With all my travels over the years I had never been to Spain. I was finally able to make it out there a couple weeks ago when I headed to Barcelona with some of my Italian cousins. I didn’t really know what to expect from Barca, but I was looking forward to going to the beach, drinking sangria, and eating as much seafood paella as humanly possible.
Being that my cousin and I are huge soccer fans, our first stop after putting our bags down at the hostel was to the FC Barcelona soccer stadium, Nou Camp. For those of you who are unaware, Barcelona is considered the best soccer team in the world at the moment after winning the Champions League Trophy last year (They also have arguably the best player in the world, Lionel Messi). The stadium tour wasn’t cheap, but it was worth it. I’m such a sports fanatic that seeing places like Nou Camp while I’m traveling is pretty special. Unfortunately, the Barca team was playing in London while I was there so I wasn’t able to watch game.
In many ways the Spanish people are very similar to Italians. Both love food, family, soccer. Both take off from work for three hours in the middle of each day. The easiest way to tell that I wasn’t in Italy, aside from the language being spoken, was by the organized way of life. Public transportation runs smoothly. Restaurants with absurdly long lines find a way to get customers fed in a reasonable amount of time. Plus, Barcelona was one of the cheapest cities I’ve been to so far...especially the food! At lunch each day we went to this spot on the beach and I would eat close to my body weight in paella for about $18. That paella alone is reason enough to go back to Spain...It was that good.
The most unexpected part of the trip was how much I enjoyed the works of Gaudi. I’d heard of him before, but going from spot to spot around the city and seeing his incredible vision and learning about his inspiration was incredibly impressive. His use of nature as a template for his works had a uniqueness that I had never seen before. I got a chance to see La Pedrera, Casa Batllo, Park Guell, and of course the Sagrada Famiglia, which is probably the most recognizable piece of architecture in Barcelona.
The church was started by Gaudi in the late 19th century and it’s still being worked on today. It’s expected to be completed in 2026! Normally, when I travel to cities and see the cathedrals, they’ve all been built for hundreds of years. They are all very impressive in their own way, but this was such a different experience. Being in Gaudi’s church and watching up close as stoneworkers, sculptors, and architects work in their own little world to perfect Gaudi’s design was an experience I’ve never had. I know it’s a long ways away, but I'd love to go back and see the completed Sagrada Famiglia one day down the road
I only spent three days in Barcelona, and it was definitely not enough time to see it all. Barca has an incredible mix of old world history and modern lifestyle. The people move at a faster pace than in Italy (I’m pretty sure that’s true about just about every place else in the world), but they have a similar charm.
New York for a couple days:
I took an unexpected trip back to the States last week. My first gymnastics coach, Jim Surgent, was receiving with a lifetime achievement award and he asked me to be his presenter. It was such an honor for him to ask me that I knew there was no way I could miss it. The ceremony was held during the NCAA Championships at West Point, NY which gave me a chance to catch up with a ton of gymnastics friends that I haven’t seen in a long time as well as see my Stanford team compete.
The award banquet was great. I tried as best I could to sum up what Jim has done for me and my career over the years. He taught me to love gymnastics. He taught me how to be part of a team and how competing for a common team goal is more important than anything you can achieve as an individual...even in an individual sport like gymnastics. I’m surprised it took this long for Jim to be recognized for his role in the success of so many gymnasts over the years, but it’s well deserved and I’m ecstatic that I was able to be a part of the presentation.
The five days I was home was incredibly hectic. I spent as much time with family and friends as possible, which was the best part of the trip. I hit up some of my favorite restaurants back home, since it’s difficult to find food that’s not Italian in Rome. Also had a chance to spend time in NYC. The more I travel, the more I realize that there really isn’t another city in the world like NYC. I’m biased because I grew up just across the river from the city, but it’s in a class of it’s own. It was great to be back...even if it was just for a couple days.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Friday, April 2, 2010
Therapy and Venice
I've been doing therapy on my newly repaired knee for the past month and haven't had a chance to travel for a while. Therapy has been going well and my knee is feeling better everyday. I'm not quite surrounded by elite athletes like I had been in the past. This time around, I go to therapy and listen to older Italian women talk about what they plan on cooking everyday for the next week. In fact, food is basically the only thing talked about during the few hours I'm in therapy each day. It's also normal for various cakes and limoncello to be passed out during the course of therapy. Needless to say, it's not the intense atmosphere of the Olympic Training Center training room. My therapist understands the athlete mentality though, having been a professional soccer player. He pushes me more than he would his other clients, which is exactly what I want. After about 4 hours of therapy a day for the past month, I've been able to get back to traveling...
NOTE: I did have a little bit of a set back with my surgery. While I was at therapy last week my therapist noticed that the scab around my scar didn't look that great...in fact it was infected. I headed to the clinic to have it looked at. When the nurse started to clean out the scar, I heard him say the Italian equivalent of "WOW!" Being curious about what he was looking at, I asked if I could see too. When I sat up and looked at my knee, I saw that the scar was completely opened and I could see all the way to my bone. WOW was right...I wasn't quite ready to see that and I almost passed out! I laid back while he finished up, trying to take deep breathes so that I wouldn't pass out. He stitched me back up again and they released me after making sure that I was able to stand up without falling over. Not a huge deal, but it's just another thing to have to deal with.
My first trip post surgery was to Venice. Of course, I'd heard quite a bit about Venice over the years, but I'd never been there before. I had been getting knee advice over the past few weeks from my old physical therapist from the OTC and she mentioned that the USA Women's Gymnastics Team had a competition close to Venice. I thought it would be a good chance to see the canals, watch Team USA, and have her take a look at my knee, so I took the train up to Venice for the weekend.
When I took that first step out of the Venice Santa Lucia train station and saw the Scalzi Bridge over the Grand Canal I couldn't believe that it was all real. I doubt there is any other city in the world as unique as Venice. For the next few hours I got lost down the streets and canals. I think that's the best way to see Venice. Forget the map. I eventually found all the main sites, but I saw so many other things that I would have missed if I had just followed a guide book.
I woke up early the next morning and took the water taxi to the island of Murano. This island is where some of the most beautiful glass pieces in the world are made. The canals are lined with shop after shop each selling endless amounts of small glass pieces. After a while the number of shops gets a little ridiculous, but it still worth seeing. The best part of the side trip was watching some glass blowers work. It's a pretty interesting watching the glass being made. If you ever take a trip to Venice make 20min the trip to Murano.
