They Stuck Me in a Box in the Ground

The weather that we've had in Bologna for the past week can only be described as 'perfect'.   Absolutely.   Probably not breaking 75 all day...at night it probably hits the low-50s.  It has drizzled a couple of times, but for the most part, it has been clear all day.  Unfortunately, because of my studies, I haven't had much time to enjoy it.   Typically, I go to school around 7:30, arrive around 8.   I eat a pastry and drink some copy and work on my Italian homework.  Around 9, I have class and that goes on until 11.  Depending on the day, I'm either 'free' for the rest of the day or I have class again around 2.  The problem is that even on my free days, I have to take care of administrative duties.  Every Tuesday we have career development workshops that run an hour or two.  After which I usually have to prepare some stuff for either the next meeting or later on.  Tomorrow I have that, and I have some Italian immigration paperwork that I have to deal with.  That's going to be real fun.  The good news is that the pre-term is nearly over, only one more class and a test and we're done with it.  I got an 80 on my last test -- not bad considering how I studies -- I could have gotten a considerably better grade, but since the class is pass/fail and I'm only taking it to test my comprehension and refresh, I think it was a modest grade.  If I were cramming for it, I think I would be doing myself a injustice only because I know I'd forget it soon after the test -- in other words, it would be just for a grade -- that's not what I want to accomplish.

I've learned that living so far away from almost everyone else at the school has its advantages and disadvantages.  The advantages are almost one in the same with the disadvantages -- that is, I am not obligated to do anything or atleast, I don't feel like I am, to do anything that I normally wouldn't want to do (which is often the case, when you're a new group) but at the same time, I don't have the social bond that most people here have already developed with others.  Not a big deal, but yeah, sometimes it's a drag here if all I want to do is have someone to go get a beer with -- not that I'm not above drinking a beer by myself, it's just cool to get out and see people.  Sometimes I feel like that at home in San Antonio, especially lately -- it seemed like I could always go out and find people, now, or atleast, recently until I left, it felt a little tied to the apartment for some reason -- like going across town was some big inconvenience -- which it was, but it was hardly anything I would consider as being such, say... 3 years ago. 

Anyway, so here we are.  We begin to registering for classes sometime in the next week or so.  I'm really excited about that, but I still don't know which classes I'm going to take.   I know it's going to be a challenge, because a) it's Johns Hopkins b) unlike most grad programs out there, where nine hours is considered full-time, SAIS requires 12 hours AND proficiency in a foreign language, and if you're not proficient and have to take language class, that class is not included in those 12 hours -- so as you may guess, I'll be taking 15 hours of grad-level courses at a top-tier school.  Fun fun fun.  The nice things about it, though, is that almost all of the classes offered have something I hold an interest in, if at very least just marginally and the fact that, for the most part, most of the classes are only held once a week -- I am assuming that most of the time is going to be devoted to writing papers like it is in most grad classes.  But as you know, I prefer to write papers anyway.

So as to the 4 that I want to take, there are 3 that I know I'm taking for sure, and a set of 3 or so that I'm not 100% sure about. We'll see.  The way it works is strange -- I can take as many classes as I want, there is no limit -- they're all covered by tuition.  Really strange for me -- I feel like a kid in a candy store.  There are about 30 classes that they have available, and all but say... 3 of them sound interesting to me.  Perhaps I will list him here.  Erm... give me a moment on that.   

Here you go... whether you wanted to read it or not (I am actually using this to narrow down my choices):

• Red Bolded - Classes I am pretty sure I'm taking
• Bolded - Classes that are "wildcards"
• Strike Through - Classes I am pretty sure I'm NOT taking, have already taken, don't count, or can't because of scheduling conflicts
• Underline - Classes that I'm trying to avoid because they're early or on Monday.  Hahahhaha.  (noted exception:  Science, Technology and International Affairs)

Core Classes:

• Theories of International Relations
• America and the World Since 1945

International Economics

• Microeconomics
• Macroeconomics
• International Monetary Theory
• International Trade Theory
• European Economic History
• Statistical Methods for Business and Economics
• Corporate Finance
• The German Economy

European Studies

• Contemporary Italian Politics
• West European Political Economies
• The EU and Its Institutions
• European Foreign Policy
• Contemporary Russian Politics
• Italian Art History and Culture

