Il cacio

The soccer game is posted on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ9PFsYY-Wk

This might turn into a regular Monday night thing. :)

Soccer Game

Some of the guys got together to play a soccer game against some Italians. It was heated at points, but the Americans dominated (with the help of Ramzi). They won about 14 to 3.

Some video will be uploaded to youtube shortly.

Brady and Dillon's Older Brother

This young man works at a store in the open-air market in Ortigia known as the "Asian shop." No, it really doesn't have that name, but it does remind one of the crazy assortment of things you can buy at the 99 cent store in Chinatown, Boston.

He is a really good salesman though. He knew exactly how to work the crazy singing laptop thing I was eyeing.

Skype

We have Skype now. Gary has a camera which captures picture and sound. You will be able to see us, but unless you have a camera we won't be able to see you. You can still chat with us by typing if you don't want to talk. We want to hear from some people so here is our information.

Lauren's Skypename- lauren.standiford

Gary's Skpename- garybanjoman

All you have to do is download Skype and you can chat with us online (like AOL instant messenger). If you want to talk to us, you'll need a microphone and speakers or headphones.

I think even the most computer-challenged person can do this. Good luck! Hope to hear from you guys soon.

Trip to Agrigento - Valley of the Temples

Lauren's Parents Visit Sicily.

Bill and Deb take on Ortigia

Well my parents just left for the states. They really enjoyed their stay at the Hotel Roma and the day trips to places around Ortigia. I have some highlights to post.

• We ate dinner out every night except one when I made a pesto pasta, green beans, and a salad. It was delicious, but my favorite meal, and my mom would agree, was the Trattorria Pizzeria where they serve french fries on pizza! So good. Although Gary pointed out, what is the point of ordering french fries on you pizza if you are just going to pick them off and eat them separately anyway. We got the idea from a girl sitting at the table next to us on our first visit to the restaurant. So, on our second visit we ordered the patatine frittes a la pizza margarita.
  

• The Siracusa aquarium is also worth a look. There were lots of tropical fish to watch swimming in the small tanks. You could walk right up to the tanks and I even knocked on the Moray Eel's tank. (Take that you ugly eel!) But my favorite fish was something that looks like a regular goldfish. It had an enormous brain-like head, swam backwards, and did not stop flapping its fish lips. Here is a picture, I also took video which I will post to youtube when I get a chance.

• On Saturday my parents and I were treated to a guided tour of the Teatro Greco (Greek Theatre), the Orecchia di Dionysius (Ear of Dionysius) and the Roman Ampitheatre in Siracusa. Our guide was Gare. He carried his Blue Guide to Sicily and filled us in on all of the facts that he could remember as well as read concerning these sites. We saw the Alter of Hieron where up to 450 bulls could be sacrificed. Then we ventured into the Teatro and looked at the seats, the stage, the view of the harbor in the distance, and the natural spring or aqueduct that flows into it. We walked into the Ear of Dionysius and heard some people singing, almost sounding like a choir. It was a spontaneous thing, apparently the sound only echoes once and then dies, so it is a very touristy thing to sing in the ear. When walking around the garden my dad picked up 6 4 o'clock seeds for me to plant with my flowers on my balcony. Hopefully they will grow! Gare then led us to the Roman Ampitheatre where he had 6 lions ready and waiting to attack my parents and I. Luckily they made it out of there alive, and we don't have to worry about any lawsuits from PETA. But they sure put up a fight as my parents were simultaneously punching their throats, gouging their eyes and biting them on the nose. I was in the back taking pictures.

All in all it was a good time. :)


Other things Gare and I have been up to. Writing papers, planning our trip to the Aeolian Islands, and watching Rounders. It took us two days to watch Rounders because I kept falling asleep during the movie. Apparently, its a cardinal sin to fall asleep when Rounders is on, so it must be turned off. Its a great movie and all, but in my opinion, it is nothing to lose sleep over.

The Performance

The video featuring Gary's entire performance has been posted on youtube.

While you may have enjoyed the concert as a whole cut down to 4 minutes, I think you will really like this a lot better.

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

Enjoy!

Gary's Singing Debut

Last night Gary and a few other mcas students performed with the Ramzi Harrabi ensemble. Since I am still working out the logistics of uploading video from my video camera and then resizing it to fit onto a website, the video is slightly off. I used a program which edits the length of the video by cutting out pieces entirely, but keeping the overall idea. I think it's kind of artistic, but I still want to upload just Gary's performance. I promise to do that asap, but in the meantime, check it out:





If this doesn't work, I have also posted the video on youtube. http://youtube.com/watch?v=d7KEgl1H3YM

Walking Around Ortigia and the mcas Boat Cruise.

