I like sports and I don't care who knows it.

Hello again!

Again a lot has happened since my last post and even more worrisome I seem to be running out of ways to explain how amazing of a time I am having here! Big news of the week is that I saw a Italian Calcio (soccer) match and a international rugby match. Both of which are events that totally surpassed any sporting event I have seen in the U.S. (except maybe when I got to see Doug Flutie play!).

So first things first. The soccer match. Roma versus Brescia in a Serie A (Italy's soccer league) tie. Brescia was supposed to be terrible and we were all looking forward to a huge blowout. A ton of JFRC students went to this game so we all met up in the lobby and braved the 2 kilometer walk to Stadio Olimpico. After showing our ticket, passport, and being frisked we entered the stadium. It was pretty freaking huge. We had all purchased tickets to sit in Curva Sud. The 'south curve' where all the loyal, rowdy Roma fans cheered their team on. It was in a word surreal. The energy in the stadium was intense especially for such a low priority match. Unfortunately the match ended in a 1-1 tie as Roma underperformed and Brescia outplayed themselves, but all the same the match was great fun and I can't wait to see more.

Now the Rugby match. Oh my gosh. what an amazing day! I woke up in the morning at 11 rearing and ready to go. Maybe had a beer or two, grabbed some food at Loyola, threw on my irish rugby jersey and headed down to piazza del popolo where a GIGANTIC Irish fest was in full swing. We met up with a friendly Irishman named Simon who was a friend of one of my rugby teammates grabbed another brew and walked down to Stadio Flaminio. They had a red carpet walkway all set up from the piazza to the stadium and rugby songs were sang along with the irish national anthem which i can now sing proudly (thanks to simon!). We arrived at the stadium just as the Italian national anthem finished off and it was time for kick-off. The match was incredibly close as a not-so-talented Italian side held there own against a much stronger Irish squad. In the 65th minute (out of 80 for you non-ruggers) Irish legend Ronan O'Gara steps onto the pitch. Ireland was down 11-10 at that point. A nerve-racking 12 minutes past and in the 77th minute like it was planned from the beginning of the day the ball is passed back to Ronan O'Gara who drop-kicks with ease sending the ball through the uprights for a game winning 3 points. (A drop-goal is when a rugby player receives the ball in the middle of play drops it to the ground and kicks it as the ball is bouncing up, not the easiest thing to do mind you!) SO as you can imagine the irish went nuts and we all played some rugby outside the stadium and made our way to our favorite irish pub 'Scholars.' If you have ever heard the stereotype that Irish people are friendly it is way beyond true! I had the greatest time at the bar with all of them just bumping into each other and having a great conversation about rugby, football, america, and ireland. And when they found out i was going to Ireland they gave me some great advice of places to visit and things to do. SO when i got home that night i was telling all my friends that it was the best day of my life, which might not be exactly true, but it is certainly up there for incredible days!

The pictures below are of my dorm room for my poor mother who has been wondering what my room looks like and also included is a picture of me at the game and of Rome from the top of st. Peters Basilica, which i actually forgot to mention. My friends and I went to the vatican and hiked up all 700 -something steps to get to the top of St. Peters. The most incredible views of Rome up there.

Anyway off to do homework and sleep. Miss you all!
Mike

Whoops!

Totally forgot i promised pictures! My camera batteries died so no pictures of campus yet but here are some of the cool places i have been!

Okay the first is a wide shot of the main square of the vatican.

Second is the view from the top of Orviato

Third is Herculaneum. The bottom half is the unearthed ancient Roman buildings and the top half is the modern Italian town built next to it.

Unfortunatly my camera has decided to stop cooperating with my computer so I have not been able to post some of the cooler pictures of Herculaneum and more recent parts of the trip, but i will troubleshoot and try to get them up for you soon!

Hello again!

So yes. it has been quite a while since my last post. actually i just checked and my last post was two days in. wow... A LOT has happened! Where to begin! welllll my most memorable night of the first week in Rome began with a trip to the Trevi fountain and a bottle of wine. A ton of people decided to go see this fountain and my friends and I decided to join them on their excursion. SO, we take the bus to this fountain and it was possibly one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. You must google it and try to imagine walking up to that all lit up at night. The emotion that wells up inside of you is ineffable. So we get walk up to the fountain, pour a few glasses of wine, and throw the customary euro cent over our left shoulder which guarantees you a trip back to Roma later in life. After that we grab some gelato and decide to wander. Sidenote: Walking away from the fountain I ran into someone from cary-grove... small freaking world! Anyway we begin to wander and stumble upon the pantheon. We then decide to have another glass of wine there and make a tradition out of seeing great landmarks and having a glass of wine. By the way the pantheon is also unfathomable. Simly incredible. We continue to wander and reach none other than the spanish steps! All we did is walk around downtown Roma and we reached three beyond beautiful landmarks! Between that and the wine I was so giddy and excited that I couldn't help but skip through Rome for the rest of the night. Anyway by far one of the greatest nights of my life. purely incredible.

