Sorrento/ Pompeii

Typical sorrento view

Alright clones. So I just got back from spring break. So I'm going to post on the highlights. Marcus and I set up our base of operations in Sorrento. The unofficial capital of the almafi coast, which is just south of Naples. Sorretno itself is a pretty non-descript town as far as sites go. You go there to eat, shop and lay on the beach. So i don't have many pictures of that town worth showing. The restaurants were very good for the most part. Marcus and I went to one resturant 3 times (we were there only 5 nights) because it was so good and the family that owned it were really cool people. The best thing from sorrento was the limoncello. The Amalfi coast is the birthplace of limoncello, so this was like drinking champagne in champagne France. All other limoncello pales in comparison compared to what passed my lips in Sorrento. But enough about that.

You need to act in an amphitheater so here is me acting like i'm cool

The Second day in Sorrento Marcus and I decided to reconquer Pompeii in the name of our Roman forefathers. Pompeii's defenses did not prove to be an obstacle. Supposedly a volcano buried the city a while ago (i almost erupted with anger..ehh get it..volcano joke) so there wasn't much left to conquer. In fact we were invited into the city (some people know when they are beaten) . The 11 euro they charged us was a clever defense, but it did not stop the might of my wallet (soooo many buy 8 get one sandwich free punch cards!). Once inside the city both marcus and I were blown away. I was under the impression that there would be some buildings roped off and a museum or something. NOT the case. They literally give you a map and let you loose IN the city. You are literally walking through the streets of Pompeii. The preservation of the city was amazing. The history was unparalleled. The excavation site of Pompeii is about 45 acres big with about 38 uncovered and 12 open to the public. However you can easily spend all day walking around the city and exploring everything.

View of Vesuvius from Pompeii's forum

I learned that the destruction of Pompeii did not happen in one eruption. When Vesuvius erupted the first time it just blew out a huge amount of debris and giant rocks. This buried the city in a few meters meters of debris (roughly 6 feet). Many people were crushed by collapsing roofs or falling rocks. However much of the city survived the first eruption and began to dig out the city the next morning. However that's when Vesuvius landed the haymaker. The second eruption was molten material and a fine ash. Most victims had their lungs filled with this ash and suffocated/ had their insides charred. This ash and molten material buried the city in roughly 6 meters (19 feet!!!!) of volcano barf. After that the only thing visible from Pompeii was the tallest parts of the protective wall. The rest of the city was completely buried and wouldn't be discovered until the mid 1800's.

A rut made by roman chariots in the stone street. marcus in the background

 The best way I could describe the view of Vesuvius from Pompeii is haunting. With the luxury of hindsight I know the power of Vesuvius. However the people living in Pompeii in 79 AD had no idea. Half of the rim of the volcano is missing as a result of the eruption, it was an eruption that rivals Mt. St. Helen's and the ancient eruption of santorini. (About half as bad as Mount Doom for all you lord of the rings nerds who are looking for a better reference) The eruption took the city completely by surprise and thus the loss of life was heavy but not complete because there are surviving accounts of the disaster. The written account I heard made the eruption seem unfathomable. Pompeii was a major natural disaster and I believe the destructive nature of the volcano could only be understood by personally witnessing the event. Walking through the city really powered the imagination. You could see how the city must have looked in 79 AD. It was unique to sit on a 2,000 year old sidewalk and try to project the imagine of the living Pompeii onto the street I was on. It really wasn't that hard to do.

Me learning about the dude laying in front of me

My brother and I did see some of the preserved bodies of people who were encased and preserved in ash. It was to surreal. The expressions were still on their faces. It was hard to comprehend what I was seeing. I still can quite wrap my head around it. The two bodies were people who lived almost 2,000 years ago, had normal lives, normal jobs and spoke a common language. Their instant death lead them to thousands of photographs and a plastic display case. I bet those two would never have guessed that they would have ended up like that. Its just an odd thing to see and to think about.

Streets of the city

In the end Pompeii was by far the coolest thing I saw this past week. If you ever get the chance to see it. I recommend sparing no expense. It is totally worth the money and the travel (if reasonable, don't go from Milan to Pompeii and blame me cause it took forever to get there)
I know this was a marathon post but Pompeii warranted such a description and honestly I only scratched the surface of the experience. It was an exceptional experience. We also went to Capri. I'll post about that later.


