Thanksgiving Continuation!

I also wish that maybe the Pilgrims would have met some Mexicans so that we would have Mexican food instead! Margaritas, Coronas, and F-15s! Now that sounds like a good holiday!
Once again!


Cobb, out!

Happy Thanksgiving!

So, its Thanksgiving! And you know what! I hate turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce! Blah! I am not saying I don't like Thanksgiving as a whole! I just don't like the taste of the traditional foods that are tacked on to the holiday! To me turkey, like all other edible fowl, doesn't taste good. I find the meat kind of oily and dry! And it just doesn't taste good! Now stuffing and cranberry sauce is just flat out nasty! I always wonder why the pilgrims couldn't kill a cow and have steaks on that first Thanksgiving! But oh well! I can't like all foods! Its unfortunate for me that most of the food I don't like is associated with this holiday! It should be called Brian's-Most- Hated-Foods-Iving! I already asked the government to make this change! They said the bill should go by Congress sometime in March of 2006! Thanksgiving for my family usually consists of us eating, watching football, eating some more, fall asleep while eating, throwing a football, and eating footballs! Its always fun of course! This blog is much funnier if you imagine me yelling everything I have typed!

Cobb, out!

Abercrombie and Fitch

Well, I'm sure some of you are wondering about my new job. Heres a rundown. I work 45hrs a week, anyday of the week. I get 2 days off. The shifts for me are 7-5, 8-6, or 1-11. They are kind of weird I guess. I have to learn A LOT. Even though everything is laid out for me, I have a lot of tasks to do and to delegate (which is hard for me to do-my way is the right way). When I learn the way everything works, most of my day will be me telling other people what to do. Which is pretty cool, but I have to make sure the many jobs are getting done. There are a lot of responsibilities. We have sales goals to meet, schedules to make, people to keep watch over and pretty much everything that comes a long with keeping a clothes store running. Its very fun and I love it. But I can see at times it can be stressful and crazy. Like all jobs. So I feel I made the right decision taking this job. And I can wear flip flops at work. And I can do whatever I want with my hair. I don't have to have any sort of conservative business cut. I'm thinking I may get a Fauxhawk in a few weeks, I don't know. Or I might shave my head again. Oh yea. And I attended a conference call with the CEO of A&F. I thought that was pretty badass.

Cobb, out!

The Rest of My Italy Trip

Because I'm going to the great City by the Bay (Chicago). I'm posting the rest of my Italy trip.


Saturday, April 21:
We woke early, so we could begin the 4 hour bus ride to Capena. We saw more of the beautiful Italian countryside that was very mountainous and had many castles and ruins. We stopped for lunch around 1130 at one a fast food delis. We did this a great deal during the trip while driving through the countryside. The deli resemble the Atlanta Bread Company or Panera Bread, but they also have groceries and other items. I believe it was at one of these places where we got hooked on those candy bars that a mentioned earlier. Most of the places have real good deli style sandwiches. The sandwich I usually got was the panini [I just remembered that while typing this up…almost 5 yrs after the trip]. On our way to Capena we stopped at ancient Roman ruins. These were ruins of a small town that was formed by the ancient Roman civilization the Etruscans. Actually, this was the first civilized people to inhabit what was later known as the Roman empire. The Etruscans lived about 7000 years and up to 2000 years before Christ. I guess they got conquered or something around 2000bc. But anyway, the ruins were very interesting. You could see where they had houses and buildings and even a little arena for plays and shows. Their artwork, such as sculptures and pottery, is what was so interesting about their culture and lifestyle. They had beautiful and very artistic pottery. And their sculptures and busts were very talented. They were the first culture to show smiling faces in their artwork. Which, I found to be the most interesting thing about their society. It shows they were happy and whatnot. I found the whole thing very fun and interesting. We left the ruins and headed for the tiny and mostly unknown town of Capena. Capena, though extremely old, is not a tourist attraction by any means. Its just an Italian village. It has some great qualities about it. It located in the mountains and the whole town is filled with hills and great lookouts. Its also very wooded. There were a lot of trees around the town. Our whole point of going to Capena was to play with the local band and to march through the town. We were actually guests of the town and everyone came out to greet and listen to us as we marched through the streets. After our march we gathered a played some tunes with their band. They were small but much better than us. It was fun, no one cared at our suckiness. We changed out of band uniforms in a local school gym and began to walk to our buses. Then one of the greatest experiences of my life began to take shape. I noticed Chris was getting mobbed by a group of local Capena girls. I laughed and gave him a jealous thumbs up. Then they saw me. Before I knew it, I stole much of Chris’ mob of girls. They were saying all this Italian stuff to me, I had no clue what they were saying. I noticed some were actually speechless at the sight of me. Mr. Hallman yelled at Chris and I to get going and stop flirting with the girls. So we, with as much delay as we could make, gathered on to the buses to hear everyone laughing and cheering. I looked out the window and blew some kisses. And that was the last I saw of Capena and the ladies that live there. I will be back. While Chris and I were getting treated like rock stars, my brother Matt was getting treated like a revolutionary. He bought a Che Guevera shirt while in Florence and decided to wear it while in Capena. I thought it was a pretty cool shirt so I bought one too. But, understandably, he had no idea the reaction it would get in Capena. On the most part no one in town really cared. But a few, teenagers and young adults did. They started to talk to him and offered him some drugs and then they handed him a flier. Evidently, they were part of the Italian communist party or something like that and they were trying to recruit him with drugs. He said he was pretty scared because when he turned down their offer of drugs, some weren’t too happy. He got away from them though without any serious incident. I think he still has the flier and he still has the shirt too. I don’t think he has worn the shirt since. We took the buses to the place where we were going to eat with the band and some of the locals. This turned out to be the best meal of the whole trip. Everyone was relaxed with hanging out with each other, so everyone was having a great time. Plus, it was the last meal before we left for home. And, we got see our tour guide, who was a great companion throughout the whole trip, sing. We also got to eat with our bus driver who chartered us around the whole trip. This was no ordinary bus driver, he spoke 5 languages fluently and he had a degree in engineering and his name was Ermino. Ermino is my idol. It was another great time (I know I’ve said that so many times throughout the journal but its hard to put my feelings of many situations of this trip into words). We loaded our buses and headed towards our last night in Rome. The bus ride was nice. Ermino put in a The Beatles album. So now, every time I hear The Beatles I think of Italy. It was here for the first time that I kind of felt homesick and ready to get back. I guess the feeling was brought on by the fact that our journey home was very near. We arrived at Hotel Purgatory one last time. This time my room was at the top of the hotel. It was a really big room with a working TV but, a whole lot of us slept in it. We got to bed about 12am.

