ok so there are some more pics from Victoria's camera. I start work tomorrow so I need to sleep soon.. No trip is complete without a greasy Italian man hitting on you. Check out the pics from Victoia's camer especially "getreadytowetyourpants"

I am back in London! I missed anglophone countries so much! See my updated pics.. there are over 100 so enjoy! Time to shower and sleep!

I am back in London! I missed anglophone countries so much! See my updated pics.. there are over 100 so enjoy! Time to shower and sleep!

venice is beautiful! It is raining really hard and we just ate chinese food because it is so cheap in italy.. tomorrow we are going all out with a big meal.. then saturday we return to london! Yay life.
We are staying in another skell hostel but it's only for 2 nights for 18 euro a night which is about 20 bucks...

Bleh, Florence is still awesome.. Seeing the water rocks. Today we went to the Museum Effuzzi and saw the Botecelli painting the "Birth of Venus" and the one of the cherub strumming the guitar... We lived like paupers and had 60 cent loaves of bread for dinner.. This is quite sad, but I have to admit there is something funny about it. Don't worry, we are getting gelato tonight.

I love Florence!!!!!!!!
So far Florence is soo much better than Rome. It is cleaner, safer, and quainter. Everything I envisioned Italy to be. Our hostel is gorgeous and so nice, I can't believe it's so cheap and right in the center of town.
We enjoyed some Italian night life last night and all night I was being hit on by this professional opera singer.. Oh god it was too sleazy! My "friends" sure got a kick out of it so they egged him on just to get free drinks out of the situation which I refused to drink. Ha! I am a mere vehicle to them.. Anyway, Florence gets two thumbs up and we go out to explore today and leave for Venice tomorrow.
Yay!

So I am off to florence this morning.. Going to a discount supermarket to buy food to save money... To prevent getting scurvy, I will stock up on the OJ at the hostel.. otherwise I have just been eating bread and pasta and cheese.. Oh the life.. How awful it would be to get a pirate disease :)

Today I went to The Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica. I took so many pictures, but you will have to wait. Oh man, today was sunny and nice and we are getting free pizza form the hostel tonight. Ha! I also had a cannoli that was too amazing for words.. It was like a meal in itself. Will keep in touch when I am in Florence!

I am alive and well in Italy, people!!!
The ryanair flight went flawlessly out of Stansted airport in London and we got here no problem. Rome is absolutely gorgeous. Although it is a bit overcast it is still about 50 degrees F. Today we walked for 6 hours straight from sight to sight..There are ruins everywhere.. We saw so a tomb of an unknown soldier, the pantheon, roman ruins, and ate pizza overlooking the Colusseum!!!! The gelato here is the best dessert I've ever eaten in my life.. The food is amazing on the whole...
Pics will come when I get back to my own room.. This is still so surreal.

Hello all,
So my exams are finally over! No more class until March 1st when I start my internship. In the mean time, this is our spring break time.
I am going to Italy tomorrow morning so I will not really be able to update my blog while I am away unless I find any internet cafes. So if you don't hear from me, don't worry, I am living it up in either Rome, Florence, or Venice. Tah Tah for now! Will have the best pictures when I come back next week! (BTW it's supposed to rain all next week in Italy. Blast!)
e-mail me at rescigno@bu.edu which I hope to check more often when on holiday.
Peace out my people!

So I rocked my exam yesterday no problem. Then this morning I went to the East side and did some BOGUS bargain shopping:
T.K. Maxx (The English equivalent to T.J.)
6 pound shoes down from 30 pounds! ($60->$12!)

Then I went to ASDA which is the Brit equivalent of Wal Mart and picked up the cheapest gorceries ever!
Mind you this is a poorer area compared to the richy-rich area I live in. I got 4 rolls of TP for 49 pence and hot cross buns for 66 pence! This was the highlight of the day and I will be surely going back there with bigger bags to bring back to South Kensington.
I look around at the poorer people shopping there and to them it would be unfathomable for them to know where I am living in london. Crazy.

I also applied to the London Underground for a busking liscence (busking = playing music for money) so that I can earn extra cash. Much like in NYC, they hold auditions for bums and beggers to perform their acts and then they can legally busk in the subways. I figure my clarinet lease is good until May so why the hell not? Becuase I can't legally get a job here, I might as well play classical tunes and benefit from the charity of the upper class. At least I don't need working papers for this. I figure I'll get dressed up in my concert black playing my clarinet (unplugged) with a jar next to me that will read, "Stop Bush" or "Sorry, Top-up fees got me down." This will be great. (Top-up fees are the big controversy of having brit college kids actually (gasp) PAY for their higher education rather than have the gov't subsidize it all. So I'll be a political statement either way.