International Relations

• Foundations of International Law
• Strategy and Policy
• International Political Economy
• Politics & Economics of International Energy
• Science, Technology and International Affairs
• Multiculturalism and the Human Rights of Women
• Liberal International Theory

American Foreign Policy

• Case Studies in US Foreign Policy

Western Hemisphere Studies/Latin American Studies

• A Survey of Modern Latin American Politics

International Development

• Introduction to Development

Middle East Studies

• Political Islam and Change in the Mediterranean Area
• Modernity & Nationalism in Egypt, Iran, & Turkey

So yeah, it looks like, as of this very moment, I am going to take America Post 1945, Macro, Russian Politics -- then it's a toss up between European Economic History; Theories of International Relations; and Science, Tech, and Int'l Affairs.  It's just a matter of deciding which one match my goals professionally and academically, as well as scheduling.  I could TECHNICALLY audit any of those classes, apparently. 

Out of the list, I want to take European Economic History the most; the trouble is that I don't really need it, it's just out of the three, it's the one that I find the most interest in.  It's also the most convenient in terms of scheduling.  Next up is the science one, I think that would help me a lot professionally, but academically I don't think it's necessary.  In terms of scheduling, it's the worst -- it's at the beginning of a very long day...at 8:30, which yeah, it's THAT early, but still, that would mean that I'd be at school from 8:30-5:00 on Tuesdays.  The last is Theories of International Relations, which is a Core requirement.  It would be nice to get it out of the way, but again, it's at the end of a long day (Tuesday is going to be my hell-day)...  I'm trying to avoid hell-days.  I've learned that taking to-moderate days is better than one long day, only because I end up being too worn out after the hell-day to do much anything the day after and my performance during the hell-day classes tends to suffer as well. 

In any case, given any of the wild cards, I will have Sundays and Mondays free and every other Saturday free as well (the class is only taught every 2 weeks, for 2 days)  If I don't pick up Eurpoean Economic History, that will mean that I'd have Thursday free was well (but it would mean that I would have a longer day on Tuesday ... or if I don't pick either of the two wild cards, Wednesday or Friday).  As you can see, this is a total game.

Anyway, that's what's going on here. 

I still have trouble sleeping... but I found a way around that without any sort of OTC drugs...

I love The Prisoner, but I swear, if I'm even barely tired, the show puts me to sleep -- something about the music or perhaps the themes -- it's too cerebral for me to keep up with all the subtleties.

I can't stand up, I can't cool down, I can't get my head off the ground

It's strange being in a school where I literally know about 90% of the people as opposed to being an anonymous face in a crowd, where, amongst the people I did know, I usually tried to avoid. That's wrong. I had plenty of good friends at UTSA, but there certainly people that I could care less to see.

Anyway. I'm exhausted, but the weather here is refreshing. It's somewhere in the mid-sixties. The sky is clear. I've had the same pizza three days in a row. Life is grand..haha.

I wish I could find a patch of grass to lay down and stare at the sky, something I found myself doing often at UTSA. I guess that's one disadvantage -- every inch of ground here is occupied by some structure, and albeit most of it very beautiful, I would love to see more green instead of the Bologna red that permeates throughout most of the city. I will admit though, it provides a beautiful contrast to the blue that paints the skies overhead.

I must go, I think it's time for a coffee. I've grown addicted. Mostly out of economics -- it's cheaper to get my caffeine high through coffee than my usual means... bubbly bubbly coke.

Speaking of which, I went to the grocery store to buy some coke. And by coke, I mean the South/Texas use of the term coke, as in anything superlatively sweet and carbonated. I saw something red and labeled 'Ginger'. I thought, 'Oh Awesome, some weird Italian gingerale' No. Not even close. Unless the Italian's impression of Gingerale is Bile and Vomit mixed with 7-Up and Red #4. It's rare that I'm disgusted enough to throw something like that out -- but I did. I'm usually quite adventurous when it comes to carbonated drinks, but that was too much. It went straight to the drain. The bottle is not a receptacle for the leftover grease from my white-trash Texan culinary endeavors...carbonate that and I'm sure you' get something more palatable (what a great idea!).

Anyway, so on and so on. Io Abito.

Oh yeah...

Forgot to mention -- I might be volunteering for UNICEF here in Italy.