When I travel alone, it always makes the trips a little better when I can find some other travelers to hang out with. In Venice, I found a great group of Americans who were also traveling. We saw the sites during the day and went out to the bars at night. Three of the girls convinced me to take a gondola ride and it turned out to be awesome. It always seemed like taking a gondola ride was something I would do with a girlfriend or wife, but I guess three girls isn't so bad...haha. It's not the cheapest 30min ride in the world, but it's worth it. We all ended up having an amazing lunch in Piazza San Marco. We bought prosciutto, cheese, bread, wine, and fruit and sat in front of the Doge's Palace while we ate. Doesn't get much better than that.
Oh, one other thing about Venice. All around the city are these signs trying to rally support for Venice to host the 2020 Olympics. WHAT?!! Italians are a funny bunch. They do a lot things very well, but organization isn't one of their strengths. I don't remember seeing one stadium, let alone the MANY stadiums needed for the Games. Olympics in Venice...nice thought, but not gonna happen.
Overall, the Venice trip was great...and Team USA won the competition. The weather is getting better out here and I'm am really looking forward to my spring/summer trips. Traveling during the winter was fantastic, but I'm definitely more of a warm weather guy. I've got some great trips I'm planning for the summer...the next few months should be pretty fun.
NOTE: I did have a little bit of a set back with my surgery. While I was at therapy last week my therapist noticed that the scab around my scar didn't look that great...in fact it was infected. I headed to the clinic to have it looked at. When the nurse started to clean out the scar, I heard him say the Italian equivalent of "WOW!" Being curious about what he was looking at, I asked if I could see too. When I sat up and looked at my knee, I saw that the scar was completely opened and I could see all the way to my bone. WOW was right...I wasn't quite ready to see that and I almost passed out! I laid back while he finished up, trying to take deep breathes so that I wouldn't pass out. He stitched me back up again and they released me after making sure that I was able to stand up without falling over. Not a huge deal, but it's just another thing to have to deal with.
My first trip post surgery was to Venice. Of course, I'd heard quite a bit about Venice over the years, but I'd never been there before. I had been getting knee advice over the past few weeks from my old physical therapist from the OTC and she mentioned that the USA Women's Gymnastics Team had a competition close to Venice. I thought it would be a good chance to see the canals, watch Team USA, and have her take a look at my knee, so I took the train up to Venice for the weekend.
When I took that first step out of the Venice Santa Lucia train station and saw the Scalzi Bridge over the Grand Canal I couldn't believe that it was all real. I doubt there is any other city in the world as unique as Venice. For the next few hours I got lost down the streets and canals. I think that's the best way to see Venice. Forget the map. I eventually found all the main sites, but I saw so many other things that I would have missed if I had just followed a guide book.
I woke up early the next morning and took the water taxi to the island of Murano. This island is where some of the most beautiful glass pieces in the world are made. The canals are lined with shop after shop each selling endless amounts of small glass pieces. After a while the number of shops gets a little ridiculous, but it still worth seeing. The best part of the side trip was watching some glass blowers work. It's a pretty interesting watching the glass being made. If you ever take a trip to Venice make 20min the trip to Murano.
When I travel alone, it always makes the trips a little better when I can find some other travelers to hang out with. In Venice, I found a great group of Americans who were also traveling. We saw the sites during the day and went out to the bars at night. Three of the girls convinced me to take a gondola ride and it turned out to be awesome. It always seemed like taking a gondola ride was something I would do with a girlfriend or wife, but I guess three girls isn't so bad...haha. It's not the cheapest 30min ride in the world, but it's worth it. We all ended up having an amazing lunch in Piazza San Marco. We bought prosciutto, cheese, bread, wine, and fruit and sat in front of the Doge's Palace while we ate. Doesn't get much better than that.
Oh, one other thing about Venice. All around the city are these signs trying to rally support for Venice to host the 2020 Olympics. WHAT?!! Italians are a funny bunch. They do a lot things very well, but organization isn't one of their strengths. I don't remember seeing one stadium, let alone the MANY stadiums needed for the Games. Olympics in Venice...nice thought, but not gonna happen.
Overall, the Venice trip was great...and Team USA won the competition. The weather is getting better out here and I'm am really looking forward to my spring/summer trips. Traveling during the winter was fantastic, but I'm definitely more of a warm weather guy. I've got some great trips I'm planning for the summer...the next few months should be pretty fun.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Another Shot ACL...
When I decided to take this trip abroad for a year, I told myself that I wanted to experience all aspects of life in another country. The good, the bad, and everything in between. What’s the fun in running home every time something goes wrong? Of course, it’s comforting to know I have that US option, but going home was not what I wanted to do when I found out I had to have knee surgery on my ACL and meniscus after my spill on the Austrian slopes.
Being an Italian citizen has many benefits. One of those being access to universal health care. I set up the operation with a surgeon who is a family friend. It was important for me to have someone who had worked with athletes before and since he had worked with the Rome basketball team in the past he knew an athletes mentality. He also seemed very sure of his skills, so I felt pretty comfortable with him.
Now, I’ve already had two ACL repairs in the past (both on my left knee) and they took less than four hours of hospital time to complete. That included paperwork, prep time, anesthesia, actual surgery time, and post surgery recovery. Here in Italy things are a bit different. I headed to the hospital four days before the actual surgery. I was told it was important for me to show up early so that I didn’t loss my spot in the lineup. I was given my own comfortable room with a balcony. The food was good and the nurses were very nice, which made the transition to hospital life a little less stressful.
The tests started immediately. Chest x-rays, blood and urine samples, EKG...let’s just say they were very thorough. Every day started the same. 5:00am temperature check. Yes, that’s right...5:00am!!! I’m definitely more used to seeing my clock read 5:00am as I’m coming in after a long night. Not waking up at that hour. After that came the 6:00am needle in my stomach. Next, the 7:00am making of my bed (I would get out, they would make it, I would get right back in and rip the sheets off...it didn’t seem like it was necessary, but they did anyway). 8:00am breakfast. After breakfast I would go back to sleep until around noon. Quite a start to the day...
Waking up 5:00am is bad enough, even when you go to bed at a decent hour. Unfortunately, I had some other outside factors that prevented an early nights rest. Here’s the list of things that kept me up at night...
-The Light: My room had a window that looked into the next room, which was the nurses office. They were in there 24 hours and left the light on all night. There were blinds on the window, but they did nothing. (NOTE: After a few days they did put something in front of the window to block the light.)
