August 2, 2003

• our roadtrip is nearing a close. after having driven 12 hours from Barcelona to Bologna, we were greeted with some down home hospitality. me and damien crashed at stephania and alex’s place–when i think of a “european” apartment, i think of their place. the two of them went out of their way to show us a good time and give us a glimpse of the blessed life they lead in this picturesque city. yesterday, alex and steph took us around dowtown, inside the old city walls. we chilled at and around Piazza Maggiore, went to San Domenico cathedral, saw the “7 churches”, ate some bombass pizza, toured the new multimedia library, tried to make it into the old anatomy musuem but it was closed, and generally had an irreplicable time. we decided it would be nice to buy the couple dinner, so we all went to this nice osteria in the quarter where the art students at the university bologna live and traffic. after 2 bottles of red wine, 2 bottles of white, enough crostini and bruschetta to feed a whole village, 3 different types of pasta later, we decided to meet up with the couple’s other flatmate, francesco, in one of the countless piazzi for beers, smoke, music, and chatter. then, as if that wasn’t enough, we all piled into our rental car, and steph drove us to this pool hall where alex and she are members. we had the whole place to ourselves and needless to say we made the most of it. more drinking, more chatter, and a couple of ice cream cones. on the car ride back, the fellas all lost their lids to some debaucherous sing-along sessions to doggystyle, afterwhich we woke up the entire city with a prolonged cypher over mason’s instrumentals. the night couldn’t have gone any better. not even a little bit. i feel, and i think the other fellas would agree, that each port of call that we’ve hit up on our travels has out “wowed” the previous locale/experience. and i think it’s only fitting that we find ourselves in bologna, chilling with alex and steph and having the greatest time. it’s the most appropriate bookend to our 3 week roadtrip. we leave tomorrow morning to head back to amsterdam, where it all started.

  
  

  one of the things i’ve learned on this trip is how much more amazing my true friends are (which is hard to fathom given the fact that they’re the shit to begin with). each and everyone of us is unique and different–from our appearance, to our interests, to our style, and even out geographic location. to paint a little picture, let me break down the motley crew in bologna: jeremy is from d.c., studied political science at brown, pitched for the baseball team, started a non-profit political e-zine (www.401cypher.org) for providence youth, and is starting the international relations masters program at new school in september. damien is from dublin, studied psychology at brown, was captain of the track team, worked with and counselled IV drug users after graduation, and is now in his second year at trinity college (university of dublin) finishing up his masters in counselling psychology. mason studied spanish literture and history at cornell, got his master’s in teaching at brooklyn college and now teaches at a bilingual primary school in brooklyn. alex graduated in fine arts from brown and is now teaching english in bologna where he lives with steph, who just finished her PHD in clynical psychology.
  
  alot of mindless people waste too much time stressing over WHO they know, what type of “connections” they have, who can get them into the [fill in blank] scene/club/etc.. i think it’s how well you know YOURSELF that everyone should focus on, because at the end of the day, you’re on your own and this life belongs to YOU. to me, those people are who i can relate to the most, the ones that can offer me any meaningful perspective on integrity and substance. all the others are just background noise. press the mute button and play on. play, play on.

  • 11:20 am
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