They're Sending Me a Picture of the Moon

This weekend was pretty fun...

On Saturday we had a tour of the city, well, a few of the sights of Bologna.  It was rather short, and I had seen some of them, but it was interesting nonetheless.   It only lasted about 2 hours.  We visited a few of the churches and cathedrals as well as a couple of the older libraries of the city.   It's hard to believe how ancient this city is -- it's hard to fathom, coming from a country that is less than 250 years old, and "civilized" not much more than 500 years that there where I stand (or more appropriately, sit) twenty-seven centuries ago there was thriving city. 

Afterwards I had lunch with a new Russian friend, Irina, from Moscow.  We weren't in the mood to hunt for a place to eat, so we settled for McDonalds.  Jesus it's expensive.  Well, everything is expensive here -- we were both under the impression that Moscow was soooo expensive, but we agreed that this place was MUCH more expensive.  For instance, my 6 piece chicken McNugget meal was 6.80 Euro...or $9.65.  I'm serious... and that's with no free refills.    I don't recall them being that expensive in Moscow.  The only thing that was good is that they have seasoned curly fries here (or what they call... Potate Vertigo or something like that.).

Afterwards I pedalled home and took a short nap.  I had to leave my clothes out to dry because they were drenched from Friday night's storm.   When I woke up, I met up with Maurizio.  We went to the Anti-MTV festival which was exactly what it sounded like.  It wasn't my type of music -- pretty much like a bunch of hardcore revival bands and a few metal acts.  That's not bad, in fact, I enjoyed it for the fact that it reminded me of Corpus like... 2002/3.  Just like I didn't fit in then, I don't fit in now, but at the same time, just like I fit in then, I fit in now.  I know that doesn't make much sense to those who didn't know me then, but I suppose for the few that read that and did, they'll know what I mean.  I had a good time meeting a bunch of new people and whatnot.  We left a few hours early and hit up a bar to have a couple of beers.  I left home sometime around 3.  Good times.  

On Sunday I tried, unsuccessfully, to sleep in.  I immediately got to work on studying for my midterm.  Maurizio called me around noon and asked if I wanted lunch.  He was making carbonara.  I couldn't refuse... I mean, who would?  Had lunch and it was great.  Real carbonara (like most Italian cuisine) is much different from their American counterparts -- there is no cream in real carbonara -- atleast according to my friend.  He said adding it is sacrilege...well, that's not entirely true, he just said it's different and not a part of the original recipe.  Maurizio is infatuated with post-apocalyptic movies so we watched The Happening, and as expected, we were both disappointed.  

Afterwards I went home and studied.  I made the mistake, on Saturday, of not getting groceries -- pretty much everything is closed on Sunday, so there was nothing to buy or eat.  I had to resort to eating what I had in my cupboards... potatoes, onions, and garlic.  Wonderful.  So I made some awesome french fries.

Today I got to school, classes...etc.  Nothing much to report about that.  One good thing, though, I found a place around the corner from the university that has pizza for 5.50 Euro, and it comes with a free coke.  I know where I'm going everyday now...woot!

why?....

Does this have to be on a Sunday night -- in a town 30 miles away.

 

On a High Wire, Dressed in a Leotard, there Wobbles One Hell of a Retard

Well this week has been rather stressful.  I have barely gotten any real sleep -- to exacerbate things, the weather has been hot but I've been reluctant to turn on the air conditioner for two reasons:  a) it's expensive to run  b) the thermostat is set to only one temperature -- freeze-your-nipples-off cold.

Last night a bunch of the Russian "speakers" (ie.  everyone who speaks fluently and.... then... myself) had a small little get together at a pizzeria my friend Mark and I discovered a couple of nights ago.  It's not the best place, but it's certainly cheap (about 3-6 Euro a pizza) and the waitstaff is very friendly and willing to put up with foreigner's bullshit, or atleast, they haven't let on that they're annoyed with us in the 2 times we went there.... in fact, the second time the owner gave our table a round of shots.

Got home a little late last night, later than I had wanted because I wanted to do a bunch of laundry.  I ended up finishing it, I woke up on my own to change out loads when I had meant to sleep through it.  All the laundry is air dried, so I set up the little drying deal to have it dry out the clothes so that I have something to wear today.  Well, a lot of good that did me -- we had a thunderstorm sometime this morning which soaked all of my clothes.  Ugh.