-The Horn: Each person on my hall had a button by their bed that was linked right to that nurses office. Whenever they were in need of assistance, all you had to do was ring the bell and the nurses would come help. Aside from this horn ringing every half hour or so, all day and night, the noise that it made was reminiscent of Jim Carrey’s “Most Annoying Noise in the World” from Dumb and Dumber. It’s the kind of noise that is impossible to get used to and is especially pleasant when you finally get to sleep only to get woken up...again and again.
-The Screaming Woman: At the end of my hall was an older woman who seemed to be having a tough time. Like any normal person, her screams of “AIUTO!(HELP)...AIUTO!(HELP)...” worried me the first few times. I hoped that the nurses would do something, but apparently they weren’t as concerned as me. I’m sure the nurses deal with these types of people all the time, but it was a first for me.
It only got better from there. The night before the surgery I was assured to get absolutely no sleep at all. If you’ve ever had surgery before you’re aware of the no eating day prior to surgery rule. I hate this rule with a passion. Needless to say I enjoy eating...quite a bit. So these types of restrictions don’t go over well with my stomach. Yes, I was hungry but along with that some genius also came to my room to fix one of the lights...and they fixed it all right. They did such a good job that the lights in my room wouldn’t go OFF anymore. Awesome! Any hopes of getting rest were shot.
GAME DAY: 5:00am IV needle put in arm. Five hours before surgery. Why so early...Who knows. I was offered a local anesthetic, but I prefer getting knocked out completely when I have surgery, so when I wake up everything is done. (I’m not a huge fan of watching the surgery happen. I always think I’m going to twitch and do something to ruin the surgery). The last thing I remember was the inside of my mouth feeling cold and then saying a drawn out, “Ciaoooooo, Ciaooooooo” to the nurses and surgeon as I closed my eyes. When I finally did wake up, I thought they hadn’t started yet...
When I got back to my room I was hooked up to a bunch of tubes. A couple running from my arm and one drainage tube in my knee. Over the course of the next few days I stayed attached to those tubes as they gave me my necessary antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medication. The drainage tube was new for me. It was hooked to this plastic bottle and collected the blood and other fluid that was pumped into my knee during the surgery. It was pretty nasty. By the end I had collected about a Gatorade size bottle of “stuff” from my knee.
The first night after surgery, I was told that I had to take a pee or else they would insert a catheter to help out. Needless to say, I was having none of that. I stayed up all night with a little bottle by my bed trying as hard as I could to get it done. Just to let you know, for whatever reason it’s not easy to pee after surgery. Finally, at 4:00am, after hours and hours of just sitting there with that bottle, I did it...hallelujah! I was able to avoid the catheter!
The removing of the drainage tube was something I wasn’t quite ready. When they removed the bandages, I saw that the tube had been stitched into my leg. After removing the stitch, the nurse had me take a deep breath in and breathe out hard. On that release he pulled out the tube. It happened so quickly, I didn’t have time to react. I couldn’t believe how deep it was! I’m probably exaggerating, but it felt like the tube was a good few inches into my knee. Once that last tube was out, I was finally able to get out of bed and move around on my own. It was such a relief to not be attached to anything.
Before I left the hospital the surgeon told me that it looked like I had torn most of my ACL a while back and just finished it off while skiing. I was a little surprised to hear this considering I competed without much problems. I did have a pretty serious injury on that knee in 2007, but I didn’t think I had torn anything. With my other ACL tearing at the start of 2008, I guess I was basically training for the summer of 2008 with both ACL’s torn...fantastic.
I’ve been released from the hospital now, and I’ve already started my therapy. Right now I’m doing about 3-4 hours of therapy a day. In some way it feels like I’m training again. Hopefully, I can get back on my feet as soon as possible and continue my travels.
Overall, it was much different experience than the previous surgeries I’ve had in the US and it’s something I won’t soon forget. There is more pain this time around, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. I have to thank the doctors, therapists, nurses for their help over the past week. Of course, I also have to thank my family out here. I can’t tell you how much help they have been through the whole process. I would have never been able to have this surgery out here without them.
NOTE: Believe it or not, this wasn’t my first surgery in Italy. When I was five years old, I had a strange cyst the size of a grapefruit removed from my stomach. I spent about two weeks in the hospital and I ended up missing my first couple weeks of kindergarten. Hopefully, this is the last surgery in either the US or Italy...
Being an Italian citizen has many benefits. One of those being access to universal health care. I set up the operation with a surgeon who is a family friend. It was important for me to have someone who had worked with athletes before and since he had worked with the Rome basketball team in the past he knew an athletes mentality. He also seemed very sure of his skills, so I felt pretty comfortable with him.
Now, I’ve already had two ACL repairs in the past (both on my left knee) and they took less than four hours of hospital time to complete. That included paperwork, prep time, anesthesia, actual surgery time, and post surgery recovery. Here in Italy things are a bit different. I headed to the hospital four days before the actual surgery. I was told it was important for me to show up early so that I didn’t loss my spot in the lineup. I was given my own comfortable room with a balcony. The food was good and the nurses were very nice, which made the transition to hospital life a little less stressful.
The tests started immediately. Chest x-rays, blood and urine samples, EKG...let’s just say they were very thorough. Every day started the same. 5:00am temperature check. Yes, that’s right...5:00am!!! I’m definitely more used to seeing my clock read 5:00am as I’m coming in after a long night. Not waking up at that hour. After that came the 6:00am needle in my stomach. Next, the 7:00am making of my bed (I would get out, they would make it, I would get right back in and rip the sheets off...it didn’t seem like it was necessary, but they did anyway). 8:00am breakfast. After breakfast I would go back to sleep until around noon. Quite a start to the day...
Waking up 5:00am is bad enough, even when you go to bed at a decent hour. Unfortunately, I had some other outside factors that prevented an early nights rest. Here’s the list of things that kept me up at night...
-The Light: My room had a window that looked into the next room, which was the nurses office. They were in there 24 hours and left the light on all night. There were blinds on the window, but they did nothing. (NOTE: After a few days they did put something in front of the window to block the light.)
-The Horn: Each person on my hall had a button by their bed that was linked right to that nurses office. Whenever they were in need of assistance, all you had to do was ring the bell and the nurses would come help. Aside from this horn ringing every half hour or so, all day and night, the noise that it made was reminiscent of Jim Carrey’s “Most Annoying Noise in the World” from Dumb and Dumber. It’s the kind of noise that is impossible to get used to and is especially pleasant when you finally get to sleep only to get woken up...again and again.
