Pizza, Campo Santa Margarita, Venice (Taken with instagram)
Campanile, Venice (Taken with instagram)
Scarpa square, Venice (Taken with instagram)
Scarpa mosaic floor, Negozio Olivetti, Venice (Taken with instagram)
Opulence of St. Mark’s Basilica’s facade, Venice (Taken with instagram)
Gondolas in waiting, Venice (Taken with instagram)
Canal, Venice (Taken with instagram)
View from Ponte de Rialto, Venice (Taken with instagram)
Colonnade, Venice (Taken with instagram)
Initial impressions of Venice (Taken with instagram)
In transit, northern Italy (Taken with instagram)
B i e r m a r a t h o n
If I may, I’d like to write about one of the most absurd events in which I’ve ever participated. The event took place yesterday, and as you may have guessed by the title of this post, it was titled the ‘Biermarathon.”
The Biermarathon is hosted each year (I’m unsure as to the number of years it’s been offered) by some faculty (as in group of students studying the same subject.) The list of rules was rather long but here’s the short and skinny on the Biermarathon – 1 case of beer between two participants, 7 km, 1 goal. The case of beer (including 20 half-liter bottles of beer [meaning 10 per participant]) must be carried and finished by the time your team is declared to be finished. The beer must have at least 4.8% alcohol. Teams can run, walk, chug, sip – do as they like – but must abide by these relatively simple rules. The only aid allowed is a pair of gloves.
My teammate, Chris, and I declared ourselves ‘Die Denglischen,’ which translates to ‘The Germish,’ or something like that. We basically took the word Denglisch (for example: Kindergarten) and turned it into our team name. We also made some pretty awesome homemade shirts (if I do say so myself.)
Let me say that 10 half-liter bottles of Bavarian brew don’t go down that easy while practically jogging your way through the city of Rosenheim. To be perfectly honest, Chris and I finished 5th out of 50 teams, but needed to finish the rest of our beers before we were declared finished. This put us in 16th place. Chris did end up drinking a bit more than me, but in my defense, I’m a littler dude.
Needless to say the atmosphere at the end of the race was full of rowdy young men and women, lots of regurgitated beer, and plenty of inebrieated participants running into the lake for a quick dip. Looking back on it, it was quite the well-planned event. I will admit that I had quite good fun participating and remain with my dignity (mostly) still intact.
As they say, when in Romesenheim…
D e u x
This past weekend I was lucky enough to travel to Paris, France for my second time in the past four months. The first time I visited Paris it was just another stop on my glorious backpacking trip; however, this time I visited Paris with the intention to research a specific public space. The public space known as Place des Vosges and may actually be one of my favorite places in the world at this point.
I was awarded a research grant a few months back to conduct research on a topic of my proposal. I decided to propose a research project based on the notion of the ‘urban room.’ Why do certain public spaces work as they do? What are the walls, the floors, the ceiling in these settings? What intangible qualities turn spaces into places? I set up criteria as to how I would choose these spaces and Place des Vosges definitely made the cut.
The last time I stayed in Paris I stayed in a hostel in the vicinity of Temple du Sacre Coeur. This past weekend I instead stayed with a friend from Germany’s friend’s boyfriend. B, as he should be called, just moved into his flat in Paris on May 15th. I arrived on May 17th. He was the nicest and most accommodating host I could have ever asked for and truly made my second experience in Paris all the more enjoyable. Not to mention, his English was probably the best English I’ve ever heard from a non-native speaker (he’s French.) This was obviously to my benefit as I don’t speak French (yet.)
I spent around thirty hours in Place des Vosges sketching, taking notes, taking naps – doing what the locals do. How much luckier could I be than to have the opportunity to people watch for three days as research?
In my leftover time, I got to check out some other parts of Paris. As I had seen much of the tourist attractions during my last visit, I decided to simply stroll the streets of Paris a bit more. I visited the Marais neighborhood, La Bibliothèque nationale de France, Park Bercy, etc. I even bypassed shopping for clothing for an English bookstore or two. Side-note: earlier in the semester I made a pact with myself that I would only read English if it was for research or the news. However, I realized this past weekend in W.H. Smith, an English bookstore on Rue de Rivoli, that I was denying myself one of my true loves in life. So I bought three English books.
Anyway, I fell in love with Paris this time around and can only attribute it to a more authentic view of Paris, supplemented by (mostly) beautiful weather and a great host. Can’t wait to get back!
Victor Hugo, Place des Vosges, Paris (Taken with instagram)
Place des Vosges, Paris (Taken with instagram)
