting to get into the vatican museum....the wait was 2 hrs. long and it was in pouring rain and we were the only two ppl without umbrellas in the entire city. and despite the best effforts of about 74 guys trying to sell us one, we remained umbrellaless. in addition to meeting this fella whose name escapes me, i met chandler and natalie from florida, two ladies from kentucky and a texas gal. we had a nice little wait in line, and by the end of it, i was quite impressed with the fact that my pants had not fallen off since they did weigh more then me at that point. i weighed roughly 158 lbs at that points and my cargo pants came in at a whopping 172. my shirt was also a robust 39 pounds and the neckline drooped just low enough for you to be able to see my bellybutton. still through all of that nonesense, once we entered the sistine chapel, all was forgotten, and the wait in line was an afterthought...simply amazing....if you have the means, i highly recommend it.

ROME day 2

so after waking up early to see the sunrise over the colosseum we made our way over to st. pete's for a little mass with some guy named fr. ben or something..no wait, that was pope benedict...thats right, we went to the immaculate conception mass at st. peters and even though i dont speak a word of italian, it was one of the best experiences of my life......this was the only picture that i took for fear that i might be smote down if i took anymore during mass....that fear however did not stop everyone else, and at some points it felt a little more like i was boxing out bill mertz rather then enjoying mass with the pope, but i digress

ROME day 1

when in rome........i ve never heard that....its lovely, what does it mean? well now i get it......first day= colosseum, pantheon, forum, st.peters, and about 1600 other old statues and buildings that blew my mind. the weather was perfect, and it was basically a day that you thank God for digital cameras because you dont want to forget a single moment that you experience.

CHESTER

the title of this entry actually goes with both of these pictures quite well....to begin with, after shaving so as to just have a mustache, peter did in fact look quite a bit like "chester the molestor" ....it also just happened that the town that we vistited was also named Chester. as you can see, the sun did come out long enough for a few good pictures to be taken. anyways, it was a nice day in chester with chester.

YORK ST. NICK FAYRE

to get the group into the christmas spirit, we ventured out to york for their annual st. nicholas fayre. there were all kinds of street merchants, and guys with singing dogs, and we even met a couple buckeye alumni.... it was a really nice day trip, and just as a warning to everyone....dont fall asleep around pete, because he will either take pictures of you or....well, just ask nicki what she was warned about.

MANCHESTER UNITED vs VILLARREAL

well even though man united only managed a
0-0 draw against villarreal, pete, thomas, and i still enjoyed our night at old trafford. christiano ronaldo was a dribbling machine, and made quite a few spaniards look ridiculous. wayne rooney played well, and ruud was pretty impressive, but no one could find the back of the net. cheers to thomas uk for getting us the tickets and being our guide all night. this is something that i've always wanted to do, and i cant thank him enough for going out of his way to make it happen.

GO BUCKEYES

buckeye pride was well represented in the sports cafe in manchester. after one of the most exciting games that ive seen in a while, the bucks came out on top 25-21 over the state up north. im not going to say that we own them, but if we would like to sell them for cash and or trade them for another state, i think we would have the right to. after scaring some of the locals at the bar to watch a rugby and or soccer match we converted a few of the tables around us to buckeye fans. our waitress as well must have been a big buckeye fan as she only charged us for about a third of what we actually ordered, which was a nice treat. anyhow,after we won, we celebrated with much dignity and respect....see attached pitcher....im sorry i mean picture.....hahaha im so silly.......buckeyes for life

GRANDPA HOYING

herman joseph hoying
march 14 1914 - nov 10 2005

my grandpa just passed away at the age of 91, on what happened to be my 22nd birthday. its difficult that he left us on my birthday, because thats one day that i always find myself thinking of him. on probably my 16th birthday, i was sent a card by grandpa hoying that ive kept to this day because of the simple message that he wrote on the inside, "paint me a picture." the fact that he took the time to hand write that simple request, in his shaky, imperfect, wonderful grandpa hoying handwritting, made a big impact on me. a few years later i did a portrait of my grandpa that hung proudly by his sofa. it wasnt great, but it won a first prize ribbon at the mercer county fair, and most importantly, my grandpa liked it. there are 53 of us that were lucky enough to call him grandpa, and he always found a way to make each one of us feel special. i hope that the portrait that i did, however simple, made him feel special too. im really going to miss him.