-The Screaming Woman: At the end of my hall was an older woman who seemed to be having a tough time. Like any normal person, her screams of “AIUTO!(HELP)...AIUTO!(HELP)...” worried me the first few times. I hoped that the nurses would do something, but apparently they weren’t as concerned as me. I’m sure the nurses deal with these types of people all the time, but it was a first for me.
It only got better from there. The night before the surgery I was assured to get absolutely no sleep at all. If you’ve ever had surgery before you’re aware of the no eating day prior to surgery rule. I hate this rule with a passion. Needless to say I enjoy eating...quite a bit. So these types of restrictions don’t go over well with my stomach. Yes, I was hungry but along with that some genius also came to my room to fix one of the lights...and they fixed it all right. They did such a good job that the lights in my room wouldn’t go OFF anymore. Awesome! Any hopes of getting rest were shot.
GAME DAY: 5:00am IV needle put in arm. Five hours before surgery. Why so early...Who knows. I was offered a local anesthetic, but I prefer getting knocked out completely when I have surgery, so when I wake up everything is done. (I’m not a huge fan of watching the surgery happen. I always think I’m going to twitch and do something to ruin the surgery). The last thing I remember was the inside of my mouth feeling cold and then saying a drawn out, “Ciaoooooo, Ciaooooooo” to the nurses and surgeon as I closed my eyes. When I finally did wake up, I thought they hadn’t started yet...
When I got back to my room I was hooked up to a bunch of tubes. A couple running from my arm and one drainage tube in my knee. Over the course of the next few days I stayed attached to those tubes as they gave me my necessary antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medication. The drainage tube was new for me. It was hooked to this plastic bottle and collected the blood and other fluid that was pumped into my knee during the surgery. It was pretty nasty. By the end I had collected about a Gatorade size bottle of “stuff” from my knee.
The first night after surgery, I was told that I had to take a pee or else they would insert a catheter to help out. Needless to say, I was having none of that. I stayed up all night with a little bottle by my bed trying as hard as I could to get it done. Just to let you know, for whatever reason it’s not easy to pee after surgery. Finally, at 4:00am, after hours and hours of just sitting there with that bottle, I did it...hallelujah! I was able to avoid the catheter!
The removing of the drainage tube was something I wasn’t quite ready. When they removed the bandages, I saw that the tube had been stitched into my leg. After removing the stitch, the nurse had me take a deep breath in and breathe out hard. On that release he pulled out the tube. It happened so quickly, I didn’t have time to react. I couldn’t believe how deep it was! I’m probably exaggerating, but it felt like the tube was a good few inches into my knee. Once that last tube was out, I was finally able to get out of bed and move around on my own. It was such a relief to not be attached to anything.
Before I left the hospital the surgeon told me that it looked like I had torn most of my ACL a while back and just finished it off while skiing. I was a little surprised to hear this considering I competed without much problems. I did have a pretty serious injury on that knee in 2007, but I didn’t think I had torn anything. With my other ACL tearing at the start of 2008, I guess I was basically training for the summer of 2008 with both ACL’s torn...fantastic.
I’ve been released from the hospital now, and I’ve already started my therapy. Right now I’m doing about 3-4 hours of therapy a day. In some way it feels like I’m training again. Hopefully, I can get back on my feet as soon as possible and continue my travels.
Overall, it was much different experience than the previous surgeries I’ve had in the US and it’s something I won’t soon forget. There is more pain this time around, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. I have to thank the doctors, therapists, nurses for their help over the past week. Of course, I also have to thank my family out here. I can’t tell you how much help they have been through the whole process. I would have never been able to have this surgery out here without them.
NOTE: Believe it or not, this wasn’t my first surgery in Italy. When I was five years old, I had a strange cyst the size of a grapefruit removed from my stomach. I spent about two weeks in the hospital and I ended up missing my first couple weeks of kindergarten. Hopefully, this is the last surgery in either the US or Italy...
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Shopping in London, Freezing in Prague
My first trip to London was back in October. I went to watch World Championships and to see some old friends.
My second trip to London was last weekend and it was a bit of a different experience. Instead of traveling alone, I went with some new friends I met during my short time at Louis Vuitton. Traveling with three fashionable Italians, I guess I should have known right away what would be on the agenda for our few days in a city with so many stores...shopping. We barely had time to drop our bags in the rooms before we headed to Oxford St. to start our shopping spree. For the next three days we basically lived on Oxford St., Regent St., and Bond St. We went from Primark to Dolce & Gabbana...and everywhere in between. In most cases I am a fan of shopping. In fact, I probably spend more than I should on clothes so the first 100 times we went to a store I didn’t mind so much. It definitely got a little ridiculous after a while though. When the Italians found out that they could return clothes they didn't like and get their money back, their eyes lit up. Apparently, in Italy if you buy something you can only exchange it for something else in the store...no money back. They were pretty excited at the idea of wearing something one night, leaving the tag on, and then bringing it back the next day.
While I was there, I also had dinner with the same photographer friends I mentioned in my last London entry. They had just gotten back from a trip to China and Japan where they were working on a project with some Asian athletes. We talked a bit more about working together and they are now planning on coming to Rome in June to do the photo shoot. They have worked with some of the biggest athletes in the world, so I’m pretty excited to have a chance to be part of one of their projects. Here is their website to get a better idea of what kind of pics I”m talking about...
http://www.andersonandlow.com/
Prague
A couple days after getting back from London I headed to Prague. I had a friend who went there for business and so I met up with her for a few days.
When my plane landed in Prague, I felt like Rocky Balboa going over to Russia to fight Ivan Drago in Rocky IV (one of the greatest movies of all time...haha!). Everything was white, it was bitterly cold, and it had that gray look of a sad place. I had heard so many great things about Prague, but the area surrounding the airport is far from paradise. My first impression of Prague can probably compare to when people fly into Newark airport for the first time and think that Jersey is a nasty place. But being from Jersey, I know very well that you need to see more than just the airport before you can judge a place.
I can normally deal with unpleasant weather conditions. Prague was my seventh trip this winter and every place has been cold, but the weather in the Czech capital was on another level. I had to prepare myself mentally whenever I went outside. I sucked it up though and I spent three days seeing a good amount of the city. Prague is similar to Florence in that it is small enough to walk and there are interesting spots worth stopping for down every street. It is one of the most picturesque cities I have ever seen. From the Charles Bridge, to the Prague Castle, to Old Town...there is no shortage of things to see.