Sunday, April 22:
Aaah yes, the feeling of waking up at 3am. Well, its our last day in Rome and in Italy. It went by extremely quick and LITERALLY was nonstop fun. There was not a dull or crappy moment the whole time. We all scrambled and got on the bus loaded so we could head to the airport. I remember the morning was somewhat cool and crisp and it was still dark outside. We arrived at the airport very very tired. We sat, waited, and slept at customs while our instruments were being cleared. We loaded the small Swiss Air jet and flew to Zurich early in the morning. Then we waited some more at the Swiss airport and all of us very very loudly loaded our large plane for Atlanta. The steward were rather perturbed with our rowdiness but oh well. I pretty much tried to sleep the whole time during this flight. I got very little, I remember only dosing off a few times briefly only to awake right away again. For most of the flight I sat with my eyes closed in when of those semiconscious states in between sleep and consciousness. The flight ended up being about 10½ hours long . The landing was rough and scary for me. After this long ass flight I never wanted to see a plane for at least a couple of years. We had trouble in Atlanta with customs and it took a while to find some of people’s bags but we did and all bags were eventually accounted for. Then we loaded the buses, one last time, and headed for Mobile. The ride home seemed very quick because I slept like a baby pretty much the whole time. We stopped at McDonalds for some dinner and went on to Mobile. The whole ride felt like it took 15 minutes. We got to Mobile about 9pm to see all of our parents waiting anxiously for our return.


Wrap-Up
It took a full week to get back into the swing of things. Sometimes I would wake up at 4 in the morning fully awake and hungry. The time zone messed with my head and appetite a good bit. I was jet lagged for a good day afterwards too. The trip on a whole changed my life. I made many new friends and bonded with people that I never thought I would get to know. I also became closer to God and had a religious revelation. It also began my fascination with Rome and the Italian culture and history. Most of the facts I stated in this journal came straight from real books (not Dan Brown’s Angel and Demons) and videos that I have studied and watched on my own time. People often ask if I will go back to Italy. Its not a question of if, for me, but when. I WILL go back to Italy.
Some great things came from my trip to Italy. The greatest and most notable is that of Chris and Kathy beginning their relationship, which started out as puppy-love and now it has evolved into an engagement to get married. Besides the fact that they are perfect for each other, any relationship that starts out in Italy is bound to last forever.

Here are some things you should google to get a better view of what I saw, my words don't give any of these places the justice they deserve.
St. Peters Basilica (duh!)
Hotel Pergola
Trevi Fountain
Piazza Navonna
St. Francis Chapel and Tomb
Assisi
St. Catherine’s Head (a must)
Palazzo dei Priori Hall
Palazzo Vechio (a must also)
Etruscans (another must)
Capena

Italy Day 6 or 7...I don't know

Friday, April 20:
Possibly the funniest day of the trip for me. We awoke at 6am to a cold rainy morning. We ate a good breakfast. And by word of mouth I found out that some people didn’t go to bed but decided to scale the balconies. This wouldn’t have been a big deal to me because it is pretty easy to move from balcony to balcony on the same floor. But, however, I found out the Thad and Corwin (the guys who partook in this activity) were moving up and down floors visiting people’s rooms. After hearing that I laughed. However, my respect for the two increased tremendously. They are now McT band legends., which isn’t hard to be at all. Eventually, the news of the actions spread to Mr. Hallman and the two ended up having to spend the day with Mr. Porter, I’m not sure but I think leases were involved. We left Montecatini for Florence at 8am. I slept the whole way. We all arrived in Florence and began to head to the museum that held Michelangelo’s David. The museum was very interesting and it held many well known sculptures and artifacts, many of which I recognized. Then I entered the large room where David was being held. The statue is huge! And very detailed and beautiful (I don’t mean that in gay way). Seeing that, is something I will tell my grandkids about. We all left the museum amazed and we split into group once more to explore Florence. This time instead of splitting off with Mr. Sims and the normal group. I decided to go with my friend Alex Forte and his group. His group was comprised of Jay Champagne, Matt Flanagan and their Moms. It was a lot of fun. And random. We saw the famous jewelry and leather shops of Florence, the bridge that holds some of those shops. Almost a week into being in Italy I finally had my first somewhat real sit-down Italian meal. We found a pizza café, and had some authentic Italian pizza. Which is very different from the American pizza…its better. Then the chaperones said we could split up go and do whatever we wanted without any sort of adults. So Alex and I both went off for some debauchery and pillaging. Actually, we just walked around. I looked at a book bag because my broke and that’s about it. Alex and I are two crazy guys. We are lucky we didn’t get arrested or deported. It was fun however, we went to the many shops and saw the famously cheap but high quality Florence leather shops. At one point it rained. Florence was filled with gypsies (real gypsies) and it was very active with wide streets. And I lot of walking room and not much traffic. It was a very unique place. After the rain, the sun came out and created a beautiful and windy late afternoon. Our third performance took place in Florence in the very historic and beautiful PalazzoVechio. We tried to play concert music but the wind blew all of our music sheets around so we ended playing our marching music that we could secure to our instruments and also it was mostly memorized. The crowd loved it. And once again, I got to play at a very historic and famous place. Palazzo Vechio, can be seen in the movie Hannibal and many other movies. In Hannibal, if you have seen it, there is part of the movie where Hannibal Lector throws a guy off a high tower. That tower is in the square we were at. The guy’s guts (he was slashed open by Hannibal) falls on the ground at the exact place where we played. Disgusting, huh? It’s a good movie though. Also, Palazzo Vecchio has several very big and beautiful fountains, along with many sculptures, and a life size replica of the statue of David. The real statue actually stayed in that square for a good amount of time before it was moved into the museum. It was a very cool experience. After the performance, we all walked to dinner and experienced a pretty awesome sunset. The sky was a brilliant blue and against the skyline of Florence made some wonderful Kodak moments. After a good walk we arrived at the restaurant. This restaurant was a pretty interesting compared to the others. It kind of resembled a Morrison’s, but without the buffet. We ate pretty much the same stuff, pork, potatoes, salad, bread and water. We had a really cool waiter who joked a lot and flirted with the girls, in the typical European fashion. It was fun. And another great day was behind me. We had a sleepy bus ride back to our hotel in Montecatini. We ALL went to bed early.

