What do you want on your tombstone?

As we were walking through the Etruscan museum, we walked through room after room or interesting artifacts. There was one room with a sarcophagus in it. It was made totally of stone. The depiction on it was somewhat interesting. It made me think of the old Tombstone Pizza commercials..."What do you want on your tombstone?" In the video below, Max Bertini looks at what was on this Etruscan "tombstone."



Now I don't know what I want on my tombstone, but I know it won't involve an execution scene! So it begs the question...What do you want on your tombstone?

Etruscan GI Joe!

Do you remember when you were a kid, playing with those army men that came in a bucket? Imagine that, but only thousands of years ago and in bronze. While in Orvietto, we visited the Etruscan museum. Among the many exhibits, they had a case full of hundreds of the Etruscan "army men." Click the video below to see the collection.

The final 48

First of all let me say that when we awoke Saturday morning, we didn't know what was going to take place. But to suffix that, God also works in mysterious ways and cares for his people.
Saturday morning started much like any other. Wake up, brush teeth, and have breakfast. After breakfast we got on the road for Florence. We made it to the airport, checked-in, and went through security to find out that our plane had been diverted to Pisa. The airline said it was for weather, but the weather was fine. So we bussed to Pisa and landed in Munich an hour and a half later.
Once we disembarked in Munich, we found out that our plane to Chicago had left without us. We spent four hours with the airline, booking hotel rooms, getting food and transportation to the airport...and most of all tickets back to the states. But in the meanwhile, we bunked in Munich. We made a good time of it. Some of us hit the sauna...while others went out on the town.
This morning my group left the hotel at 6:30 a.m. We got to the airport, went through security and made our way to Frankfurt. Once in Frankfurt, we had to do it all over again, security and passport control. But again we made it through with time to spare. We finally arrived in Atlanta.
But US Customs and Border Patrol is another story. Long lines and question after question. We thought we'd never get back to Little Rock. But we did, safe and sound! So 48 hours later here I am in my apartment, back in Searcy, Arkansas where it all started...a week and a half ago! Caio Italia!

While in Rome...

So today, was by far the best. There was no pressure to turn a story or to be anywhere at a certain time. We went and did what we wanted when we wanted and it was great. We left Florence at 8:40 and arrived in Rome around noon. When we got there, the bus drivers and train conductors were on strike, making traffic back up for miles. We tried to take a taxi to the Colosseum and work our way down, but had to end up going up hill. No matter...we're on Spring Break! We started at St. Peter's Basilica, which was utterly beautiful. The statues were gorgeous and the fresco's were breath-taking. After seeing this we treked toward the Trevi Fountain. It started raining and we stopped in McDonalds for abit to escape the weather. When it finally cleared out, we got finally got to see it! Here's a video of what I thought about the Trevi Fountaian...and yes! i threw a coin in and made a wish.



After this we went into a bar and got a pastry, mine was a croissant filled with nutella. We started up the hill again toward the Colosseum and we stumbled upon the ancient ruins, which were awesome. Then we saw it...the mother ship of Rome...THE COLOSSEUM! It was gorgeous...I touched it! After our day of excitement we went back to the train station, had lunch, shopped, and waited for our return train. I slept all the way back! I have mixed feelings about going home, but home is where the heart is. Spring Break has been a blast and it's been fun sharing it with you guys! Can't wait to get back and see everyone of your beautiful, smiling faces! Caio and TVB y'all!!!

The last hoorah!

Eventhough today is Thursday, it was out last day with the HUF students. They head to a free travel weekend as do we. Many of us are going to Rome. Here is a look at what we did this morning.



We ate lunch at Del Pinnelo, which was amazing. We showed up for dinner at the Villa an hour early, so we took a nap. Dinner was good as usual and after that we enjoyed the Scandicci Jazz Band. It put me in a New Orleans mood. We're back in the bible school now. A group of us head for Rome tomorrow at about 8:45 a.m. I really want to see the Trevi Fountain. I will blog tomorrow, hopefully with video. Im off to bed...Caio and TVB y'all!

The beauty of the Arts

Besides the sculptures and paintings we see day in and day out here in Italy...I thought I'd share something today about song and dance. Song will be adressed in this video.



But the dance aspect is a little different. Tonight we hung out with some Albanian Folk Dancers, who put on a show for us after dinner. We were exposed to Albanian dance and had a great time talking with them and learning their dance moves. I will be writing a story about one of the HUF students who is the "scat-man" of the group if you will. Be looking for it. Caio and TVB friends!

I'm beginning to see a pattern here

All day Tuesday was spent documenting a group of HUF students, as they traveled to Orvieto, Italy to complete a homework assignment called mission Impossible. Click the video below to hear some of my thoughts on the train ride to Orvieto.

It takes my breath away!

No, I'm not talking about the Italian countryside. I'm talking about what is probably the coolest room in the HUF Villa. That would be the basement. Besides being a quiet getaway, it is covered in awesome, epic murals and paintings from almost 15 years of HUF groups. Each group draws a mural and signs their name to it. Ben Graves...I tried to find your groups mural, but it still eludes me. I tried! I found Abby Bedford's name and Drew Dell's. Here is a look into my head about this totally awesome room in the Villa.