The Funeral - Band of Horses

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMFWFhTFohk

Cudi sampled this song to get his music for "the prayer" Great song by itself.  Think its a bit fitting, seeing that Pompeii was a giant tomb

Taxi- Ft. Mos Def and whosane

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOUJOB8kA90

Def's verse is sick. been feeling his music lately. He is a very talented actor/rapper

Closing note: regeristing for classes for the fall while you are abroad is NOT easy. And Thursday is opening day for the MLB. Giants Repeat!!

Global Djs

Here is a recently finsihed production from the one and only "Swoosh Productions. This is the Max Hemington cut. The only thing that wasn't rushed in this production was the editing, and that was still rushed a bit. I post this in anticipation of the vid i'm going to start working on soon. I have alot of raw footage to sift through and hopefully the idea I have will take shape.

However this video isn't too high on my "things to do in a timely manner" list. So don't be sitting on the edge of your seat in anticipation of this video. Anways enjoy this short for the time being despite the terrible upload quality. Let me know what you think. If you like it : cool. If you think its not funny and stupid: 1. join the club 2. haters gon hate

Enjoy

Cinque Terre

Spring Break has hit Italy… although, now that I think about it some Italians seem to treat their life like spring break, even their prime minster takes it easy (backhand slap to Italian politics!) For Spring Break my crew in Florence all went their separate ways for the most part. Dublin, Canary Islands, people going to 4 different cities in a week! Me; I’m roughing it with my brother Marcus. Trip itinerary: 2 days in Cinque Terre and 5 in Sorrento. Don’t let people tell you studying abroad is all fun and games. Sometimes you have to work.

 Its hard to sum up a place like Cinque Terre.

As the name goes Cinque Terre (roughly translated : 5 lands) is made up of 5 major towns, with many small communities of farmers on the surrounding mountains (mountains not hills). The five towns from North to south are; Monerosso: the only town with real beach access and the least compact. Vernazza: the most touristy town and also the most photographed town in Cinque Terre. Corniglia; the town way up on the mountain, Manarola; we kinda just walked through this town and Riomaggio: the town we stayed. Wedged in a very narrow valley. One of the more quiet towns but very picturesque. 

Wating for the train to Monterosso

Most of these towns survive off of three things. Tourism, agriculture and fishing. Thus we encountered many things that coincided with these ways of life. A lot of shop owners spoke decent English. I found it really frustrating when I would try to speak in Italian and they would answer me in English. The local fruit and wine were outrageous. Very flavorful and tasty. The wine was expensive because of the limited quantity, but it was a very unique smooth taste. Much better than what my host mom and I drink at home (southeastern Italian wine: tastes like alcohol and smashed grapes….wait a second…) And because of the local fishing industry most restaurants had mostly seafood; very fresh seafood menus. One night I had a order of fried calamari and French fries.  Understand I have had plates of fried calamari grace my dinner table many a time in my life, but I never tasted anything close to this. I wanted to slap the chef for making a lie. No calamari every tasted that good. I also had half a mind to demand the termination of the waitress who recommended it. They were selling a lie…. The best tasting lie that ever passed my lips (except for the time I told my brother I “forgot” where I put all his Halloween candy).

View of Vernazza from the side of the mountain

For the one full day we had in Cinque Terre; Marcus and I decided we would see it all. The Lover’s walk, which is the easiest path from town to town was shut down because of landslide possibilities, so we had to take the advanced trails that wind through the mountains. I now understand why all of Cinque Terre’s happy couples take the easy way. Our elevation change was so great I had to pop my ears on the way up and down. At some points the hike was downright grueling. But the views, smells and the nap at the end made it all worth it. It was the only way to really see all of Cinque Terre. To get to know and better understand a city or area you need to attack it on foot. There was so much more to be seen outside of the cities. 

Dude is catching the squid I ate that night

Building Cinque Terre had to have taken a big vision and a motivation the size of Cesar’s ego.

Cinque Terre was an awesome place to visit. And I’ll have the privilege of returning one and maybe two more times this term. So I leave with the comfort that I will return and learn some more. For now its off to Sorrento. Expect some posts. I’ll  be milking all I can out of a week with out my Italian class!