The next big thing that happened to me in Rome was a day trip to the beautiful mountain side town of Orviato. You could not take a bad picture of this place! We had a delicious lunch and then a walking tour through the town. (I really should blog sooner so i can be more explicit with details!). So yes, not much more to say on that, a lot of what I have seen is really too incredible to be explained and I can try but I may start getting a little heavy on my use of the words beautiful and incredible.

The next day classes began and after a lot of shifting around of my schedule I have some pretty good classes and teachers that I pretty excited about!

This past weekend Loyola took all of JFRC on an orientation trip to, excuse my spelling, herculaneum, pompeii, solerno, paestrum, and sorento. Herculaneum was by far the coolest. It too was buried by the eruption of the volcanoe that oblitterated pompeii, but unlike pompeii it is not a major tourist attraction so it remains pretty intact and we were able to see actual mosaic flooring, wall paintings, and buildings that were in incredibly good shape for being 2000ish years old! So after the tour of herculaneum we stopped for lunch in Pompeii and continued to Salerno to spend the night at the hotel. The next day we woke up bright and early and went to Paestrum which was not that great. the two temples were incredible, in amazing shape, giant, and overall just impressive. But the mix of a poor tour guide, terrible weather, and a rather dull museum really spoiled the day. (Besides that day it has been about 55 and sunny here in Italy!) After that another stop for lunch at which wine bottles where flowing and everyone (save for the bus drivers and chaperones) got a little tipsy climaxing in me playing the piano (at the reccomendation of JFRC's dean of students) in this ballroom and everyone dancing. Then again back to the hotel in Solerno for another nights stay. The third day we went to Sorento which was a quaint somewhat touristy town that was fun to run around in the rain (I seemed to be the only one really enjoying the rain at this point, but I wasn't as much when my water drenched shoes made my feet freeze for the rest of the 3 hour trip back to Rome). Anyway, we walked around and i bought a cheap, little watch as time seems to be a non-issue for most Italians.

So, now I am back in Roma and went to my one class today, took a nap, and went downtown to purchase a Roma Calcio jersey (soccer jersey, I got number 16 De Rossi, he is an midfielder with a little bit of an anger problem on the field... maybe he should have played rugby... :-) ). One class tomorrow and that isn't till 12 either which explains why I am up at this late hour. Wednesday and Thurday I will be in class all day however so life isn't all roses, but it is pretty damn good. Loving it out here and it will be hard to go home, but I miss all of you terribly and hope all is well back in the states!

Ciao!
Mike

p.s. I apologize for what I assume to be a massive amount of misspelling as in an effort to better my Italian that is the language my computer is set to, so I am recieving no help from the normal livesaver by the name of spellcheck!

two days in

Alright it is 2 days in and i am having the time of my life! I just got home from an american bar downtown which was pretty fun and I met some people from buffalo, n.y. there! Anway today i had an epic walk from loyolas campus to the tobacchri at which we bought 6 nations rugby tickets (ireland v. italy) and then continued to the vatican. We just entered the main square but it was beautiful to look around. I cannot wait to make a day of it and go into st. peters basilica and the Sistine chapel! After that we continued to walk until we came upon the most delicious pizza that has ever entered my body. After a bus ride back and dinner at the mensa (cafeteria) we decided to go to an American bar called the broken ship which was quite fun. Now i have returned home and i am having a wonderful skype session with mary soon after which i will go to bed. Tomorrow will be more of the same! paperwork, survival italian, and trips around the city. I can't wait! this place is amazing!

miss you all
mike

Arrival

It is currently 15.00 (3:00 p.m.) here in Rome. The plane landed this morning around 9 and we then took a shuttle back to the campus. The flight went very well although a bit delayed in its take-off and after a glass of wine and a surprisingly decent dinner I slept through the rest of the flight. The campus here is beautiful, the air smells really nice (clean), there are orange trees all over (we picked a few and ate them... delicious), and it is 55 and sunny. Other than that today has been filled with transportation, registration, and lunch (which was pretty bad...). Anyway, I am about to go on a walking tour to get acquainted with the area so I should get going. But it is AMAZING here and I'm already having a ton of fun! Hope all is well back in the states!

Mike

T-Minus HOLY CRAP I'M LEAVING TUESDAY!

So yes. i started packing tonight. I cannot wrap my head around the idea that in two days i will be on my way to Europe for four freaking months! I'm excited. I can't wait till I actually have interesting things to post other than whether or not I have packed or not! I'll post again soon!

T-Minus 5 Days

Soooo, I have had a few questions as to why it is Michael 'Michele' Schoch. It is not an homage to my sister Michelle, but rather my name in Italian. And it is pronounced mih-kay-lay. so yup that is why that is there.