You never know what you'll stumble upon

One thing I've learned during my brief time in the Villa at HUF, is that students take every opportunity to have fun. The thing is you never know when that opportunity will arise. I almost missed an epic gladiator war between Harrison Eudaly and Kevin Richey, involving neck ties and punching bags. If I wouldn't have had my camera, I would have missed it. Check out the epicness below!

Sunday was a day of rest!

There was a time way, way back when it was illegal...YES! illegal to to work on Sunday. But we're in the new age of hustle and bustle and technology. No more Blue Laws for us! I did alot today and have so much yet to do! Here is a snipet of my thoughts from today.

Lost...nah! (Part 2)*

Now for the explanation of my earlier statement! Michelle Cascio, Sarah Kyle, and I went off in search of food and personal items/souvenirs in Florence. We ate lunch in the train station. Sarah had pizza and Michelle and I had "the caf" for lunch. I had beef, potatoes, and mushrooms. DELECTABLE! After lunch we were headed for the market and i was stopped by an Irishman asking for some spare change. In my Americanism I didn't think about the fact that I might be giving him more than pocket change. I gave him 4.5 Euro. He went on to tell us his story. Michelle Cascio did an extensive piece on him...I won't steal her thunder by telling you the story here. Although it is such a good one! We went further and Michelle got seperated from Sarah and I. we went off in search of souveniers. I was searching for ties...paisley at that. Boy did I succeed! I found 14 ties worth 36 E altogether. I got 6 paisley ones and Sarah picked out a David tie for me...think about it and laugh! (I wore it back to the Bible School and got some good laughs.) After we were done shopping we searched around near the Duomo and decided to try to head back to the Bible School to get some work done. Well problem was we couldnt find our way back. We found our way to San Marco, which is about 2 miles from the Duomo. We consulted the map and found our way back to the bus stop. Ten minutes later Michelle hopped on our bus and was less than pleased with us. But we stopped at Mario's for cappuccino anyway, even though it was starting to get dark (Custom in Italy says that cappuccino is a morning drink only.) We walked back to the Bible School and met up with friends for dinner and a night out on the town! Ciao and TVB for now ya'll!

Lost...nah!

I proved my theory today that you can't be lost, but you can sure take the long way to get there. I shall explain in a few. First things, first. I was the last to bed and one of the first to rise, out of our flat at least. I awoke, showered and ate two pears and a bowl of Corn Flakes. We had a production meeting shortly after that. We discussed the days events and expectations. We went to the Villa and waited for the HUF students to get out of class and go to the Scandicci Market. I made friends with the Villa cat, Zeus. After this we went into Scandicci and met with the Under Mayor of Economic Affairs for Scandicci and he toasted the students. Michelle Cascio and i interviewed him and you can see our interview on The Link as soon as it is uploaded. In the Scandicci Market I was in search of paisley ties. That's a whole other story!

Benvenuti a Firenze

Good gracious! The past 48 hours have been the most exciting and hectic in a while. We finally arrived this morning at 10:30. We got to the Bible School at 11 and unloaded and freshened up for lunch and a meeting/chapel with the Mayor of Scandicci! I interviewed him along with the help of Sarah Kyle. we are working on a few stories dealing with the mayor and they should be up by tomorrow. Lunch was amazing! It was bow-tie pasta and pork loin roast! After lunch I had a cup of expresso and watched an entertaining game of ping-pong between Grant Sloan and Jon LaBello. After this we went out and explored the city and exchenged dollars for Euro! After 2 hours of walking around the city it was off to Gallo's via the #27 bus. We arrived 20 minutes ahead of everybody else. We were treated to the classical Italian Margarita, 4 cheese, Pricuitto, Pepperonni, Italian Sausage, and the house special, The Gallo! After dinner we wished Gabby Pruitt Happy 20th Birthday! After dinner it was back to the bible school to document the days activities and plan for tomorrow! I'm excited for what tomorrow holds...it effectively starts at 8:45 with a production meeting and cappuccino! Caio and TVB ya'll!

We almost missed it!

Once we arrived in Frankfurt, we ran to our gate to find a series of Customs check points. We were sure our plane was going to leave without us. We tried as quickly as we could to get through. Meanwhile Lufthansa management pushed the departure time back 30 minutes to allow us time to get through security. Some of us had problems again and had to be checked and scanned seperatly. Before i could be dissapointed, we were on the bus headed fopr our Avro RJ85 and on our way for Italy. They were a really good crew for waiting for us! Once we boarded our short hop to Florence, the doors were closed. Ham sandwiches were served as a snack and boy were they good. Gil even impressed the stewardess with abit of his German speaking skills. Her jaw hit the ground!
One hour after we had taken off in Frankfurt, we were in Florence ready to get to work!