During one of my strolls through town I also ran into one of my old friends from Stanford and the Olympic Training Center. She was on the 2008 USA Olympic Volleyball Team and she now plays professionally in the Czech Republic. I hadn’t seen her since Beijing, so it was cool to see a familiar face in a new city.
Along with all the beautiful scenery, another thing that made Prague such a great city for me was the friendliness of the people. On multiple occasions complete strangers went out of their way to help me. Those are the kind of things I really appreciate and remember.
The only thing I would suggest if you are interested in visiting Prague is to go in the summer. You’ll spend most of your time outside so why not go when you can enjoy the weather too. Plus, since everything was covered in a foot of snow and ice, I think we missed out on some stuff.
These were my last two trips until the end of March when I head to Barcelona. I am having knee surgery in a couple days to repair my torn ACL. This will be my third ACL repair, but my first on my right knee. I’ll be doing rehab over the next month so that I will in good enough shape to travel. Wish me luck on my surgery...
My second trip to London was last weekend and it was a bit of a different experience. Instead of traveling alone, I went with some new friends I met during my short time at Louis Vuitton. Traveling with three fashionable Italians, I guess I should have known right away what would be on the agenda for our few days in a city with so many stores...shopping. We barely had time to drop our bags in the rooms before we headed to Oxford St. to start our shopping spree. For the next three days we basically lived on Oxford St., Regent St., and Bond St. We went from Primark to Dolce & Gabbana...and everywhere in between. In most cases I am a fan of shopping. In fact, I probably spend more than I should on clothes so the first 100 times we went to a store I didn’t mind so much. It definitely got a little ridiculous after a while though. When the Italians found out that they could return clothes they didn't like and get their money back, their eyes lit up. Apparently, in Italy if you buy something you can only exchange it for something else in the store...no money back. They were pretty excited at the idea of wearing something one night, leaving the tag on, and then bringing it back the next day.
While I was there, I also had dinner with the same photographer friends I mentioned in my last London entry. They had just gotten back from a trip to China and Japan where they were working on a project with some Asian athletes. We talked a bit more about working together and they are now planning on coming to Rome in June to do the photo shoot. They have worked with some of the biggest athletes in the world, so I’m pretty excited to have a chance to be part of one of their projects. Here is their website to get a better idea of what kind of pics I”m talking about...
http://www.andersonandlow.com/
Prague
A couple days after getting back from London I headed to Prague. I had a friend who went there for business and so I met up with her for a few days.
When my plane landed in Prague, I felt like Rocky Balboa going over to Russia to fight Ivan Drago in Rocky IV (one of the greatest movies of all time...haha!). Everything was white, it was bitterly cold, and it had that gray look of a sad place. I had heard so many great things about Prague, but the area surrounding the airport is far from paradise. My first impression of Prague can probably compare to when people fly into Newark airport for the first time and think that Jersey is a nasty place. But being from Jersey, I know very well that you need to see more than just the airport before you can judge a place.
I can normally deal with unpleasant weather conditions. Prague was my seventh trip this winter and every place has been cold, but the weather in the Czech capital was on another level. I had to prepare myself mentally whenever I went outside. I sucked it up though and I spent three days seeing a good amount of the city. Prague is similar to Florence in that it is small enough to walk and there are interesting spots worth stopping for down every street. It is one of the most picturesque cities I have ever seen. From the Charles Bridge, to the Prague Castle, to Old Town...there is no shortage of things to see.
During one of my strolls through town I also ran into one of my old friends from Stanford and the Olympic Training Center. She was on the 2008 USA Olympic Volleyball Team and she now plays professionally in the Czech Republic. I hadn’t seen her since Beijing, so it was cool to see a familiar face in a new city.
Along with all the beautiful scenery, another thing that made Prague such a great city for me was the friendliness of the people. On multiple occasions complete strangers went out of their way to help me. Those are the kind of things I really appreciate and remember.
The only thing I would suggest if you are interested in visiting Prague is to go in the summer. You’ll spend most of your time outside so why not go when you can enjoy the weather too. Plus, since everything was covered in a foot of snow and ice, I think we missed out on some stuff.
These were my last two trips until the end of March when I head to Barcelona. I am having knee surgery in a couple days to repair my torn ACL. This will be my third ACL repair, but my first on my right knee. I’ll be doing rehab over the next month so that I will in good enough shape to travel. Wish me luck on my surgery...
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Skiing in Austria
I postponed ever trying skiing because of gymnastics. I never wanted to risk getting injured outside of the gym and have it jeopardize my Olympic goals...especially with my history of knee problems. So, now that I'm retired I was looking forward to my first ski trip in the Austrian Alps.
I headed to Innsbruck over the weekend to visit a friend from the Austrian gymnastics team. He has been skiing and snowboarding his whole life, so I felt pretty safe going out with a vet. Unfortunately, what wasn't taken into account enough was my pathetically weak legs.
Riding the lift to the top of the slope I remember saying, "I am not a gymnast anymore." Aside from not training anymore and moving to another country, doing something like skiing helped remind me that I am in a new phase of my life. When I got to the top of the lift, looking out at endless mountains completely surrounding me and I felt fantastic...that lasted for about five minutes.
To make myself fell a little better, I'll mention that I wasn't quite starting out on the bunny slope at Hunter Mountain, which is where a lot of people from NJ/NY area start out. This was a real mountain with real slopes. My friend took me to where they hosted the 1976 Winter Olympics. It wasn't the exact slope of the downhill competition, but it was right next to it.
I headed down, listening to his instructions as closely as possible. I kept my skis in the arrow formation to slow myself down as much as possible. As I tried to turn to the left my right ski got caught. I twisted as a I fell and I felt my right knee in a very awkward position. There was nothing I could do to stop it. Finally, I heard/felt that lovely "pop" of my knee giving out. I just closed my eyes and thought "WOW...did that really just happen again." As I laid on my side, I tried to lift up my leg, but it just kind of hung there unnaturally. Not a good sign. My friend came over hoping that I was ok, but I quickly let him know that my skiing experience was over.
Fortunately, I was able to walk to the closest ski lift. We decided it would be a waste of a great day to just go home so we had some lunch at the top of the mountain, took some pictures, and just hung out for a while. I tried as hard as possible to stay in a good mood considering what had happened, but my mind kept thinking how bad I was hurt...
The next day was predictable...swollen knee, very limited range of motion. I guess one positive was that I was able to get around on my own the rest of the weekend without crutches. I could feel my knee give out if I moved laterally, so I tried to take small slow steps wherever I went.