Italy Day 5...i think

Thursday, April 19: We slept late!! That means until 7am. Breakfast was good and it fueled my addiction for the oversized melba toast. We the left the 5 star Park Hotel for Montecini but on the way stopping in Sienna. It was cloudy on this day and I slept a good bit on the bus, but at one point I awoke to Erik yelling, “Look! Two pigs are screwing!” What did I do? Well, I looked of course. My only regret on the trip. Sigh. Everyone laughed and Erik took a picture for his collection. I awoke in Sienna. Sienna is awesome. Its kind of in between Assisi and Rome with development and commercialization. But it is a city unique in itself and it holds a atmosphere like no other. Sienna was home to what was supposed to be the largest cathedral in the world but construction was stopped short due to something called the Bubonic Plague. Excuses, excuses, excuses. It also home of very famous but deadly horse race has been going on for centuries. It is not uncommon for both horses and people to die in the race as the go through the streets and piazzas of Sienna. One of my most vivid memories of Sienna is the wide open squares and piazzas that are scattered through the city. We split into our normal groups and explored the city. We ended up eating at a pretty good fast food pizza restaurant and then we started to make our way towards something I will never forget. We eventually came into the Church of St. Catherine of Sienna. The church was very beautiful, of course, but it had an extra something. The extra something was the head of St. Catherine along with her finger. It looked pretty freaky. The head was in a display case that was built into a side wall of the church. The head was well preserved and you can definitely make out St. Catherine’s physical features such as eye sockets, nostrils, hair, and skin. Very interesting stuff. The Catholic church “cuts up” those who are known to be saints or religious figures, so they can send body parts such as heads, hands, and fingers to all corner of the globe to be placed as relics in churches. All Catholic churches have a of some sort relic under the main altar. Very odd but I think it also adds to the ritualistic history of the Church and of course to holiness of churches. We only spent a few hours at Sienna but it was enough to make me want to go back. We then left on our buses for the town of Montecatini. I slept on the way there. We arrived at our somewhat nice hotel named Hotel Michelangelo. This was my favorite hotel because it was a cliché somewhat nice European hotel. It was nothing more than a Holiday Inn, but nothing less either. It had retro furniture and carpet, 2 beds, and a balcony that looked on the street. It was a very cool hotel. The hotel was located on a street corner so we could look down to our right and see the downtown area. While we could look to our left and see an undeveloped mountainside that had a castle at the top of it. And straight in front of us was the other street. It was a pretty unique view. After unpacking we had some free time, so Mr. Sims took a few of us (Chris, Carolyn, Judy, and one other person [for some reason in my journal I didn‘t state the other person…hmm]) to explore and get some snacks. We found a little flea market, a park, and Chris stole an orange from a tree that was in a courtyard of another hotel. We eventually came up on a little grocery store. I bought some melba toast and a candy bar. A candy bar? Why would I buy that? This was no ordinary candy bar. Earlier in the trip we got a gift bag that had some European candy bars in it. The candy bars were awesome. Everyone loved them. So I bought one. Chris bought a gross of them. We then left the store and returned to our hotel to get ready for dinner. Going to the grocery store was very fun because it was something different from the norm of being rushed around and we didn’t have any sort of sites to see. The dinner was very loud and fun. We all had a great time talking with everyone. At this point of the trip everyone knew everyone else and people were a little more comfortable with being away from home and in a different country. The food was great and the company was better. After dinner we went back to our rooms. Little did we know this night was to be one that none will forget. Chris bought some coffee while at the grocery store. This was no ordinary coffee though. If I remember right, the coffee was in a cuplike container and all you had to do was shake it up. The coffee would then warm its self in the cup (some chemical reaction of some sort) and the mix would kind of brew it or something. All I knew was that there was some sort of devilry or magic involved. And I think that Chris was part of it. I went to bed to the sound of everyone running around. Some people however never made it to their beds.

Italy Day 5

I'm glad ya'll are picking up on my little jokes. What do I know about loading luggage? For Maggie, I will elaborate on the streets of Rome at night in much detail. Rome is beautiful at night. Its way different than the busy streets of America. Many people in Rome walk around so there are many little walk-in shops and outdoor kiosks and market areas. All are lit up by little hanging lights, kind of like an autoshop light. A lot of times I remember walking into squares and seeing all of these lights lit throughout the square and the silohuettes of people moving around. Its very interesting and of course beautiful. The only thing I can compare it to that ya'll would understand is looks like one big outdoor mall. To sum up it is very romantic. So heres more of Italy.


