In the Fade....

Dear my imaginary friends,

long time, no see, but I totally forgot about my blog in the last weeks. First of all because in my final weeks in Rome, I had 2 visitors, my friend Corina and my sister Eva.
We did the usual Rome trips and had a lot of fun. I brought them to the same places I have been to with my family and tried to make them see what I have been experiencing in my time in Rome.
I finished university in Rome, I passed all exams with pretty good scores. But to be honest, it wasn't that hard....

Now Im back home, at my mum's, which is kinda weird if you haven't been living at home for the last 6 years. But I get along well with my mum and my little sis, so it's fine...and it's temporary anyway...because on the 10th April Im going to the US to do some research for my diploma thesis at Stanford University...so there will be another blog soon!!! =)

To conclude my Italian experience I can say that I had a good time and made new friends. I didnt have the best time in my life because sometimes I felt a bit alone and forgotten...but Francesco, Gerry and Simona were great and my life there a funny experience....I also learned some Italian and some Roman slang....and you can always profit from knowing some languages...I was a bit upset that some people who I knew before I came to Rome, who were supposed to be friends, did not really care that much about me...and blamed it even on me...for sure, I was not without guilt...However, this kind of showed me how friendships work and killed my naiveté about human relations...which I'm thankful for...

I don't know if I will go back to Rome to live there, I can't say this now since I'm writing my thesis and as soon as my studies are done, I can decide....we'll see....but I'm always up for new places....and new experiences...

Thanks to the people who read my blog and who sometimes left comments....I really appreciate this....

So see you soon on my next blog, "Fear and Loathing in California"....Baci

pretty scary...

Hey im back for a super short update...

This weekend we have watched a pretty scary documentary called "Zeitgeist"....and the second part of it called "Zeitgeist Addendum"...

These documentaries discuss our life in this world, our society, economy and power structures and tries to cope with all the myth we blindly believe in like religion, money...
If you wanna know what is going on for real behind the curtains of your so-called society....take a look at these films or the web pages cited here:

Zeitgeist - The Movie - web site
Zeitgeist - The Movie - full film on google.videos (in English, other languages available!!)

Zeitgeist Addendum - full film on google.videos (in English, other languages available!!)

The Zeitgeist Movement - web site

For sure, it may be doubted that all these people say in this documentary is the truth but somehow if you add up all that you see, it could come close to it....however, the main message in these movies is that a change in society can only ake place when each individual changes its behavior and we start seeing ourselves again as part of the whole...individualism is fine but we're all human beings and since we know that things are not going right in this world, it is up to us to provoke change and not to some muppet politician who is sponsored by huge companies that dictate him what to do in exchange for the funding....

Ok, I stop the preaching...decide for youself...

It's Trivia...

Hey there!

Yes, I'm sick...GRANDE...my throat aches and my limbs hurt...but it's ok...I already have some pills that will make me happy...

So what have I been doing in the last days...basically, the usual crap which is not much....

I play the guitar every day for at least an hour and also try to write songs...some stuff I wrote is ok, I mean, this is kind of my first real try to make my very own music....I've been told I sound like this or that band...but I guess this is natural if you start writing songs since you can't develop a personal, new style at the very beginning...I think you lack ideas of how to do it...so you take some riffs that you like, make similar ones or distort the ones you like and there you go...I'm doing it like this and I have some clear ideas what songs should sound and feel like...
However, I'm a chicken and I don't wanna say the stuff I do is any good...but I'm happy that I'm able to create and let flow my own ideas instead of only covering the music that I like...we'll see what is going to happen...in the meanwhile I just keep playing with my headphones on so that the feedback and loud distortion doesn't annoy my neighbours and flatmates....
My voice, however, needs definitely some training....I used to have a pretty good voice when I was singin in a band in school...but right now I sound like a warm fart and this doesn't really satisfy me...it's also hard to sing loud in this house since you hear all the neighbours...and I don't wanna end up embarrassed....