Trip to Catania

On Saturday we, the mcas students took a trip to Catania, a city northof Siracusa to check out the city and some students. We walked around and saw some cultural sights, a Roman amphitheatre, the symbol of Catania which is an elephant holding a pillar stolen from the Egyptians, and another Greek amphitheatre. Then we had a brief break for some shopping, a slice of pizza, and a gelato. The slice of pizza was delicious. It was a round piece of dough with sauce and mozzerella- baked to perfection. It only cost 1.40 Euro. They have the round pizzas in Siracusa too, but this one was the best by far. Perhaps it was that we were famished, or perhaps it really is that good.

After the historical tour, we walked around with some students from the local University of Catania. They told us about some fountains and showed us the river flowing underneath the city that supplies water for most of the fountains. One particular fountain is called the "Sheet" fountain, but because of the Italian accent and the particular smell radiating from the fountain, I thought our guide was saying something entirely different. Pictures will show the sheet, you will have to imagine the pun.

Our guides were 2 guys about 22 who chose to hang out with Gary and myself. They taught us the most famous Sicilian word "Minchia!" This word can be used to describe anything. For example if you see a beautiful painting, "Minchia!" if you enjoyed your pizza, "Minchia!", and even if you fall on your face, "Minchia!". It is used for everything! But not with professors, as the guides told us. I keep refering to them as "the guides" because I cannot remember what their names are! Ugh! However one was born in Spain, has a mother from Annapolis, MD, and speaks fluent English. The other has long hair, sleeps until 1am and taught us this wonderful word. That is all that I can remember I know Gary will have some more to add.

The slide show will be added shortly, we just have to sort through our pictures.

minchia.

Sunday at the Beach

Gary, his roommate Jack and I spent some time on an actual sand beach yesterday! Woo-hoo! Where we met a cute little boy named Marco. He head butted Gary in the thigh while they were in the water and then they played and played. Gare threw Marco in the air and then pretended to have Marco throw him. Comical.
Kelly reminded me that there was one point during our sunbathing that Marco removed his orange speedo, filled it with sand, and slapped his brother with it. Unfortunately I do not have any video of this because that would be borderline pornographic.

The Slide Shows

The pictures directly below our from this past weekend in Siracusa, Sicily. Our very first weekend! The pictures below that are from Garys apartment. More to come, possibly video, after Gary and I travel to Catania, Sicily this weekend.

ciao,

lauren

First Weekend in Siracusa!

Garys Apartment

View from Lauren's apartment

Wouldn't you love to have this view? The cute Smart cars, the Vespas, the gelateria right below, and of course the beautiful Mediterranean Sea. This is the view out of one of my windows. There is one good way to see it in person...


Come visit us!

Flight from Philly to Brussels to Catania (Italy)

Wow, with our flying record it's pretty amazing that our flights all got off the ground, and relatively on time. There were no actual delays and the weather was perfect for flying. The flight from Philadelphia to Brussels was 7 hours and 50 minutes. We saw the city of New York as we flew over after dark, it was gorgeous. We tried to see Boston, but somehow we missed it. The flight went up to Canada and turned toward Belgium, so we saw a lot of nice coastline. We saw the sunrise over the ocean too. Once in Belgium Gary bought a Belgium waffle which reminded me of a honey bun. It was delicious! We got on the flight and noticed that everyone, I mean everyone, had smaller luggage then ours. Not only did theirs most likely not meet the extreme weight of ours, 46 pounds, but they were much smaller in general. More like a child's suitcase, cute really. On the flight to Catania I sat next to a really nice guy who was tutoring us in Italian. It was a nice gesture, but I was too tired to absorb much. We waited about 30 minutes for our luggage, still better than our last adventure, and then we were off. Loaded into a taxi/van with 4 others and carted off to Ortigia Sicily. My roommate Suzy and I were dropped off first. The apartment is very spacious. Spread out over 2 floors, it has an eat-in kitchen, laundry room, living room with non-functional tv, 2 bedrooms and a large bathroom. The second bedroom is rather small and is really just a place to sit and read/study. I have a desk on my half of the big bedroom, a bed that sinks in about 6 inches when I lay down, and two small non- matching night stands. My dresser and wardrobe are out in the hall. A small price to pay for having the only desk! :)

That covers the first day (very, very long day). More pictures and blogs to come.