First impressions

I wasn't too impressed with Lufthansa until I woke up two-and-a-half hours in to our flight-LH 431 from Chicago-O'Hare to Frankfurt, Germany. Let me explain.
It seemed like an eternity that we were in "taxi-land." Wefinally got airborne and leg room left something to be desired. I tried to sleep. At first I slept for 30 minutes or at least until we had crossed Lake Michigan. i was awaken by the sound of babies crying and the annoying cabin lights. I took some Sprite and flight pretzels, making good on my promise of sucking down sprite and eating flight pretzels...LOL!
I piped down again...but of course the lights didn't. Two hours later, i woke up to the smell of what loomed of lasagna and of course those pesky lights.
To boot with the light situation, it was way too hot in the cabin!
However, dinner was awesome for airline food...chicken and some tunes from my iPod. While eating i listened to Elton John and George Winston. For dinner i enjoyed the aforementioned chicken, snap peas, and self-made cheesy mashed potatoes(the best kind, of course.) There was also a side salad, bread and strawberry cheesecake for desert. I told my seatmate Gil, I wasn't impressed up until the point at which dinner was served.
After dinner i caught the first half of the Robert DiNero film "Everybody's Fine." Flight attendants derved tea and trinkets from the trolly. I got up to mingle and while I was up...THEY CUT THE LIGHTS OUT! It only took em 4 hours!
After struggling to get some sleep, breakfast was served. It was decent, mostly fruit and granola. It was during breakfast I realised that wer were 20 minutes late. When we arrived in Frankfurt we rand and were confronted by our worst nightmare: DUTCH CUSTOMS! YIKES!

Smooth Sailing

We started our morning early. I was beyond excited...so much in fact, I yelled "KELLL-ETTTT!" to Abby upon arrival to the Reynolds. We packed up and boarded the bus. Bob drove us to the airport. LET THE FUN BEGIN!
Checkin was an ordeal to say the very least. Twenty-five people trying to check in with 1 attendant was certainly fun! After our bags were tagged, it was off to security. Some of us have better stories than others. Transportation Safety Authority alerted to my hard-drive because it made the machine go nuts.
We saw Kellee Dejbakhsh who was on her way home to California.
Our flight, united 5749, arrived from Chicago 15 minutes early. When they arrived at the gate, I was sitting there watching out the window. They scared me when they pulled up. I thought the pilot was going to overshoot the gate. So I twittered my concerns and about my confidence in the crew: "Sittin here watchin our plane arrive wonderin what is he doing...do I trust this pilot...I'm startin to wonder..." I also realized during this time that i miss being a ramp agent.
We boarded the plane. My seat was a single, window-seat toward the front of the plane-5A. We pushed off the gate 10 minutes early, which is impressive for United! Before I knew it we had lifted off runway 4R in Little rock headed for Chicago-O'Hare. After we reached 10,000 feet, I pulled out my iPod for some jams. Among the selections were T.I, Nelly, Paul Wall, and Kanye West. I also started taking pictures and video.
The stewardess offered me a drink. i contemplated life for just abit ovet Motts 100% tomato juice. Our cruising altitude was 27,000 feet. It was an uneventful "cruise."
beginning descent we were topsy turvey for a bit. We also went through some "dirty" clouds on the way down. Saw snow on the ground too!
we landed on runway 22L/4R and docked at gate F12. I tweeted United about a job well done: "@UnitedAirlines UA5749 was early into LIT therefore early into ORD! Just means a longer layover for us! :) great job!"

Too much excitement!

I am now convinced that too much excitement can have ill effects. Pardon my technicality here, but I think it stems from too much adrenaline...and once its gone it leaves you feeling like poo-poo. All I wanted to do way lay in the bed. I was fatigued. I still have things to do. We leave for Italy in 1.5 days and I'm worrying about if my shoes will get here on time, rather than doing my laundry and getting key assignments done. I also have to call the bank so I can use my debit card overseas. All this getting ready to go on a long trip is for the birds...I just wanna be there already!!! I guess I'm gonna start early: ARE WE THERE YET?

Everybody plays a fool!

Yes, I admit it...even me! I thought it would never happen to me, but as usual I was wrong. I fell into the trap of liking a girl and then getting burned. Yes! It sucks, but you get up, brush yourself off, and move on! I love the way Aaron Neville(a fellow New Orleanean) puts it in his song "Everybody Plays a Fool." It's true and it happens to everybody I'm sure. Smiling, good friends, and yes...even a buying spree in LR takes the sting away! So remember: "They never tell ya so in school...Everybody plays a fool!"
P.S. I AM RON BURGUNDY!

Now that's Ironic

I've had an Ironic moments today. Let's start with my trip to Walgreens. I went in search of candy. i decided to look on a whim and see if I could find some Smarties. Lo and behold...I DID! What is ironic is that I noticed that they were located right next to the Dum-Dums! HAHA! Lets move ahead several hours. While I was working, I had a gentleman ask me for a ride to the Ulrey PAC. Joking with him i said..."Dangerous territory eh?" What makes it dangerous is having to cross a busy thoroughfare to get to the other side. But once you get to the other side, you're in Safety Cove. Now that's Ironic!