Songs for Cinque Terre (some throw backs)

Slow dancing in a burning room (village sessions acoustic version) John Mayer

www.youtube.com/watch?=g-1OieJ9HK0

 Satisfy my soul - Bob Marley (ocean watching music)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8GCc8OhTz8

Lucca with Luke

Last friday I decided to attempt to conquer the city of Lucca. I should have hit up wikipedia before I left, it would have appropriately informed me that Lucca was a target of many attacking armies in the past and Lucca had proved to be a very difficult victory and a stubborn enemy. Luckily for me I was only looking to conquer some pizza and gelato (conduct a siege 101: attack their food supply). Given my recent adventures with traveling to Lucca i'll address what I know you all are thinking. YES I did make it to Lucca and no I didn't buy a ticket to Siena to see if it would take me to Lucca (it did cross my mind). On this trip my buddy Luke came with me. Which was a nice change of pace, i've been doing alot of my day trips alone for a wide range of reasons. Like my friends are too hungover and don't want to go; or my friends stayed out too late and didn't wake up till 2 in the afternoon, or they don't have many money left because they spent it all at the bar last night. Like i said many DIFFERENT reasons. But it was nice to have luke come along, we both agreed it adds a little more to a trip when you share it with someone (looking at you Henry Thoreau).

We hit the city about 2. Luke (Alaska native, Colo St.) had class till 11:30 and the train ride was longer than we thought ( started have siena flashbacks!). The first thing you notice about Lucca is actually its most definable quality as a city. Its fully intact renaissance era fortified wall. And it is IMPRESSIVE. The wall is easily 30 to 40 feet high (covert that to meters, quick!) and about the same in thickness. You can rent bikes and ride on top of the wall, which many people were doing. The interesting thing we saw was most people taking their afternoon walk (very very common Italian activity) on the wall rather than in the streets of the city. We also thought it funny that the wall was such an unique thing in our modern time, but it was an every day thing for the cities residence. Like everyone has to pass through a giant fortified wall to get to the dentist... maybe in the 1400's. Yes they had dentists then, but it was different. No cool toys or free floss after your routine check up.

For some reason this picture uploaded werid


The city has since expanded outside of the walls to create a sort of a modern suburb of the walled city. But from what Luke and I  could tell all the money is inside the walls. There were much nicer cars and shops inside the walls. Luke and I got some pizza to give us some exploring fuel ( consider yourself conquered Luccanites!). The city proved to be a very beautiful city. There were many tall towers within the walls connected to beautiful old churches (church building used to be a popular hobby in italy, even the pope does it!). However the wall was still the main attraction. It was awesome. There were tunnels to be explored, old fortifications and awesome views of the surrounding countryside. I have committed to a return trip to Lucca in the spring to get a different look. There was a lot vegetation that was still in winter mode that will be awesome in the spring. So i'll make sure to update you on my return to Lucca (they shall welcome me as their pizza eating conqueror).

I know its been a while since I updated. I had midterms this past week, which proved to be busier than I thought. My creative writing mid term piece finished at 19 pages, i WILL kill my professor if i get a bad grade. My brother Marcus is on his way to Florence now to do spring break with me. I'll have my computer with me so expect some posts. Maybe some "day of" posts!?!?!? Enjoy the pictures. Hung my camera in a tree and used the self timer to get that picture of Luke and I. We work hard.

Songs:

Stereo Sun - Lupe Fiasco (unreleased)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZVT2CGmQZg

Shout out to Fishy Tunes for posting Stereo Sun, great song. Oh and by the way, I totally the creator of Fishytunes.net. I got connects in the game!

City Kids - OCD: Moosh and Twist

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDpp1zWuEU8

These Kids (17 years old) are awesome. Straight hip-hop. The white kid twist makes Mac Miller look like a punk (you too sammy adams!)

Florence in 3 minutes and 6 seconds

Made this video about a month ago. Thought it needed to go on the blog. Sorry for the terrible quality. Expect another video after spring break looking to make a cool one, got a good idea in my head. Enjoy

-the 3rd cohen brother

05 Heaven Is A Mile Away

05 Heaven Is A Mile Away by max hemi

I wanted to put this in my post about the Arno but it wouldn't let me. so enjoy this while you read. heaven is a mile away- OH (omari oneal) This guys free album "heaven is a mile away" is great stuff

Where the wild river flows

So apparently my older brother thinks i'm lazy because I enjoy watching college basketball online instead of updating my blog. Blog before basketball? America is a changing. However at the moment most good games are at half and the others I just don't care too much about (looking at you mid-america conference) and to appease the powers that be (my father was in on it as well) I have decided to educate you noobs about the city i'm living in.