Wednesday, April 18:
We got up early to leave for Assisi at 7am…sigh again. The bus ride was awesome. We socialized and goofed off but we also got to see the beautiful mountainous countryside of Italy. We saw the vineyards of Tuscany, mountains, and two pigs mating on the side of the road. Driving through Italy was just as great as seeing the cities of Italy. The country is truly all around a beautiful place. This was one of my best memories of the trip. We arrived in Assisi about 11 I think. I don’t know really my inner-body-clock was pretty screwed up. Assisi is roughly is the total opposite of Rome. There are very few cars, it is very laid back, and most of the town seems to be taking a nap. There isn’t too much going as in traffic and the movement of people, besides tourist of course. Driving up to Assisi was an awesome sight. The town is literally on the side of a mountain and you get to see roughly a profile of the town. You can see straight across from the St. Francis of Assisi’s chapel (which is on one side of the town) to the other side. Most of the town is made out of pink marble and stone which was forged from the mountainside. It’s a beautiful little village with a lot of culture and a totally different atmosphere than Rome. It is probably my favorite place that we visited in Italy. It is not as modern and Americanized as Rome so it still has the small Italian village feel to the city. To get to the city we parked in a parking lot and then used an escalator to get to the entrance of the city. It was kind of weird, but interesting. The escalator wasn’t as big as one would think. It only went up about 4 or 5 stories to the town. I am still confused why we took that route to the city, I guess the roads up the mountain were inaccessible to buses. I don’t know I’m not a doctor. We split into groups and I was with the group headed by the funny Mr. Sims. We walked through the narrow streets of Assisi and got to see the town on foot. The town is not to big at all and one could probably walk through the main part in about 3 hours at the most. But the walk is very Italian-esque. The streets are very narrow, there are beautiful alleyways and little courtyards and gardens. And on top of that you are on up on the side of a mountain so you can look down on a valley below. Assisi was the first true Italian experience of the trip. After getting some ice cream and souvenir shopping we made it to the chapel and tomb of St. Francis of Assisi. It was very beautiful but also it was a different beauty than the churches of Rome. St. Francis, as you all know, lived a life on minimal needs and possessions, so his chapel was the same way. It was mostly woodwork rather than gold and it contained more rough paintings than those that decorated the churches of Rome. It was definitely a chapel that represented nature and promoted a non-materialistic state of mind. St. Francis’ tomb was made of wood and very dark. The room where the tomb was not only held St. Francis but also many other Franciscan monks and clergymen,. Needless to say, the chapel of St. Francis gave me a whole new perspective on the churches of Italy and the Catholic church as whole. It is a great place. But all good things must come to an end, so we left Assisi about mid-afternoon for the town of Perugia, which turned out to a cool place also. We arrived at our hotel in the evening. This hotel was a big change from Hotel Purgatory. This hotel was a 5 star hotel that was equipped with a pool, showers with curtains, and TV’s that worked. And plus the rooms were HUGE, even by American standards. It was awesome, we ran around the 10 story hotel exploring and having a good time. Chris and I had to hunt for an iron and eventually found one thanks to a bellhop. We ended up ironing our clothes in the loft of the hotel. We all gathered for a very fancy dinner with great food and for dessert we had tiramisu. After dinner we headed towards our second performance which was going to take place in an indoor concert hall called Palazzo dei Priori Hall. We arrived at the hall which was in downtown Perugia. The hall itself was about 700 years old. The hall was in a gothic style, it very dark but lit but by many small chandeliers, which gave a very Renaissance/Medieval feel…to me at least. It was an honor playing at hall that had 800 years of history and it was an honor playing for the gracious people of Perugia. We played their national anthem and some of concert pieces rather than our marching pieces like we did in Rome. The crowd loved the performance and we played extremely well. It was very fun and a great experience. We got a standing ovation and an encore too…once again. An unforgettable experience to say the least. After our performance we got some ice cream and explored a little bit of Perugia in the crisp night. The streets our cobblestone and very narrow and there are many squares. There aren’t many lights, the only lights are of those of the few open shops and a few street lamps. Perugia, I remember, was very quiet and had very little traffic. It was a great night. After the ice cream we met up and went back to the hotel and to our rooms. My room had Chris, Nick, and me, about 12am we were visited by the very sneaky Megan and Katherine. We ended up talking until about 230. Most of our conversation was about how our group had been hanging out throughout the whole trip and how the group was about to implode due to high school drama and immaturity. Everybody had a problem with someone else. It really messed up a lot of good times people could’ve had in Italy. However, it did not mess up my good time at all. Watching people argue due to the stress of being in an new environment and being away from the luxuries and normal lifestyle of their homes can make people act very weird and out of character. I understand why some people acted the way that they did. Throughout this journal/man-diary when I say something is overwhelming I seriously mean it was overwhelming. Some people I know went through a literal culture shock on the trip. It is very weird to be in an environment where it is hard to order a drink due to a language barrier. I honestly feel bad for the people who held grudges and brought attitudes from home. I’m not going to lie I didn’t get along with everyone in band, but those who I didn’t get along with I didn’t hang around because I knew it would be a waste of my time in a beautiful place such as Italy. Needless to say, some people attitudes ruined an awesome trip for them…but not me. Blah blah blah [All of this I’m talking about was just high school drama]. After chatting with girls we went to bed. The girls left before we went to bed of course. Ha.