I took my first oral exam in French last Thursday. For the course, which focused on how spoken French is being represented in written texts, I had to write an analysis of a chapter of a book called Zazie dans le métro...like always, I was late in preparing this and so Francesco and me went on a book hunt to get this god damn book in time for me...we went to one store, Fnac, they told me it was sold out...from there, we had to head for the city centre, which was pretty far, in the icy cold on the Vespa, almost frozen onto the Vespa seat...to go to the Feltrinelli International bookstore...I didn't immediately find the bugger and so for some moments I looked like this...However, I was there and I spend 8€ on a book that I probably won't read...
I went home and started the analysis when at some point I saw in my lecture notes that I had one more week to prepare, and not 2 days, because I messed up the exam date...
In the end, I did an analysis of overall 10 pages and it was ok...I'm a bit out of writing in French, however, and made super many useless mistakes....so I had to print the bastard again, and in Italy this is always an adventure since you have to go to a print shop at the right time of the day because every shop is closed between 1 and 4 p.m for PRANZO (lunch time)....and I keep forgetting this since we don't have these hours of repose anymore in Austria since the 1970s I think....
Last Thursday, I took the exam and the prof asked me one question and I talked for about 3min and it was done...he gave me 30 points, which is the top score in the Italian system...
I went home, bought a bottle of Nero D'Avola (a super strong Sicialian wine) and my flatmates, Cisco and me drank it for CENA (dinner)....
Friday afternoon, I went to Cisco's place in Latina...I already felt a bit bad...moody and weird, the usual...That night, we (Cisco, Alessio, SwEden and me) went to a pub in Pomezia (close to Rome) where 3 bands played...the first ones, were a Iron Maiden/Blaize Bailey cover band, pretty bad which a kinda nerd bassist, who always made the "metal-rock'n'roll-mano cornuto-rock on-whateverthefuckit'scalled"-sign with his hand and made me laugh so much...it was kind of embarrassing for him...but he was so convinced to be a rocker...
The second band was called TSUBO...and the guy who introduced them warned right: "Non scappate!!!" which means Don't run away!....they made grindcore of the hardest sort...the drummer was going so fuckin fast, I was totally stunned that this is actually possible...also the guitarists were fast as hell...but the music is not really easy-listening!!! It's kind of a huge noiseball with no visible structures, at least for people who are not into this thing...
The last bad, Milvines ( which I think should be a pun on "Melvins" and "The Vines, hahaha how smart!) played only 2 songs because the singer and guitarist was so wasted...I think I saw him throwing up before the show...and after the second song, he threw his guitar like Kurt Cobain...it was kind of inappropriate because they neither played a good show, nor did anything exciting...I guess he was just out of mind....
Then we went home....(how exciting, huh??)

On Saturday we went to Cisco's grandparents for lunch....and his grandma stuffed me like a Christmas turkey...past with fish, fried fish, salad, salmon, chocolate and cookies...I felt like a stone rolling home...we took also a pic of them and me...they are really super nice and cute...After this gluttony, we went for a ride to the beach and it was making me feel better...a nice beach, some warm sun on my skin....even though, I still had to wear a jacket....
Well, that's it basically.....just one film recommendation...Cisco and me have watched a movie called "You don't mess with the Zohan"...it's the latest Adam Sandler movie and it's hilarious...one of the most ridiculous movies I have ever seen..but it also has a nice message...I've you like this kind of random, digusting, nonsense-kinda humor, go for this one and you won't be disappointed....

One last thing: Please dedicated some your prayers to me and my application for the KWA student grand so that I can go to the USA to find the American Dream...God bless you!!! :-)

Grazie mille e auguri...

Take a look at who you are...pretty scary!

Ciao a tutti!!!

First of all, Happy New Year to everyone! I hope you all had a good Christmas time, got many presents and passed a nice New Year's Eve!!

I don't have very many news since I spent my holidays rather quietly. However, I have some new insights into the strange Italian mind to tell...

I spent Christmas in Latina, Francesco's hometown by the sea. On the evening of the 24th December, we went to have dinner at his grandparents' place...my first full-Italian family expierience with grandparents, parents and his aunt but turned out to be pretty much fun. The food was amazing: We had several different fish dishes, from fish salad to fried seafood and Spaghetti alle Vongole. Cisco's grandpa gave me also some Italian grappa which was pretty strong...his grandma wanted to show me some embarassing childhood pics of Cisco but she didn't find them....
We went home and as soon as it was past 12 (following the Italian tradition, not the Austrian), Cisco gave me his Christmas present....It's a super cool super cute Squier Bullet Strat in Daphne Blue (which actually like Green....)...here a pic of me with bad hair but a new best friend....I bought Cisco a real Ukulele and the Nirvana Unplugged in New York DVD...he likes the stuff a lot!!! I hope he'll play some punk tunes for me on the Uke...