This is a picture I took of the Arno after class the other day. The famous Ponte Vecchio is behind me to my left. The Arno river is the life blood of florence...or at least it was before modern plumbing. Now its just a giant flowing sewer that floods when it rains to much. The banks of the Arno are one of my favorite places to hangout. Florence is a very old city so it can get very cramped besides the large plazas. Near the Arno there are some of the most narrow streets and things can get tight. However you find your way to the Arno and everything opens up. Its a pretty wide river at some parts and people are attracted to it. Its a great place to read your book (you can hop the small wall and sit on the flat topped supports of the bridge you see in this picture), eat a panino (also a favorite of mine) or just watch the water flow by.

This is a picture of the some of the street art that these guys do near the Ponte Vecchio. They literally draw this on the street with chalk and at night the street cleaners come and erase it all. They pretty much do a new one everyday. These guys always draw a decent crowd (don't get ahead of yourself these guys aren't the human cupid statue next to the uffici) but its always interesting to walk by and see what picture they are working on.

Going to Viareggio for the last day of carnivale (night parade and fireworks) and tomorrow planning on Lucca (i'm getting on the right train this time) so be on the look out for some posts. I'll also start posting things about the smaller things like this.


 Heaven is a Mile away - OH (Omari Oneal)

Where I was Yesterday..

It’s been a month and a half in Florence so I feel it’s about time for another Florence post. I spent this weekend within the city limits; naturally that calls for some more city exploration (swtichin gears on my bike whip!). I decided to follow the river to the northwest (I went southeast last time). I didn't make it quite as far as my last quest, yet the winds of fortune once again guided me with favor and provided plenty opportunities to stop and tie my shoes. I set a park named "Il Boschetto" as my goal for the day. It took the use of a few muscles I forgot I had and a little bit of sweat to get to the park, which is conveniently placed on top of a very steep hill. However the reward was worth the pain. Il Boschetto is by far the most scenic and relaxing park I have spent time in. The day was overcast, but little to no rain. Everything was green, mature trees and bushes. In the neighboring orchard a man was burning his brush (contemplated, but did not hop the wall) it all had a deep nostalgic feel to it. Very reminiscent of what how is like in the winter. I took many deep breaths to fill my lungs with the smells and closed my eyes to hear the sounds. It did not feel like I was in a city. 

I posted up on a bench beneath a tree that offered great protection from the light rain. It was so quiet I didn't want to do much at first. I eventually got around to writing some letters (looking at you Mr. President, we got some stuff to talk about), reading one of my books, and doing some good thinking (revelation of the day: Hillary Clinton is a women!) I said maybe 4 words till the late afternoon and those were just to order my lunch. It was interesting to be inside my head all day and let my mind go without music (we miss you Watson) and see how my mind moved (I think I might have been abducted by aliens at some point in my life)

 This one is a recreation of an acutal event. Its called: "looking at the ground while walking"

Anyways I’ll post some pictures of that day and this weekend. Again there are two staged photos in this post. I sacrifice my dignity to appease my followers. Consider yourselves privileged and slightly at fault for the loss of my dignity.  

This song section will have a few more entrys on this post. I will call it : the songs I would have been listening to today

The Prayer- Kid Cudi ( top5 favorite songs ever)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnFfJLdNX3I

Sigh no more- mumford and sons

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNP3q-YGo7k

Undeniable - XV(love how the beat evolves in the song)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-2ZTBc5Z6M


Closing note:
I have noticed I now have 3 more offical followers. Welcome to the blog you just joined the 9 other people who publicy admit that at times the best thing they have to do is see what i'm doing*

*(updates not in real time)

Lucca?....Siena...right

Sunday I planned a trip to the small city of Lucca. The only city in italy with its entire renaissance era fortified wall completely intact. You can ride bikes on it and everything!...Now the train ticket said platform 4. Platform 4 said Lucca 12:10; it was 12:00..right on time. Took my seat, a couple sat next to me,  asked me if this was the train to Rome. I laughed to myself as I helped them. "Rome? don't they know how to use trains? I helped the couple then our train left the station. Just as I settled into my seat ready for my sunday in Lucca a man came over the loud speaker. He welcomed all passengers from Florence Station Santa Maria Novella to thier regional service train to Siena... I had no reaction, flipped on my head phones looked out the window. "don't i know how to use the trains?"