More of the Italy Trip

Tuesday, April 17:
Ahh, the feeling of waking up at 7am. Outside our bathroom door was a puddle of water about 3 feet deep because David decided to take an hour long shower (which didn’t have a curtain) and David has no concept of time. We got dressed and headed downstairs to find Will (the band clown) had a new hair cut. Minus the hair. He shaved his head completely bald. His mom thought that this was hilarious. She thought it was so funny she yelled at him for an hour. Another event happened this morning that was to be told over and over again throughout the whole trip. Mrs. Lafountaine went to my bro’s room to wake him and his roommates up. She knocked and knocked (about 30mins before they were actually supposed to wake up). She did this for about 5 minutes. My brother recalls hearing a blood curdling yell from one of his roommates. He said that what was said was inaudible. But it sounded like a wounded animal trying to fight off a threat while dying. He mimicked the yell for all who would listen. I don’t want to ever hear anything like that again. No one knows who actually yelled. But many believe it was Steve Lafountaine who was frustrated with his Mom’s knocking too early. I don’t blame him. After breakfast, which for me was about 20 packs of the oversized melba toast, we all got on the bus and headed to Vatican City once again. We arrived near Vatican City and unloaded. We all entered into a line that looked like it was 2 miles long. The line was for the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museum. Though the line was long it move surprisingly quick. However, for some reason 4 people decided to skip our whole group. So one by one, all 60-80 of us decided to skip them. The Vatican Museum was very cool. We saw many frescoes, painting, and sculptures by many famous artists. The halls of the Vatican are a sight all by themselves. The floors and walls are all marble of different shades and tones that created elaborate designs and patterns. One thing that sticks out in my mind while going through the museum was a courtyard I saw while peaking out one of the windows of the hall. It was beautiful and it was in the peak of spring. So all the trees were a brilliant green and the bushes showed blossoming flowers of different colors. While passing through many corridors and room we eventually came to entrance of the Sistine Chapel. Words can’t describe the detail and the paintings done by Michelangelo. It will make anyone speechless. There are so many famous works of art in just that one little chapel. Also, one could feel the history of the place. The Sistine Chapel is where the Bishops hold the Conclave to elect a new pope. There is a small furnace in the chapel to burn the substance that produces white or black smoke to show the public whether or not a vote produced a new pope to the Catholic Church. Also in the chapel is a little side room known as the “Crying Room”. This room is the room where the newly elected pope goes to pray and think over his new burden and office and where he is given his Papal robes and gown. Needless to say the Sistine Chapel is not only a great work of art but also a huge part of the Catholic Church itself. We exited the Chapel and got some gifts in the gift shop. Then we went off to eat. To eat we had to cross the bridge over the Tiber River. As we turned on to the bridge I turned around to see what was behind us. Once again I was shocked to find another famous Roman piece of architecture. What I was looking at was the Castel Sant’Angelo. It looks like a HUGE castle. I later found the history of the castle is rather interesting. It was once a great fortress. But it got its name from a pope who claims to have seen a vision of an angel on top of the castle. It is said to hold a secret passage way out of Vatican City that can be used by the pope to escape danger or get out of Vatican City unnoticed. That fact sounds kind of shady but actually the Vatican admits to having the passage. It is very breathtaking and its size is extraordinary. The bridge that leads up to it is very beautiful too because it rimmed by many statues of saints and angels. After crossing the bridge we went into the restaurant where we were supposed to eat. The restaurant’s name was Ristorante Il Duca. This was my personal favorite restaurant. It had murals on the wall and plants hanging from the ceiling. The food (instead of pork we had veal along with the normal bread, salad, pasta dish, and bubbly water) and the atmosphere was great. The restaurant was a very authentic Italian restaurant. On the walk back to the buses it rained and we changed on the bus for our first performance of the trip. Jeez, I almost forgot it was a BAND trip. We performed in the beautiful and world famous Piazza Navonna. Which can now be read about in detail in Dan Brown’s book Angels and Demons and also it can be seen in the movie “The Talented Mr. Ripley” with Matthew Damon. The square was also designed by Bernini and it has 3 beautiful fountains in it. It was an honor to play at such a world famous site. Our performance was great and the Italians really loved our American marching band music and tunes. Matt rode around on his baritone like it was a horse. I think he did this because he never really learned to play baritone. The Italians loved it. There was a crazy gypsy woman who cursed us in some foreign tongue and there was a 300 pound man that took pics of the girls and my bro Matt (it was rather weird). We got revenge and took pics of him. Other than those two characters everyone cheered and asked for an encore. We then split into our groups and got to explore Rome at night. Rome at night is a totally different beauty than Rome in the day. It has another great feeling to it that can't be put into words. So, I won't. We all loaded the buses once again and went back to our hotel to find another band from America checking in. They were kind of rude and annoying. Everyone had an early curfew because we had to leave early in the morning. We all went to bed happy. Also, the people that lost their luggage 2 days earlier came back to find that the airport delivered all of the bags to the hotel that day. So everyone had a clean change of clothes.

Italy Day 3

Thanks for the comments. Keep them coming. I'm still waiting on a comment from one person though. I won't call out names but her name begins with an "M" and ends in an "aggie". I noticed all fothe typos in my last enrty. So, I tried to clean it up this time. But it si 230am in the mourning. Heres day 3!