Aside from skiing, I got a chance to experience downtown Innsbruck a little bit. One night we got invited to a drink tasting for a new bar that was opening. There were about 10 of us and what we had to do was drink whatever they put in front of us and then fill out a survey on whether or not we liked the drink. We did this for over 25 drinks!! Of course most of the drinks small, but by the end of the night we were feeling pretty good...
I also had a chance to visit one of the Austrian gymnasts who was in the hospital recovering from a recent leg surgery. The whole team went to spend time with him, and it reminded me a lot of being with my team both at Stanford and with the USA. Being around a team again brought back a lot of great memories from my past. That's one of the things I miss most about not competing anymore...just hanging out with the team.
I'm back in Rome now and my knee has been getting better each day. I'm planning seeing a doctor early next week, so I'll have more details on the severity of my injury then.
One more thing...this wasn't exactly my first ski trip. When I was about 12 I went skiing with a bunch of gymnast friends from NJ who were all veteran skiers. When we got to the mountain they all left me right away and I spent the day trying to figure out what I was doing. Needless to say it was awful. Here are some of the highlights of that trip...
-I took a "Ski Class" from someone that barely spoke English. I had no idea what was going on, so half way through the class I left and went on my own. By the way, I had to pay for the class...
-"A Christmas Story" is one of my favorite movies to watch during the holidays. I'm sure many of you have seen it over the years considering they play it for 24 hours straight on Christmas Eve. One of the classic parts of that movie is when Flick, puts his tongue on the frozen pole and it sticks. Well a similar thing happened to me on this wonderful ski trip. I was on the ski lift and I put my tongue on the metal zipper of my jacket...and it stuck. Yes, this actually happened. I was spared the ridicule of my friends since I was on my own, but it did take me a while to free my tongue.
-At the end of the day I finally found my friends and decided to go with them and take one ride down the more difficult slope. The ride started off well, but about halfway down, I fell forward to the point where I could tell my ski bindings were about to break away. When they did finally snap, the ski popped up and smacked me right in the face cutting my chin. At that point, I had had enough of skiing and I went down the rest of the slope on my butt...
So as you can see my first ski trip was not a great experience either. I'm pretty sure some higher power is telling me to stay away from the mountains. I've always been a beach guy anyway, so I don't mind too much. My ski days are officially over.
I headed to Innsbruck over the weekend to visit a friend from the Austrian gymnastics team. He has been skiing and snowboarding his whole life, so I felt pretty safe going out with a vet. Unfortunately, what wasn't taken into account enough was my pathetically weak legs.
Riding the lift to the top of the slope I remember saying, "I am not a gymnast anymore." Aside from not training anymore and moving to another country, doing something like skiing helped remind me that I am in a new phase of my life. When I got to the top of the lift, looking out at endless mountains completely surrounding me and I felt fantastic...that lasted for about five minutes.
To make myself fell a little better, I'll mention that I wasn't quite starting out on the bunny slope at Hunter Mountain, which is where a lot of people from NJ/NY area start out. This was a real mountain with real slopes. My friend took me to where they hosted the 1976 Winter Olympics. It wasn't the exact slope of the downhill competition, but it was right next to it.
I headed down, listening to his instructions as closely as possible. I kept my skis in the arrow formation to slow myself down as much as possible. As I tried to turn to the left my right ski got caught. I twisted as a I fell and I felt my right knee in a very awkward position. There was nothing I could do to stop it. Finally, I heard/felt that lovely "pop" of my knee giving out. I just closed my eyes and thought "WOW...did that really just happen again." As I laid on my side, I tried to lift up my leg, but it just kind of hung there unnaturally. Not a good sign. My friend came over hoping that I was ok, but I quickly let him know that my skiing experience was over.
Fortunately, I was able to walk to the closest ski lift. We decided it would be a waste of a great day to just go home so we had some lunch at the top of the mountain, took some pictures, and just hung out for a while. I tried as hard as possible to stay in a good mood considering what had happened, but my mind kept thinking how bad I was hurt...
The next day was predictable...swollen knee, very limited range of motion. I guess one positive was that I was able to get around on my own the rest of the weekend without crutches. I could feel my knee give out if I moved laterally, so I tried to take small slow steps wherever I went.
Aside from skiing, I got a chance to experience downtown Innsbruck a little bit. One night we got invited to a drink tasting for a new bar that was opening. There were about 10 of us and what we had to do was drink whatever they put in front of us and then fill out a survey on whether or not we liked the drink. We did this for over 25 drinks!! Of course most of the drinks small, but by the end of the night we were feeling pretty good...
I also had a chance to visit one of the Austrian gymnasts who was in the hospital recovering from a recent leg surgery. The whole team went to spend time with him, and it reminded me a lot of being with my team both at Stanford and with the USA. Being around a team again brought back a lot of great memories from my past. That's one of the things I miss most about not competing anymore...just hanging out with the team.
I'm back in Rome now and my knee has been getting better each day. I'm planning seeing a doctor early next week, so I'll have more details on the severity of my injury then.
One more thing...this wasn't exactly my first ski trip. When I was about 12 I went skiing with a bunch of gymnast friends from NJ who were all veteran skiers. When we got to the mountain they all left me right away and I spent the day trying to figure out what I was doing. Needless to say it was awful. Here are some of the highlights of that trip...
-I took a "Ski Class" from someone that barely spoke English. I had no idea what was going on, so half way through the class I left and went on my own. By the way, I had to pay for the class...
-"A Christmas Story" is one of my favorite movies to watch during the holidays. I'm sure many of you have seen it over the years considering they play it for 24 hours straight on Christmas Eve. One of the classic parts of that movie is when Flick, puts his tongue on the frozen pole and it sticks. Well a similar thing happened to me on this wonderful ski trip. I was on the ski lift and I put my tongue on the metal zipper of my jacket...and it stuck. Yes, this actually happened. I was spared the ridicule of my friends since I was on my own, but it did take me a while to free my tongue.
-At the end of the day I finally found my friends and decided to go with them and take one ride down the more difficult slope. The ride started off well, but about halfway down, I fell forward to the point where I could tell my ski bindings were about to break away. When they did finally snap, the ski popped up and smacked me right in the face cutting my chin. At that point, I had had enough of skiing and I went down the rest of the slope on my butt...