Siena was a surprise I admit. But i payed for the ticket so i decided i would spend the day in Siena. Without rain, wind, and the need of a good scarf i believe Siena would be a beautiful city. So many small streets covered by footbridges connecting different buildings. Many winding streets but easy to find your way around (if your flipping marco polo like i am!). However the rain, wind and absence of my scarf made Siena very cold and difficult to enjoy. I found my way from the train station to the bus station and caught the right bus with the help of some Italian dudes about my age. However when we got on the bus I had to tell them a billion times i didn't understand what they were saying, and I swear they were trying to sell me a prostitute (or asking if i wanted to be one). So when they said follow us and got off the bus I acted like I didn't understand and stayed on the bus.

At the city center bus stop, I found a few american girls and asked them were to go. They weren't entirely helpful (leave it up to some girls to not know their way around the city they live in). But helpful enough. I found my way to Del Campo, which is the main attraction of Siena and the site of some famous horse races in the summer. I walked around that twice looking for the best place to get out of the rain and have some lunch. Settled on a restaurant and ordered. It was more expensive than most lunches I've had but I wanted to stay out of the rain. The pizza I had was the actually the best i've had since coming to italy (mushrooms, ham, sausage, and cow milk cheese) got a beer from the extensive beer menu. Settled on something german i couldn't pronounce, cause you can't go wrong with a german beer right? (kinda) Could have used some tasty coors light (terrible joke).

In the end Siena was a good experiance and a tasty lunch. I successfully found my way around a new city for the second time, and can check another land mark city off my list.

I admit the picture at the top of the post is a fake. Its a artist's creative reconstruction of my day wandering Siena. I call it "lucca????". This will also satisfy the many people who keep reminding me to post pictures of me and my friends. I'm trying harder to do it and have resorted to my self timer when I am by myself... so there you have stolen my pride...a self timer.

As some of you may know my dear Ipod Watson was taken from us in a freak accident involving the front tire of my bike. May he rest in pieces (literally). As a tribute to watson and the good times. I will post the song that was playing when he fell to his death.

who knows, who cares - Local natives
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHv_IgOk7Ic 

I suggest that you listen to these songs i post while you read or after you read. helps capture the true vibe and relation to the post

also give me feedback on these posts, like them? hate them? what should i keep or change?

Orvieto

This past saturday I went on one of the trips our program provides. We spent the day at Orveito, which is small town about half way between Florence and Rome, (google orvieto for panoramic views). Orvieto is an exceptionally unique town. It sits on top of flat mesa of volcanic rock. Its been populated since the time of the Etruscans. Short history lesson: the etruscans were the people who thought they were cool and ruled northern italy and the romans until the romans decided to kick the crap out of everyone. In fact the etruscans were the Roman's first test in art of arse kicking (the romans were really good at that, ask your great great times 8 grandfather). We started the day at the ancient fortress of Orvieto which provided fantastic views of the surrounding area (once again, google it). We then went in the Pope's well, yes inside the well. Since orvieto was the summer home/ favorite hide and go seek spot of many popes one got smart and decided to siege proof Orvieto (he played for keeps in H&GS). This well was 60 meters wide and 50 meters deep, which converts to "flipping huge" in terms of feet (check the bottom of page to see another picture of the well) Two stair cases, one up, one down. Provided some cool pictures. We then took a tour of the underground city. This was extremely interesting. There was remains of everything, from a olive oil factory to giant rooms used to house pigeons. Which was and still is a common food in Orvieto. Upon learning this I decided it was time to man up, give it a go.... so i had pasta for lunch

 I could go on and on about this town. One of the most unique places I have visited. If i had time, I would go back. I put up multiple pictures because this town was worth showing you everything I can.

Sunday I went to Siena...a related post will follow. Brace yourselves for blog photo history

Two songs I was vibing on. One on the way there, one on the way back when I destoryed my neck falling asleep on the bus

Rill Rill -Sleigh Bells
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLRnmQ-4Yp0

The best is yet to come - XV (really starting to love this guys stuff)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7qL9AG7-MQ