Monday, April 16:
We woke up to Kristina knocking on our door yelling, “Get up its 8 o’clock!”. We were supposed to be up at 7. Oh well. This was the beginning of many acts of tardiness for our group. We scrambled and got dressed and took our showers just in time to get the last of the breakfast. Which was the normal bacon, eggs, and cereal. However, they had these big pieces of melba toast that I loved. I grabbed a whole bunch of them for snacks that I could eat during the day. We got on the bus and started driving towards the center of Rome. It was here where I began to get to know my cousin Tommy Alsip ( a little too well-the guy is crazy), because we sat by each other on the bus. But, he is one of the funniest people I know. We got off the bus and onto to the busy busy streets of Rome. There are very few traffic lights, no pedestrian walkways, and no lines on the street. Traffic is mayhem compared to American standards, thousands of little vespa scooters, mini coopers (which were a normal thing over there because they were part electric and very small), Alfa Romeos, and other sports cars, all of which drive as fast as they want and use up every space of street possible. We got off the bus right in front of the world famous coliseum. At the coliseum, tourist had the chance to fight gladiators, which were actually just Italian dudes dressed up in a gladiator costume. My brother, who never backs down from a fight, decided he should spar with one of the gladiators. So, my brother forked over the 13000 lire (about $7 at the time) to a willing challenger and began to fight as onlookers took pics of the big American guy fighting a wimpy European man in an outfit. As the last picture was taken my brother was surprised by the gladiator, who snuck up behind him, and Matt received plastic sword to his throat in a blink of an eye. This made Matt jump. And also Chris caught Matt jumping on film. So, we all concluded that the gladiator won the fight, since he had the last laugh. The coliseum, like everything else in Italy, is very pretty and you can feel the history of the place. We then all walked through the streets of Rome to see the Trevi Fountain. Which is also an unbelievable sight. The sculptures of the fountain are awesome. Every corner you turn in Rome there is some great work of art, architecture, or ruins of the Roman civilization. Where the streets of Rome are today are actually about 10 feet above the ancient streets of Rome. Throughout the years Rome was literally built on top of itself. The group I was with was led by Dr. Alsip and Mr. Sims, two very cool guys. Mr. Alsip added the facts and history of the places we will visit while Mr. Sims added the comic relief and jokes. We traveled around stopping at major churches and seeing many religious relics and artifacts like the finger of St. Thomas the Doubter, the thorns of the Crown, the spear head that went through Jesus’ side and the INRI sign that was placed on top of the Cross , and even the mummified body of St. Pius IX (who was about 4 feet tall). We then tried to eat lunch of what looked like a nice restaurant. We had to leave early because of time restraints and plus all of the food tasted like fish. This act of leaving early pissed off the waiters. Oh well. We looked around some more and shopped for souvenirs. It was very fun spending time with everyone and seeing the great city of Rome on foot. Mr. Alsip then took a small group of us to see the Pantheon. Once a Greek temple, then it became a Catholic Cathedral and now it’s a big building. We instantly got lost looking for the Pantheon for 2 hours. We gave up and turned around and started walking back. As we were running back toward the place where we were supposed to meet the bus we ran right into the square that the Pantheon was in. The Pantheon very much resembles an ancient Greek temple. It was once covered in bronze, but the bronze was stripped from its outer wall to make the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica. Due to hour two hour tour we had no time to actually visit the place. So we all just ran (yes we were running by this time) by the building. It was fun running the street as night was beginning to cast shadow through the narrow alley ways and piazzas of the city. I remember thinking to my self while running, “I will never forget this.” It was literally like a scene out of a movie. The sky was beginning to go into a dark blue shade and the shops and kiosks that sat in the square began to turn on their lights as shoppers still browsed and looked at souvenirs. People were beginning to take seats for a long Italian dinner at the many eateries and cafes. What made it better was having friends running by my side that were seeing the same thing I was. Also, many corners in Rome have ancient drinking fountains that constantly pump out fresh water for anyone who wants a drink. The fountains are fueled by the ancient Roman aqueducts that are still functioning today. And the water is still very sanitary and good enough for any visitor to drink. We ended up arriving at the bus on time. And eventually all groups were accounted for and we left for another night in Hotel Purgatory. We ate at the same restaurant. This time we were a little more happy and cheerful because we all had gotten some sleep and had a great day. We all talked about our adventures of that day and the sights that we saw. I forgot to mention two major aspects of the Italian meals. One was the bread and olive oil that was served at every meal we ate. The bread was great and very very hard, but when dipped in olive oil it is unlike any bread I have tasted here. And the other was what everyone had to drink. If you were rich enough to get coke then you got cold coke with no ice. However, to save money, many got either water or carbonated water with their meals. Many, especially my brother, enjoyed having the carbonated water as an option for a beverage. I didn’t like it too much. But when in Rome do what the Romans do...haha….uuh… sigh. This dinner was very much like the dinner the night before, I think there was a different pasta but nothing too special. It was fun hearing everyone stories of the day. After eating we all headed back to the hotel to get ready for bed. We had some free time before bed so everyone hung out in the lobby or the courtyard and chatted. Eventually, my group made back to our rooms where began to torment Nick and anyone else who let their guard down. The funniest thing we would do was to make the bed collapse as someone laid down to sleep. The beds had fold-in legs because they were portable. We would fold in the legs just enough to make the bed stand. However, when someone laid down in it, the weight of the person would cause the legs to fold in all the collapsing the bed to the floor. It was great to watch. It was also fun to have it done to you. After hours of playing with the beds, we decided to throw candy out our window to the girls window across the courtyard. This scared the crap out of the girls. They thought it was some crazy Italian guys that they ran into earlier in the day. Throughout the trip all the girls found out that if you look an Italian guy in the eye it means that you are dating and that he will make sure he will see before the day is over. Eventually, we all fell asleep.

Italy Trip Journal

Foreword by Brian Cobb

So, here is my Italy Trip Journal. I wrote it in the summer in between freshman and sophmore year of college, roughly one year after the trip. I believe this journal is poorly written, simply because it was written more as a reminder of the times I had while in Italy, rather than a means to entertain. I really have no clue whether or not ya'll will like it. I hope ya'll do. But I understand if you don't. Let me know of any suggestions or any questions ya'll have pertaining to events, places, happenings, and whatever I can do to make the journal more pallatable for those who were not on the trip. Please please give me comments on whether or not ya'll like it and what I can do to make it better. Read, comment, and enjoy!


Well it’s been over a year. Though it feels like yesterday when we went to Italy. I was hoping to write this about 8 months ago. But college, it turned out, was a little more work from McGill. Now, its my first full day of summer so I decided to do something productive. So here it is.

