Euro 08

A few of us decided to go and check out some of Europe this past month. It was really awesome to have been in so many places and seen so many things. Here's a little run down of the trip.

Our flight left from LA, so we drove down to St George on Monday the 5Th. Spent the night hanging in the hot tub and bleaching my hair blond.

We got up early the next morning, stopped in at Denny's for breakfast, and took off for California. We had a couple bathroom breaks on the way...

Later in the afternoon we got to California and headed for the beach. It wasn't very warm, the air or the water, but it was nice to be there anyways.

The next morning we got up even earlier and headed for LAX. As we were waiting we saw Kevin from The Office and Diamond Dallas Paige (former Pro Wrestler). We later came to discover that DDP was following us around and trying to ruin our vacation...anyways, we got on our plane and headed for Atlanta. We weren't in Atlanta very long (just long enough for me to remember how hot and humid the south is) before we left for Madrid. That was an 8 1/2 hour flight and we got no sleep.

81/2 hours later we came down through the clouds and saw beautiful Spain. That would be the last time I enjoyed Spain. After landing and getting through the airport, we saw that it is a downpour outside (later coming to find out it hadn't rained in Spain for weeks before our arrival). We drop our luggage off at some lockers and wait in the rain for a tour bus to take us around Madrid. It finally arrives and we pay 16 Euros for the tour (that's $24). It's taking us around and it wasn't too bad of a tour, but when we switch buses we get the tour guide who would rather flirt with the driver than hit the button to start the audio at the different sites. Not to mention half the time we were up top because there was no room in the closed section of the bus. It was cold and wet. Not that fun. Apparently the driver of the bus didn't like traffic because we hit some gridlock and he decided the tour was over.

We decided to get out of Madrid and head for Paris. So we got on a 17 hour train. Before we did though, we had to wait 3 hours in the train station. Now by this time we hadn't slept for almost 30 hours. Those 3 hours didn't seem too long to us...

We only got to sleep on chairs that reclined on the way to Paris, but we slept really well for most of the train ride. Paris was a breath of fresh air! It wasn't raining, and it wasn't Madrid. We found our Hostel and started seeing the sights. That day we saw most of Paris.

Notre Dame

The Eiffel Tower

Arc De Triomphe

These were the more well known places we saw. We also got to stop and see the Moulin Rouge the next day (for those who are fans of the movie).

I really enjoyed Paris. It's a good place to go and stay for a couple days.

At this point me and Rhett stayed in Paris most of the day and earlier in the morning Josh and Tommy headed off to Brussels and Amsterdam and had some interesting encounters. I'll leave it to them to explain. Rhett and I just walked around the city a bit more that day and then in the evening got on a train heading overnight to Venice. We slept through most of the night and woke up to Italy. We were only up a couple hours before we arrived in Venice. Unfortunately we only had about 10 minutes to catch another train to Udine, where my family lives, so we didn't see the canals that day.

Whenever I arrive in Udine I always feel a little like coming home. It's a familiar place to me now and having my family there makes it a second home. Being with my family is especially sweet since I don't see them too often. It was a really nice break for Rhett and I to have a constant place to stay with a good bed. Not to mention how much my Nonno (grandpa) fed us every day. Tommy and Josh caught up to us a couple days after we arrived.

Since Venice is only an hour and a half by train from Udine we took a day to check it out. It's always a little surreal to see the narrow alleyways and canals in Venice. Although there are so many tourists and shops that it loses a bit of it's romance, it is still quite amazing.

Having a couple days before we needed to go to Rome, we took off one morning and went to Trieste, a beach down on the Northern side of the Adriatic Sea. Rocky beaches, but pretty water with some jelly fish that we played with.

Our next stop was Rome. We arrived and after taking the most ghetto above-ground metro and a dirty old bus, we arrived at our campground. Luckily for us we didn't have to bring a tent. They provided us with these luxurious campers.

Rome was amazing! I loved Rome. St Peter's Basilica is HUGE and amazing. The Sistine Chapel was incredible. Going around and seeing all the old ruins and the coliseum was so incredible.

After Rome, we headed North into Tuscany to a town called Lucca. We would stay there for four days while we toured that area of the country.

While the other three went to Florence, I went and hung out with my Uncle Marco

We went to the beach (which, btw, is where we beat some swedes in beach volleyball)

Stopped in and saw some leaning tower

Oh and we heard about this amazing Hike on the coast of the Mediterranean from someone who had been there before.

We were now done with the things we had set out to do. We traveled the next day back to Udine and it was good to be back and rest a bit. We would need it for our LONG journey home.

It started Monday morning at 8:15am when we left for Milan. Got to Milan and our train to Barcelona was full. After much deliberation, dilemmas, and 9 hours we got on an over night train back to Paris. From Paris we went to Barcelona and once there missed the night train going to Madrid. Our plane left the next day at 11:30am. There was a train the next morning at 6:00, but we would have to stay outside of the train station all night. We did so with the company of some other Americans and our friend Borris from Latvia.

Again, Spain was out to get us. Well, a combination of Spain and Diamond Dallas Paige. But we did make it to Madrid and to our plane the next day. Oh how great it was to come back into the States. Of course we had a 2 hour delay in Atlanta, but we finally made it to LA. We left LA at around 9:00 PM and arrived in St George Thursday at 5:00am. I think now after a couple weeks of being home my body is finally done recovering from all that we did.

This was missing a lot of some of the details and stories that we had. I thought I would share this general overview so people could know where we went and what we did. If you have any questions you can ask any of us.

Who am I?

In the last few months I've been pondering a lot about who I am and how much I show that to people around me. Sometimes writing things down can say much more than speaking them. I will try to express who I am and who it is I want to be. Some of these things many of you will know. There may be some things that surprise you. I might even throw a little humor in there as well.

