GREG DOES EUROPE

This is a page where I will keep track of the people that I have come across in Europe. Also, this is a good reference for you guys who can’t keep up with all of my friends.

-Alessandro-Bartender at Red Garter. I don’t know how he knew my name, but he and Guido and me quickly made friends. He’s a really nice guy who I wish would give me free drinks.

-Amsterdam Hostel Dudes-Nick and I met these guys the night we got to Amsterdam. They were from Chico State and were pretty cool, yet somewhat weird. Anyway, they came out with us to the Red Light and shared some good times with us.

-Colleen-We met this girl while at our hotel in Paris. We later realized that she was studying in Glasgow and was on our flight to Glasgow. We made friends and she told some cool places to visit.

-Costanza-Extremely kind woman who is in charge of Villa il Paradisino (where my parents and I stayed when we first arrived in Florence). Costanza has got to be the most hospitable person I have ever met. She was able to meet my mom and dad’s requests when it came to the room. Finally, Costanza was an awesome cook who’s food put me in a coma. No joke, I died after her dinner.

-Diego-Lifeguard in Monterosso. He was a pretty cool guy and it turned out that he lived in Sacramento for a few months even though he loved The City.

-Dublin Pub Girls-We met these two girls while at “Temple Bar” in Dublin. They were students at Trinity College (which I guess is a good school) and were pretty cool. They kept insisting on us teaching them American phrases. Also, they couldn’t sing the Fresh Prince of Bel Air song if their lives depended on it.

-Eiffel Tower Girls-One was Ukrainian and the other was French. Regardless, they only spoke English to each other. Nick and I ended up chilling with them under the Eiffel and had a good time ragging on them for living in Europe. We were going to go party with them, however, Robby showed up and convinced us to go back to our hotel (lame).

-Eugenia-One of the housemaids in the Villa. She’s a really nice lady who, like all of the other workers here, can’t speak English. Thus, we have very basic Italian conversations. Also, she helps me on my Italian homework when I’m stuck. Great lady.

-Fabio-Honestly, one of the coolest men I have ever met. He’s one of the workers at the Villa. Fabio and I have become pretty close because of my ability to speak with him. Fabio is a huge Fiorentina fan and always sings the songs to me when I see him, especially the song dedicated to Adrian Mutu called “il Fenomeno”. I will badly miss Fabio when I leave.

-Gary-This was a really chill dude who sat next to me at the Arsenal match. He’s a life-long fan of God’s gift to Soccer and he and I had some great conversations ranging from sports to comparing our respected nations. Plus, he was British, which is cool.

-Glasgow Bartender-Really cool guy who I ended up having a nice conversation with about Celtic and Rangers. I wish I had gotten his name…or at least his technique for pouring Carling Beer.

-Goodman-Pledge Brother in my fraternity. He’s doing the NYU in Florence program. Always good seein’ Goody.

-Grace-She was in the Riomaggiore hostel before us and was moving out as we were moving in. She was from LA but went to UC Davis. Grace was really nice and the two of us had lunch in Vernazza together.

-Guillermo-Brazilian guy that we met waiting for the bus in Sesto. He eventually came out with us. He and I talked about soccer the whole night. I told him I hated the Brazilian team because they’re not truly a team, he agreed and bought me a beer.

-Helen-Australian woman in charge of the program. She and her dog, Blake, run the Villa. She’s a really nice woman who I can see gets a lot of energy from the students.

-Italian Man on the Train from Pisa-We had a deep conversation about how two people from opposite ends of the world can become friends even if they don’t understand the same language.

-Ivo-Bartender at “Bar Centrale” in Riomaggiore. He made some of the best mojitos I’ve ever had. Ivo told me that he lives in San Francisco half the year and Riomaggiore the other half. He was pretty cool but also pretty haughty.

-Jaffe-Pledge Brother doing the Duke program with me. He’s one of my main allies here even though it seems as though we are each others arch-rivals because we bicker with each other the time.

-James-Freshman year roommate doing the NYU in Florence program. He’s just a bundle of joy!

-Jane and Foz-The Aussies that spent the night with us in the Riomaggiore hostel. They were really chill people who were just recently engaged. That night, I chilled outside with them for about an hour and had a pretty cool conversation with them.

-Joey-Commonly referred to as Guido, one of my best friends and also studying with me in Florence. Not much more to say about The Guido except that he’s the man.

-Lucia-Another worker in the Villa. She’s always making the food and tries to hook me up with the goods. She’s a big Juventus fan and enjoys talking soccer with me.

-Lucrezia-My Italian professor. She’s a fascist, chain smoking, Italian woman and dammit I love her! She has turned me from a lost child with my Italian into a legitimate, semi-fluent speaker. Every Monday she takes the only other student in my class and me to this bar and we drink coffee and talk about the world (in Italian). I really love her and I consider one of the best teachers I have ever had on account of how much she has taught me. Another plus for Lucrezia: she laughs at my jokes.

-Nick-Buddy in my program from Michigan.