So I locked myself in for 2 nights and I finally finished my Brit lit paper this morning. Ugg.. I will post it on my picture site of you are at all interested in Philip Larkin's views on the dichotomous nature of love... time to relax.. and then revision!

I took a day trip tp Brighton which is on the coast of England and I put my hands in the English Channel. Brighton is quite a touristy area in the summer so there was barely anyone there. There is a pier which has arcades, casinos, roller costers, carnie games, and pubs which was interesting. Also the Royal Pavilion was there. The coast was amazing and the beach was made of pebbles and rocks instead of sand. Enjoy the pics.

So I am dating the guy in all my pics named James Eagle. He is endlessly fascinating and we talk about everything and anything! He is 25 and (as I may have said earlier) is a music journalist/ sub-editor for a leftist politcal paper in London. He is originally from Canterbury and has informed me that I will eventually have to go visit his town to meet his mom and grandma because they want to meet me. crazy! (he also said he'd like to meet my mom!) He treats me like a lady which is a change from seeing American boys.
That is all news right now.

Hello party people,
I am locking myself into my room for this week to finish work in time for the weekend. I will come back with great pics from Stratford no doubt!

So this weekend was filled with discotheque goodness and all that. This week I am locking myself into my room to finish a paper and my powerpoint presentation. This weekend friends and I are taking a trip to Stratford (upon -Avon: the birthplace of Shakespeare). SHould be amazing fun.

my friends from Madrid are here and they went off on their own to Camden this morning. I went to the covent gardens market and walked to trafalgar square. when there, I popped into the National Gallery and then I walked to Picadilly to the Royal Art Museum thing. I saw a great contemporary exhibit although I think I was supposed to pay. Oh well. Then I walked all the way back to my place. This was a good 3 hours of walking in the sunshine. Also I added more pics of trafalgar sq, hyde park, and a poster for the moody blues when they play at royal albert hall ion october. tonight promises dancing disco.
note: the pics are titled London070204.. so they are in the middle of my archives

So today I went to othe British Museum after class and took some pics of the Egyptian exhibit. (Note the pic of the Rosetta Stone!) I also added a pic of the snow, my journalist acquaintance James taken at the discotheque, and more of the museum. A friend of mine from BU who is studying in Madrid is coming this weekend and I will show her the sights.

Hey there everyone,
I have added two more pics from my friend Victoria. One is of me and Katrina in Chinatown the night after the chinese new year celecration. Notice the hundreds of paper lanterns behind us in the air. The second one is of Victoria, me, and Katrina (respectively) out for a night of Carlsberg (ick!) and dancing at the Discotheque last wednesday. By the way we are going back tomorrow night because the crowd and music were so fun. And I am having more Indian food on Brick Lane (little india). Sigh....

Also, these are the girls I am going to Italy with during Spring Break.

So I had my interview this morning and it went well. I absolutely love the place! It is right by Oxford Street which is like me working off of Madison Avenue. I was told the dress code is "Funky Casual."
I feel like I have reconnected with many parts of my personality that lay dormant in the states. For example, I find that playing my clarinet in the orchestra had brought me back to GOOD music and not just pep band songs. Everyone I meet and retain as friends is connected to music in some way. The music in the discos is new and cutting edge, not britney or justin or crappy crap crap.
Also, I am just so happy to be in the heart of one of the biggest cities in the world. Meeting new people is amazing and everyone is so interesting.
I can't wait to work.

PS: when it says I published at 5am that is 10am in england.

I have my interview for the PR firm tomorrow at 9:30am... ick... i really hope i get this job.
Last night we went to this pub that was illegally open showing the superbowl and serving us american food and drinks. they blackened the windows like it was prohibition (due to the pub hours that close at 11pm). we were up until 4 am rotting for the patriots. when we came out london could not have cared less. It was a fun experience.

Last night I went to Little India in London and had more delicious indian food with my friend Kati. We then proceeded to a pub and club which is the standard nightlife ritual in London.Today we are seeing a free film about the London Philharmonic during WW2 at the Tate Britain Museum and then a Superbowl party at are flat as we catch up with work.