It's sometimes best to know where someone comes from to know why they are the way they are. I have Italian and Scottish roots. Being half Italian, that side seems to come out the strongest. Having both of those origins makes it no surprise that I have a very strong passion for life. I am an emotional person. I grew up in Orem with an amazing family. My parents always showed love through words and actions. We were always an affectionate family. I looked up to my brothers and sister with great admiration for who they were becoming.

I can't say enough about my parents. They are such loving and faithful people. They always tried to do what they thought was best for us. We always had family prayers at night with whoever was home at the time. I have no doubt that did a lot for our family strength. They always supported us in sports, music, and dance. They were willing to talk to us about whatever may have been bothering us. They would discipline us when we needed it, but would always remind us that they loved us.

Marco, the oldest, was almost bigger than life. He always had the coolest friends. He was smart and athletic. I wanted to be like him a lot. I was never good at expressing that and more often than not just became a nuisance to him and his friends. When he got home from his mission I felt like he became a third parent and wanted to go against what he would ask of me. Now that I've grown up a bit I often seek his advice and counsel on many matters in my life.

Lisa and I were always pretty close. She would get me all dressed up and put makeup on me and have me show my parents. Luca was much more reluctant, but she usually got him too. As she got older and into high school she shaped different parts of my personality. She introduced me to punk music. I will always associate Blink 182's album Dude Ranch with my sister. She even introduced me to Ernie's. As much as I love my brothers, Lisa will always have a special place with me.

Luca and I are an interesting story. We were always together when we were younger. Always playing together and just hanging out like buddies. Jr. High came around and we started becoming very different people. We didn't have the same taste in music, friends, or hobbies. It was always a little bit of a competition between us to be better than the other. We were never really close through Jr. High or High school. Once Luca left on his mission we became a lot closer. Funny how distance and time can make relationships stronger for some.

I absolutely love sports. Sports are more than just games to me. It's about struggle. It's about heart and soul. I have so much respect for people who dedicate their lives to being the best at what they do. Watching them put that effort into play can be such a beautiful things. Anyone who knows me knows how avid of a BYU football fan I am. When I am married I only ask for 13 days of the year for me. 13 days of BYU football in the year. Is that really too much to ask for? She can have the other 342 days.

Looking back on my life I can see when I was determined to do something I almost always succeeded. Unfortunately I've also always had a fear of failure. To this day I still get scared about starting things, not knowing if I will be able to do it. It's kept me from many things in my past. I am starting to overcome that fear.

I have a hard time accepting compliments sometimes. Often I feel like I get attention which is not deserved. I don't know how to react in those situations. I know I should just say thank you and be grateful, but it's hard to do. I don't mind attention when I've done something to receive it, bad or good. My birthday is sometimes difficult because of this reason.

As I said before, I am an emotional person. It is not difficult for me to cry. I wish it was easier for me to hold the tears back at times. Other times I am grateful that I can show that emotion outwardly. It is difficult for me to become really angry. Sometimes my excitement can be confused with anger or frustration. I usually will not be angry with someone unless I feel they are spitefully trying to hurt or manipulate me. I can and do become frustrated with family and friends. But I am quick to let those emotions go. Most of the time I am pretty happy. You will usually find me joking and teasing.

I worry so much about the future. I don't think its a healthy thing sometimes. I worry if I will make something worth while of myself. I worry that I will be a good husband and father. I wonder if I am being a good friend, brother, and son. Most of the time this worrying comes as I lay in bed at night.

I love music. Music can absolutely soothe my soul, it can get me pumped up, and it can get me deep into thought. I don't like angry music. I really hate screamo. I don't like most country music, although there are a few songs I don't mind. I love listening to rap when I'm with Leif. Mostly I just like relaxing and chill music.

There is a lot I am still figuring out and discovering. Most importantly though, here is what I know for certain. I am the son of a loving Father in Heaven. He knows me perfectly and is aware of my needs. There is within me divine potential. My strongest desires are to please him. It is easy in life to forget how strong those desires are. No matter where I am though, as long as I take a step back and look around I always remember.

These are a few things that I've thought about. I could keep going, but this post would be way too long. There will be more later.

Sick of winter....

So, I'm pretty sick of winter right now. There's been snow on the ground for many weeks and there is more on the way soon. I've had enough winter. I've had enough of the cold. I'm ready to move onto Spring and Summer. Those are the best times of the year.

A few changes in my life since the last time I wrote(Yeah I need to do much better about being consistant). For the last few months I've been working graveyards at the UVSC police department as a dispatcher. I've enjoyed it a lot. The graveyards are messing with my schedule too much though. I'm changing jobs and will be working for Tyler again at his store. I'm really excited about that change. It will be nice to have a better schedule and pattern to my life.

I'm going to school at UVSC full time right now as well. I changed my major this semester to History Education. I'm probably also going to get a minor in coaching. Right now I would like to become a high school teacher/coach. I think that career would give me good structure and would allow me to do something I enjoy doing. I really love working with kids and I really enjoy teaching. I would like to coach both football and track. Football because I love it so much and want to be around it. Track because I know it pretty well and enjoy teaching the mechanics of it.
I am excited for february because I get the chance to coach a little bit. I will be the Timberline Jr. High girl's assistant track coach. A good friend of mine is the head coach and needed an assistant. I told her I would love to help. Let's just hope I can do some good over there.

Soon I will be turning 23. There are a few things in my life right now that I'm not happy or satisfied with. I'm spending the next week or so making goals and plans to achieve those goals so that hopefully this next year I can make some improvements and be closer to where I should be. I'll be spending most of this next week to myself. I'll do some things with my family, but I need to get away from my social life and take a break.