Friday, April 13, 2001:
The day before we left. I remember having butterflies in my stomach. I had a checked and re-checked my luggage making sure I had my passport and stuff like that. I was physically prepared for the trip but I had no idea what to expect. That night I got to bed at about 1:30am. I was wakened by Mom and Dad at about 3:30 in the morning. I remember feeling like I hadn’t slept at all and I was wide awake and feeling fully refreshed.
Saturday, April 14:
After a long night of sleep I awoke at 3:30am. I got my luggage and headed out the door along with my surprisingly wide awake brother and parents. Matt on any given school day takes about 4 hours to get out of bed and about 5 to be fully awake-just in time for school to be out. That morning was different. We arrived at McGill about 4:00am and I saw some of the ugliest people I have ever seen. No offense to anyone. Nobody looks great at 4 in the morning. After gagging from the sight of some people I stumbled out of the car and greeted everyone. I don’t remember who it was but some dumbass shined a video camera with this bright light in my face. I then made a secret pact with myself to kill this person. All of the guys and Brian Upton began to cram all of the luggage and instruments into the bus. Then everyone sat around and got briefed by Mr. Hallman and I‘m sure Mrs. Stewart said something. Then we said our goodbyes to our parents and left about 6am. We were supposed to leave about 5, but oh well.
The bus ride was blurry. We stopped at a rest stop around Montgomery. Then after that I got on the bus I blacked out. I awoke in the middle of loading instruments into a luggage container in an airplane hanger at the Atlanta airport. I thought they hired people to do this task but hey what would I know about loading luggage onto planes. We then drove to the airport and waited in line at customs. It would’ve been a boring wait but my bro kept us all entertained with his witty humor and some jokes that probably broke International Laws. We then found our terminal and waited some more. After, what felt like over 2hrs, I heard over the intercom a women announce the boarding of our flight. I was so excited and nervous I almost threw up. Now everyone in our group was beginning to act like tourist. We were all loud, obnoxious, jumping up and down, and some dumbass was filming his empty plane seat before he sat in it. I took my seat. Then it hit me. I was going to Italy. I WAS GOING TO ITALY…the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, David, the food, and the culture. I was seriously about to cry with happiness, fear, and overall excitement. The fasten your seatbelt sign came on and we climbed a cruising altitude of about 42,000ft and we leveled off. The flight was awesome. It was here where the whole group of about 60 people began to bond in ways no one would expect. Think about it we got to know each in a very special way. And it all started with that plane ride.
91/2hrs later, Easter Sunday, April 15:
I felt very weird. I didn’t slept at all since the bus to Atlanta and then I only got about an hour. Add that to my 2hrs of sleep the night before and that equals only about 3hrs of sleep. I’ll pause here to let all of slow people do the math. …Ok. Back to the story. The flight was great. I remember Chris (the dumbass) [Even though I wrote this a full year after the trip, for some reason I was still rather bitter towards Chris for shining a bright light in my face at 4am] filming the landing even though the Captain asked that ALL electronics should be turned off. So now Chris has a segment of me looking over from my seat yelling at him to turn of the camera as we made our slightly turbulent entry in the Zurich airport. Ahh, yes, Zurich Switzerland has a neat airport. And that’s about all I know about Zurich, Switzerland. We played in the airport waiting for our next flight. Some people bought some chocolate and looked at the world famous Swiss watches. It was great. If we would’ve gone home right then I would say that the trip was awesome. We then waited at the airport “terminal”. This airport was a little different from Atlanta. The terminal weren’t terminals at all by American standards. They were a bus ride across the runway to your plane. As we were about to load the buses. Something strange happened. It began to snow. We frolicked and pranced through our new found glory. We held our mouths open towards the sky and took pictures. We looked like idiots to all of the other passengers but who cares. The Swiss people probably trashing us in their native tongue to our faces. But it was fun. We drove to our plane and watched the Swiss baggage handlers give special treatment to our luggage. I saw a trumpet case that sat on the runway for about 30mins in the middle of a snow storm. During this short 1 ½ flight to Rome a lot happened. My bro Matt and Corwin secured a special place in Mrs. Stewarts heart by annoying her throughout the flight. All I can say is that she deserved it and Matt and Corwin weren’t necessarily doing anything bad but they were doing stuff that annoyed Mrs. Stewart. Like talking and laughing and breathing. Then we passed over the Swiss Alps. Which were unbelievable. I guess this was our first real breathtaking sight of the trip. Another thing that happened, was the incident that involved Matt, Emily, and two pieces of Swiss chocolate. During the flight, Em and Matt accepted Swiss Chocolates that were being passed out by the Swiss stewardesses. Let me pause here to remember the Swiss stewardesses…aaww yea. Alright, so Matt and Em accepted the chocolates while in sleepy stopper. They then fell asleep. And during landing they awoke to find the chocolates liquefied on their shirts. I consider this the first great sight on the trip. Everyone laughed. They did not. But oh well.
We landed in Rome welcomed by custom agents with automatic assault rifles. Chocolate Matt made no jokes here. To some people’s dismay their luggage never showed up in Rome. I personally think it had to do with the special care provided by the Swiss baggage handlers. After American Mr. Hallman tried to communicate with the Italian Customs Agency about the lost luggage, we left thinking that the luggage will arrive in February on the backs of alligators fueled by spaghetti. I think there was a misinterpretation somewhere in the conversation. We then departed from the airport for our first major stop in Rome (our shall I say outside of Rome and outside of Italy completely). Vatican City.
Ahh yes. Vatican City. This for me was a life changing experience. I vividly remember walking through the streets of Rome and turning around a corner catching my first glimpse of the walls surrounding Vatican City. I was awe struck. The entrance of Vatican City has HUGE pillars and columns that form a crescent shape around St. Peters square. The curvature of the crescent and the size of the columns don’t allow anyone entering to see the St. Peters Basilica or the full scope of the piazza. The square was designed like this for defensive purposes so that attacking armies would be unaware what awaited in the square. I wasn’t attacking but I was definitely unaware of the full scale and awesome beauty of St. Peters square. So like pretty much anyone that enters, I passed through the huge columns and came upon an opening, which was St. Peters Square. It was unbelievable, but I can recall the site to this day. The square of course is big, but I wouldn’t say massive, but the architecture, the statues of Saints that peered down on the square from the walls of the crescent, the fountains, the obelisk, and probably many other fixed structure that I was unaware of due to my senses being overwhelmed. It also was a beautiful crisp clear Easter day, which added to the experience. The whole group of about sixty people were in the same state of mind I was in. Everyone jaws dropped and all was silent within our group. I wasn’t only moved by the sight of the place but also the history of it. Knowing that I was standing on the grounds where some of the greatest leaders of history ruled and where some of the greatest people walked and live and of course died. The obelisk in the center of the square marks the place where St. Peter himself was crucified. I didn’t know this until years after I left (we were not accompanied by a tour guide at this time), after walking around the square and taking many pictures I decided to sit at the base stone of the obelisk to rest and think over what I’m looking at. Our grouped all gathered together to go into St. Peter’s Basilica. Once again I was unprepared physically and mentally to see that sight too.
Still in awe, I started walking up the slight incline towards the Basilica. Once again, we walked through a set of columns and pillars, and entered the Basilica. This sight was even more breathtaking than the square. As we entered straight to our left was Michelangelo’s famous Pieta, which is a sculpture of the Mother Mary holding Jesus after he was pulled off the Cross. Also, there was awesome and very very detailed stained glass windows, frescos, paintings, statues, and there were many painting on the ceilings of the Basilica portraying angels and other religious symbols. At least, I thought they were paintings. I found out that they were actually mosaics. But due to the height of the ceilings and the small size of the pieces of stones and marble they looked like a huge painting on the ceiling. I still couldn’t believe it when I found out they were mosaics from one of the chaperones. The main alter was right in the center of the church. It was all bronze and massive and was designed by Bernini who also designed the square and the Basilica itself and he sculpted Trevi Fountain too. He makes me feel worthless. The bastard. The Basilica is mostly made of gold. Wherever there is a railing or some metal work it is gold. Its unbelievable. There is also the tomb of St. Peter in the direct center of the church, which is also the entrance to the tombs of all the Popes of the Catholic Church. It is made of gold too. At seeing all this, I will admit I cried from being overwhelmed by both thought and the sight of it all. I can’t stress how great a sight it was. I hid my crying by making it look like I was coughing and had something in my eye. So no one knew. After, I gather myself we all sat down to partake in Easter Mass. This was the first time I got to really relax since we got off the bus about 40hrs ago. I had no sleep since we got off the bus. So I sat in pew and proceeded to dose off while in St. Peter’s Basilica. I remember there was some Latin and that the choir sang. The priest said what I thought was a homely and then a lot of people got and left. So I left too. I went and sat at the base of the obelisk again. And just chilled talking to some of my friends who left too. A lot of the others stayed in church. After a while they all came back out and I realized I just missed Easter Mass at the Vatican. And I actually wasn’t bummed about it at all. I had a good time just sitting at the obelisk and really getting a chance to take all of it in and to relax a little. Plus, I think my lack of emotion for missing mass was due to my lack of sleep. We all gathered and met our buses to go to our hotel for the night. The hotel was named Hotel Pergola, a.k.a. Hotel Purgatory to all that resided there on our trip. Most of us dropped off our bags, some watched others drop off their bags (because they had none!). Luckily, the restaurant we were going to eat at was right across the street. So we all met there and sat down for our first Italian meal. We pretty much just sat down and fussed at each other because we were all tired and jet lag. Looking back on it, it was really funny. The food didn’t ease our attitudes and wasn’t too good at all. I think the restaurant made all the food in bulk since we had such a big group. And it was pre-made too because some of it was cold. The meal included a salad, some potatoes and pork and a little bit of (cold) pasta. Sounds good huh? The restaurants name was Ristorante Pizzado e Grigliando. Then we all crossed the street and returned to our hotels rooms. My room consisted of a room about as big as an O’Leary room. However, it had 5 beds. And a fake TV (the TV was hollow- it no wiring or tubes) on a stand. Along with our luggage and instrument. We had left 2 sqft of unused floor. Just enough for one to shimmy across the room to their bed. The bathroom had a shower without a curtain, a bidet, a sink, and a toilet. Many people complained about the size of their rooms and the lack of space. Some rooms just had a drain in the floor and a shower head on the wall- no tub. I didn’t care. We weren’t in the luxury of America anymore. I wouldn’t have had any other way. I came to Italy to experience new things and this hotel was exactly that. Plus it wasn’t as rough as camping. I would’ve been happy sleeping in my suitcase on the street honestly. My room consisted of Chris, Nick, Erik, and David (who evidently was attached at the hip to his girlfriend Kristina). We all went to sleep pretty quickly.