So as you can see my first ski trip was not a great experience either. I'm pretty sure some higher power is telling me to stay away from the mountains. I've always been a beach guy anyway, so I don't mind too much. My ski days are officially over.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Florence for the Weekend
Over the years I've been to Italy many times. My first trip to Rome was when I was 2. Growing up, summer vacations were either down the shore in Jersey or Italy. I remember one year my sister and I actually complained about having to go to Italy again for our vacation...we were really hoping for a trip to Disney World! Haha...I guess at the time we didn't know any better. We always went to Rome for a few days and then to Pietracupa for the rest of the trip.
All those trips to Italy, but I never had a chance to see other parts of the country.
Over the weekend, I finally took my first excursion to a new city...Florence.
For years, I have heard just about every American who has traveled to Italy say that Florence was their favorite Italian city. Even Italians, who are all positive the city they live in is the greatest in the world, say that Florence is beautiful.
I traveled by train, which I’m finding to be my preferred way of travel more and more with each trip. Not having to deal with lines, baggage claims, weather delays, and everything else that is a hassle at airports these days is such a relief.
My initial reaction upon arriving at a train station in a new city is always...”Ok, now what??” I tend to just pick a direction out of the station and hope it’s right. Most of the time I’m wrong, but I like getting lost. I end up seeing things I would have otherwise missed. I wandered around the streets outside the Santa Maria Novella train station (main station in Florence) for a good half hour before I found the right way.
When I finally got to the hostel, I used my limited Italian with the girl at the desk who was relieved to be able to speak Italian for once. She let me know that I wasn’t really speaking Italian, but Romano. I didn’t know if I should take that as a compliment or an insult. In the end I guess I was just happy that she could understand what I was saying at all...MY ITALIAN IS IMPROVING!
Not only was the hostel it in a perfect location in the heart of downtown, but it also provided appetizers and wine every night before dinner...my kind of place. A glass (ok, multiple glasses) of wine with some bruschetta and a mortadella sandwich was my 6:00pm snack every night I was in Florence. Thank you Academy Hostel...best hostel I’ve stayed at so far!
One of the keys to traveling alone is being able to meet new people to enjoy the trip with. My first night I met some college kids from California who were just passing through while studying abroad and two girls from Brazil who were on vacation. We spend the next few days seeing the sites together during the day and partying at night. We all got along really well and it was nice to be able to share the experiences with some other people.
Florence is much smaller than Rome, but it is no less charming. To me, if Rome is equivalent to New York City, than Florence is San Francisco. Two very different places with a different style and energy. Florence might be small, but there are a ton on things to see. The Duomo (Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore) is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Aside from being massive, it’s made of white, green, and pink marble which gives it a very distinct look. I climbed the 463 steps to the top of the Brunelleschi’s dome and even with the hurricane winds and sleet storm while I was up there, it was worth the incredible 360 view of the whole city.
I also made it to the Palazzo Vecchio, Uffizi Gallery, Ponte Vecchio, Piazzale Michelangelo, and of course saw Michelangelo’s David at the Accademia. There was too much art and history to describe everything in a few sentences. All I can say is that if you do take a trip to Europe one day, make sure Florence is on the agenda. You will not be disappointed. I know I will be making more trips to Florence while I am out here.
I’m off to Innsbruck, Austria this weekend for some skiing with a friend from the Austrian gymnastics team. It’ll be my first time skiing...should be an interesting weekend.
All those trips to Italy, but I never had a chance to see other parts of the country.
Over the weekend, I finally took my first excursion to a new city...Florence.
For years, I have heard just about every American who has traveled to Italy say that Florence was their favorite Italian city. Even Italians, who are all positive the city they live in is the greatest in the world, say that Florence is beautiful.
I traveled by train, which I’m finding to be my preferred way of travel more and more with each trip. Not having to deal with lines, baggage claims, weather delays, and everything else that is a hassle at airports these days is such a relief.
My initial reaction upon arriving at a train station in a new city is always...”Ok, now what??” I tend to just pick a direction out of the station and hope it’s right. Most of the time I’m wrong, but I like getting lost. I end up seeing things I would have otherwise missed. I wandered around the streets outside the Santa Maria Novella train station (main station in Florence) for a good half hour before I found the right way.
When I finally got to the hostel, I used my limited Italian with the girl at the desk who was relieved to be able to speak Italian for once. She let me know that I wasn’t really speaking Italian, but Romano. I didn’t know if I should take that as a compliment or an insult. In the end I guess I was just happy that she could understand what I was saying at all...MY ITALIAN IS IMPROVING!
Not only was the hostel it in a perfect location in the heart of downtown, but it also provided appetizers and wine every night before dinner...my kind of place. A glass (ok, multiple glasses) of wine with some bruschetta and a mortadella sandwich was my 6:00pm snack every night I was in Florence. Thank you Academy Hostel...best hostel I’ve stayed at so far!
One of the keys to traveling alone is being able to meet new people to enjoy the trip with. My first night I met some college kids from California who were just passing through while studying abroad and two girls from Brazil who were on vacation. We spend the next few days seeing the sites together during the day and partying at night. We all got along really well and it was nice to be able to share the experiences with some other people.
Florence is much smaller than Rome, but it is no less charming. To me, if Rome is equivalent to New York City, than Florence is San Francisco. Two very different places with a different style and energy. Florence might be small, but there are a ton on things to see. The Duomo (Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore) is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Aside from being massive, it’s made of white, green, and pink marble which gives it a very distinct look. I climbed the 463 steps to the top of the Brunelleschi’s dome and even with the hurricane winds and sleet storm while I was up there, it was worth the incredible 360 view of the whole city.
I also made it to the Palazzo Vecchio, Uffizi Gallery, Ponte Vecchio, Piazzale Michelangelo, and of course saw Michelangelo’s David at the Accademia. There was too much art and history to describe everything in a few sentences. All I can say is that if you do take a trip to Europe one day, make sure Florence is on the agenda. You will not be disappointed. I know I will be making more trips to Florence while I am out here.
I’m off to Innsbruck, Austria this weekend for some skiing with a friend from the Austrian gymnastics team. It’ll be my first time skiing...should be an interesting weekend.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Louis Vuitton Edition
So, for the past month I put a hold on my travels and took a job at Louis Vuitton on Via Condotti. The director of the store is a friend, and he asked if I was interested in helping out during the holidays. Meet some new people and make a couple bucks...why not.