-Nino-Another worker in the Villa. He’s in charge of the choir and can sing pretty well. Nino is a character and loves to joke around with me. The only problem is that he loves saying things that poke at my weight which can be funny but also a little annoying.

-Pablo-Joey’s cool roommate from Harvard. I like to call him “Duke of the North” just to egg him on.

-Professor Mariotti-My Art History professor/smartest woman alive. No joke, she knows everything about Art History. Not only is she a genius, but she is also one of the kindest women on the planet as well. She has really helped further my love of Art History. Robby and I have this joke about her that she is so close to being a deity that she can control all things with her mind. I guess it’s one of those lame inside jokes, but we laugh nonetheless.

-Professor Recchi-My European Societies professor. This guy has given me quite the hassle with my grades so far. However, I think he’s a very quirky fellow and definitely has his moments. He has taught me a lot about Europe and has opened my eyes to how powerful the EU could become (if they could organize themselves in a way that makes sense, however).

-Professor Rumble-Program director from Wisconsin. He, his wife (who is another professor) and his adorable children live with us in the Villa (like most other professors). He is a very kind man and is very understanding of students. Although he is not one of my professors, I have developed a very nice relationship with him and I consider him a surrogate father figure whom I can talk to (we’ve had some very interesting conversations). I will greatly miss him when I leave the Villa.

-Professor Shatzmiller-The Shatzman, as I like to call him, is my Italy in the High Middle Ages professor. He is this very kind old man who probably knows everything that has ever happened in the world. I don’t really know the story of his childhood, however, wherever he was born and where he lived has given him the strangest accent ever. Shatzman reminds me of a grandfather and the students absolutely adore him. Every time he sees me, he gives me an almost-hug and calls me “son”. Gotta love The Shatzman.

-Roberto and Marco-Father and son combo at the barber shop in Sesto. They were really nice and gave me a great hack job. One problem, though: the Dad massacred my sideburns and now my hair doesn’t go below my ear lobes. Whatever.

-Robby-Buddy of mine from Michigan. Has a girlfriend in Perugia and is pretty whipped. He’s a hilarious guy, though, and has really helped me add a new element to my comedy.

-Rosita-Rosita is like the student advisor here. She’s from Prato and is really cool. I never really talked to her much except for the occasional “ciao” until I found out she loves sports. Turns out she had a boyfriend who played baseball here in Florence; an Italian playing baseball! I told her to cheer for the Giants, even though they suck, and to root for Duke Basketball.

-Saife-Maybe the greatest man alive, he worked at our hotel in Paris. He check us in and told us: “My name is Saife and I keep it safe.” We think he was high the whole time we were there and he kept hitting on girls that were staying there, as well. Also, he told me he wants to stay at my house when he comes to San Francisco. Sorry, Saife, not gonna happen.

-Stefano-This is the guy that owns Trattoria Antico Frontoio in Sesto. He’s a really nice guy who loves to give us good deals on his delicious food. Stefano definitely makes the best carbonara sauce known to man. Also, Stefano has a penchant for getting my friends and me pretty drunk. He insists on his house red wine during meals. Then, after dinner, he always comes to our table and states, not asks, “grappa” (a type of alcohol that’s an extract from wine) to which we simply reply “grappa”. After grappa, he then, in the same tone, simply says “limoncella” (another Italian alcohol) to which we, obviously, reply “limoncella!”. Finally, Stefano also likes to poke fun at my weight, but I take it in jest because I know he only means well….

-Steven the Guinness Dude-Steven was this over-friendly guy that was working at the Guinness Factory in Dublin. He saw me and the first thing he said to me was: “You look like a man who enjoys his Guinness.” To which I replied: “Why yes!” Anyway, he randomly chose me to start another batch of Guinness beer, which was cool.

-The British Guys Who Hate Me-(See Assisi and Spoleto) I think one of them was named Rich. Anyway, one is a Liverpool fan and the other is for Chelsea (bunch of schmucks). Anyway, I was pretty…well…you know…and all I wanted to do was sing “God Save the Queen” with them. Naturally, they got annoyed and told one of my friends that they wanted to kick my ass.

-The Man With No Name-This was the guy who was in our Glasgow hostel. He wasn’t there when we first arrived; all we saw was his suitcase. Later that night, when we returned to sleep, he was already passed out. It’s obvious we woke him up while getting into bed, but we didn’t care. The next morning, we woke up and saw that his bed was empty. Not one word was ever spoken between us. Weird.

-Tobaccaio People-There’s a shop in Sesto called “Tobaccaio” where we get our train and bus tickets, Fiorentina tickets, and anything else that can be filed under miscellaneous. Anyway, the people who work there are awesome. They treat us very well and love the fact that I’m from the San Francisco Bay Area. The youngest guy, who’s probably late twenties, is trying to sell me this flask because he saw me eying it. Honestly, I’ve bought myself one thing in Florence, so I think I’ll get it just because they’re so cool.

-Weird, Yet Helpful, Girls in Paris-The name says it all. These girls tried to help us out our first night in Paris by telling us what Metro line to take. All they really ended up doing was making us more confused and more lost. We got a taxi instead.