On the 25th, we went back to Rome since Cisco had to play a show with his band in a club called Cube. The show was nice, many people we know have been there and at some point we even had fun throwing stuff around backstage and getting a bit drunk...(as you can see on these pics) we went dancing and Cisco asked the DJ to play Smells Like Teen Spirit because if he would Cisco would have stage-dived...however, the DJ fucked up and he played some weird Guns'n'Roses shit...at that point, the party started declining and all the fun was gone...so we went home...but for not without stopping by the rehearsal room since the band had to unload their stuff....
The day after, we returned to his hometown...and there I didn't do much except for sleeping long, watching movies and read. Cisco went to play cards several times - this is a crazy thing....in the Christmas period, Italian people meet to play cards at home, clearly for money...groups of about 10 people play until 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning...for me this is weird...I mean not even my older brother or my mum do this...my grandpa used to play cards a lot all the year round...but here this is like the custom....which i think is nice because you tend to meet people who you only see once a year...I think we should establish such a tradition ourselves, maybe not playing cards...but other games..!!??

On day in Latina, I went to the hairdresser because my hair looked awful and in Rome it's pretty expensive to do it. So a friend advised me a shop...and told us that the hairdresser looks like the singer of Aerosmith. We didn't believe until we actually opened the shop door and started laughing...it was Steven Tyler in person who seems, if not on tour, to like to cut hair. And Cisco had to explain him what I wanted since my Italian skills aren't enough to explain a haircut. Steven (his actual name is Renzo) did a good job...he was funny when he talked English with me...but I'm satisfied with the result...even though no one will ever be as good as my personal best haircutter ever Ulli who unfortunately will go to Portugal soon....Here in Italy it is more common to find a male hairdresser than in Austria where the business is dominated by females. They even say that if you wanna go to a good hairdresser, it's for sure a man....and not necessarily gay....
Another thing that stroke me was the fact that Italians don't know a Hot Chocolate with Rum...Cisco ordered this for me and he had to explain this to the waiter since he didn't know it...but in the end I got it...the prove can be seen here...
On 31st, we were hestiating pretty long about what to do...I'm not a friend of New Year's Eve...most parties are not fun and people tend to force themselves to have fun and do something special..which is kinda useless for me. So we waited until the last minute to decide what we do...However, we went again to his Cisco's grandparents' place and had dinner there...his grandma finally managed to show me some cute pics of Cisco as a little bimbo....
After dinner, we went to a place in the country side of Rome, the house of Lollo where a party was going on...we didn't know many people and they played only 90s dance music which at some point made me weird, so after Megha started singing a Rancid song, I took my Ipod, plugged it to the stereo and played Timebomb by Rancid. People danced like mad...after this I played some Billy Talent but the whole crowd kinda freaked out when I played Smells Like Teen Spirit. Suddenly the living room became a mosh pit and people played airguitar and jumped and screamed...but I guess that was the limit of rock for them because after it people left the room...so I unplugged the Ipod and made room for the dance sound...
For us, the fun was gone as people started leaving and where pretty drunk...we left and went to Rome...on the way there we started fighting about music...the usual discussion...

When we arrived in Rome, we went to the Traffic again because a guy we know had organised a Capodanno party there...we had a look but when we entered the club, it looked like some Chinese opium hole...people passing out on couches, it smelled like vomit and piss everywhere...downstairs people danced and screamed to Gigi D'Agostino....so after one Rhum e Pera we left and our final destination was the bed....

After this, we stayed for more days in Latina because we were pretty lazy....and since the 6th were back in Rome...even for the 7th which in Italy is the day of the Befana (a witch who fills up socks with sweets - I guess Italians messed up with Babbo Natale (the Italian version of Santa Clause) who actually fills the socks as for example in the US and a witch doesn't seem to be part of the Christian belief anyway since Christians used to burn witches....)
And after this, the holidays are over and we are back to normality, kind of...I have little blisters on my fingers from playing the guitar and I'm already able to play a bunch of Distillers and Nirvana songs...my favourite to play is Gallow is God from The Distillers (but sounds definitely a bit nirvanaesque hu hu hu)

Yesterday I went to the main uni to meet a professor to get a simple signature for the Erasmus....Guess what happened!? Even against all indications, the prof was not there and never showed up even though I waited like 45min....So I went home and slept..because it seems like I'm not able to sleep at night anymore...it takes me ages to fall asleep...my body is tired and wants nothing more than sleep but my mind is on fire and goes totally random...it's horrible feeling...especially if you suffer from this 3 nights in a row...I hope tonight I manage...

Well, that's enough from me, since I wanna brush my teeth, grab a book and hit the sack!!! Thanks for you attention! Baci from a rainy Rome...