This was the first real (non gymnastics related) job of my life. It was definitely a little strange going from just shorts at work each day while I was training, to wearing a black suit and tie everyday. In fact it was such a new experience, that I couldn’t figure out how to tie my tie properly on the first day. It was a definitely a little embarrassing having to ask for some help with my tie!
After getting a tour of the entire operation, I was brought to my work area where I would spend at least eight hours a day over the next month wrapping gifts and controlling the payments of ridiculously expensive bags, shoes, belts, keychains, luggage, watches, books, scarves, etc. Each day was basically me moving nonstop from one item to the next. Removing tags, wrapping, looking over receipts...never ending assembly line like repetition. I would normally work with a partner, and together we would try to get the bags to the customers as quickly as possible. I’m pretty sure everyone that works there hates this job. All of the other employees are required to do three hours a week of wrapper duty, and it is by far the job everyone despises the most. Those three hours were great for me though, because it gave me a chance to get to know a lot of the other LV workers. I ended up making some good friends, and since meeting new people was one of the reasons why I took the job in the first place, it worked out pretty well.
It's probably pretty boring being a wrapper during the other 11 months of the year, but during the month of December it’s nonstop movement. I actually lost weight over the past month because of my wrapper duties. Who comes to Italy and loses weight??!! The guy who spends eight hours a day doing wrapper duty at LV, that’s who (I’m pretty sure I put that weight back on though after my amazing eating display during Christmas and New Years...haha!).
Probably not surprisingly, the best part of each day was the hour lunch break. Most days I would eat in the employee break room. But every once and a while, when the weather was nice, I would take the short walk to Piazza di Spagna and eat my lunch on the steps. Being able to look out at Piero Bernini’s Barcaccia and down Via Condotti on those days was like a dream. It’s such a beautiful spot. I know whenever I go back I will always be reminded of my time at LV and those lunch breaks.
After the first few days of work I came to the quick realization that the financial crisis that most of the world is struggling with doesn’t really affect people who are able to regularly shop at Louis Vuitton. The amount of money that place rakes in is mind boggling. I won’t mention exact numbers, but I would leave most days just shaking my head when I saw the final total in sales each day. On top of that, there is another Louis Vuitton store about five minutes from where I worked!
The store has velvet rope with security at the entrance which was pretty amusing. It felt like the scene outside of a club in NYC. One day, two guys were waiting in line together to get into the store, and I remember thinking, “Those guys better gets some girls to bring in with them or security is never going to let them in!” Ok, it wasn’t that bad, but it was still a scene outside the store each and every day.
Some of the other highlights of my month were:
-Seeing a bunch of soccer players and other actors come through the store.
-The Pope driving past the store on Dec. 8th for the holiday, Immacolata.
-Louis Vuitton Christmas Party. Great location. Fantastic food. New friends...and a broken chair. Yes, I broke a chair that night while sitting during dinner. I still don’t know how it happened, but everyone saw me fall to the floor...not my finest moment. Haha!!
-Everyone realizing that I was an athlete after seeing some of my videos on Youtube. It was pretty funny seeing peoples reactions after finding out about my gymnastics career.
I will probably be starting up my traveling again soon, but this was a nice change that gave me a chance to see Rome in a new way. Thanks Max (Il Direttore) for the job...and thanks to all the other employees for making my experience at LV a positive one.
This was the first real (non gymnastics related) job of my life. It was definitely a little strange going from just shorts at work each day while I was training, to wearing a black suit and tie everyday. In fact it was such a new experience, that I couldn’t figure out how to tie my tie properly on the first day. It was a definitely a little embarrassing having to ask for some help with my tie!
After getting a tour of the entire operation, I was brought to my work area where I would spend at least eight hours a day over the next month wrapping gifts and controlling the payments of ridiculously expensive bags, shoes, belts, keychains, luggage, watches, books, scarves, etc. Each day was basically me moving nonstop from one item to the next. Removing tags, wrapping, looking over receipts...never ending assembly line like repetition. I would normally work with a partner, and together we would try to get the bags to the customers as quickly as possible. I’m pretty sure everyone that works there hates this job. All of the other employees are required to do three hours a week of wrapper duty, and it is by far the job everyone despises the most. Those three hours were great for me though, because it gave me a chance to get to know a lot of the other LV workers. I ended up making some good friends, and since meeting new people was one of the reasons why I took the job in the first place, it worked out pretty well.
It's probably pretty boring being a wrapper during the other 11 months of the year, but during the month of December it’s nonstop movement. I actually lost weight over the past month because of my wrapper duties. Who comes to Italy and loses weight??!! The guy who spends eight hours a day doing wrapper duty at LV, that’s who (I’m pretty sure I put that weight back on though after my amazing eating display during Christmas and New Years...haha!).
Probably not surprisingly, the best part of each day was the hour lunch break. Most days I would eat in the employee break room. But every once and a while, when the weather was nice, I would take the short walk to Piazza di Spagna and eat my lunch on the steps. Being able to look out at Piero Bernini’s Barcaccia and down Via Condotti on those days was like a dream. It’s such a beautiful spot. I know whenever I go back I will always be reminded of my time at LV and those lunch breaks.
After the first few days of work I came to the quick realization that the financial crisis that most of the world is struggling with doesn’t really affect people who are able to regularly shop at Louis Vuitton. The amount of money that place rakes in is mind boggling. I won’t mention exact numbers, but I would leave most days just shaking my head when I saw the final total in sales each day. On top of that, there is another Louis Vuitton store about five minutes from where I worked!
The store has velvet rope with security at the entrance which was pretty amusing. It felt like the scene outside of a club in NYC. One day, two guys were waiting in line together to get into the store, and I remember thinking, “Those guys better gets some girls to bring in with them or security is never going to let them in!” Ok, it wasn’t that bad, but it was still a scene outside the store each and every day.
Some of the other highlights of my month were:
-Seeing a bunch of soccer players and other actors come through the store.
-The Pope driving past the store on Dec. 8th for the holiday, Immacolata.
-Louis Vuitton Christmas Party. Great location. Fantastic food. New friends...and a broken chair. Yes, I broke a chair that night while sitting during dinner. I still don’t know how it happened, but everyone saw me fall to the floor...not my finest moment. Haha!!
-Everyone realizing that I was an athlete after seeing some of my videos on Youtube. It was pretty funny seeing peoples reactions after finding out about my gymnastics career.
I will probably be starting up my traveling again soon, but this was a nice change that gave me a chance to see Rome in a new way. Thanks Max (Il Direttore) for the job...and thanks to all the other employees for making my experience at LV a positive one.
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