The Saltine Challenge

So, it all starts off with eating lunch at Butch Cassidy's with some friends. For those unlucky few that haven't been to Butch's, they supply an ample amount of free saltines that I believe are there for the soul purpose of partaking in the Saltine Challenge. My friend Pat and Brett caught wind of the challenge and refused to believe it was impossible. So we , like all good friends, put them up to the dare. We grabbed about 30 packages or so and headed to the parking lot to begin the dare. Pat was first up to the chopping block. He got through about 4 crackers or so before spitting a plume of cracker powder into the air. We all laughed at him and his demise. Pat hung his head in defeat, something that he does on a daily basis. Not convinced by Pat's defeat, Brett, in all his hard-headedness, started furiously eating crackers. Realizing he was running out of time he decided to not chew the crackers and shoved one into his mouth, in which he proceeded to swallow it whole. His technique very much resembled that of a crane eating a fish. Brett looked up to the sky and strained to swallow. Since saltines are very stiff and hard his technique failed horribly. And we all laughed as he spit out half eaten crackers and one still unchewed cracker. And Brett, though he pushed himself to his physical limit, finally considered the challenge impossible. Like I always do, I cried from laughter at my friends failing.

The End

Cobb out!

Poor, poor, Chris.

For all of those feeling crappy about school and whatever else. I hope this will make ya'll feel a little better. Here is my friend's (Chris) class schedule:

transform theory of linear systems
electromagnetics II
Analog and Digital Electronics
Power systems II
microprocessor interfacing lab
electromechanical energy conversion lab

His major is Electronic Engineering at South.

Oh yea, I just finished typing up my journal from my Italy trip. Its been on paper since freshman year of college. I'm going to post it one day at a time each day because its really really long. Its about 9pgs single spaced.

Cobb, out!