Anyway, today I'm going to go to this festival called something like the Anti-MTV festival -- should be interesting. 

I was looking for a bike and I found a bike...and heaven knows I'm miserable now...

Well... I finally picked up a bike today. As I’ve mentioned, the walk to and from the university or center of town ranges between 25-35 minutes... which pretty much makes a bike a necessity...with a bike, it’s about 10 minutes. Well I finally got a bike today from a lady who just received her medical degree and she is moving to England soon to do something or another. European medicine is so strange to me... actually, I suppose so is American... the process of entry into the system is so arduous and nebulous, I really wonder why some people even bother. Well anyway, I bought the bike. It was in so-so condition. It looked ridable...and in all honestly, it did ride fairly well for being old. I took it to the university to get my tags and headed back home and on the way, the left pedal fell off. YAY.

I walked it home because I had some much crap in my bag and I was out of money on my phone -- I wanted to find a way to top it up online. I managed to do so with my limited Italian vocabulary (about... erm... 30 words... 130, if you count the numbers 1-100.) And I called up the lady who I bought the bike from. We agreed to go to a mechanic not TOO far away and she paid for it to get fixed -- $20. Sucks for her, but hey, the bike was busted.

That was just one of the many stresses I faced today. I have a big test tomorrow for Italian. I definitely understand a whole lot more than I can actually regurgitate. I also have to turn in a problem set... of which I can’t even seem answer one of the 4 questions on my own. At least not completely. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong and I regret not working on it earlier in the week. I really should have worked on it Tuesday, but oh well. It’s not unlike undergrad where, in class, I’m totally on track, I understand, I can finish sentences. For some reason, I’m not in mode when I’m at home... Wish I had a solution for that.

One saving grace for the moment is that as I mentioned in a previos post, my landlord’s husband is a concert pianist. As I type this, he has some opera singer doing voice training -- it’s absolutely wonderful -- if I didn’t have plans to meet up with a fellow classmate to study in a little bit, I would be glued right here. I seriously couldn’t’ve landed a better place. This is just like something out of a movie.

Anyway, the weekend is almost here and I’m looking forward to it. I do plan on doing a lot of studying on Sunday, but other than that, Saturday is relatively free. There is a music festival here -- the 7th Annual Anti-MTV music festival. I don’t know exactly what kind of music is going to be played, but I think it will be interesting nonetheless. Regardless if it’s my style or not, I will most likely be entertained. Maurizio is selling T-shirts there so that should be interesting.
Well that’s that, for now.

In the meantime -- Corpus Christi, like I said, I didn’t think that Ike was going to slap you Tina-style, but be safe and sit tight anyway.

We've been had - you say it's over. Sometimes I'm just happy I'm older

The weekend was rather eventful. I'm not sure if I can recollect and regurgitate everything that happened, so more or less this is what happened in some order or another. I claim nothing in terms of continuity or even factuality, you'll just have to take it at face value.



Friday night I hung out with my Italian friends. I ended up spending the night on the couch of an American friend, Mark, a fellow student. I woke up relatively early (considering the circumstances) and headed back to my apartment so that I can catch up on laundry. I had loads. Literally. I had plans in the afternoon to meet with a fellow student at the center, a Slovak girl, Michaela, who is in my economics class -- I told her that one of my Italian friends offered to help us look for bikes, Maurizio. I arrived a little later than planned (and likewise, she was a bit early) and she had already checked out a few of the shops that were were to go to. Turns out they were all closed and the happened to be the same shops that Maurizio was going to show us. SO the plan to actually be productive and buy a bike was thrown out the window.

It was pretty hot and humid outside; on par with Texas. Michaela had other plans and Maurizio and I were tired of the heat and he wanted to do an exchange of languages, so we headed over to his place to practice Italian and English.


After a few hours, we got a hold of Mark. Maurizio then showed us how to make a traditional Italian dish, Bucatini all'Amatriciana. He wanted to show us something that would be really easily to replicate in the States -- it uses very simple ingredients and spices, so I don't think it will be difficult. In any case, despite its simplicity, it was great -- incredibly tasty and full of flavor. I regret writing this during my lunch break because now I can't stop salivating.

mmm...

Afterwards, Mark was tired and wanted to catch a game, so we parted ways and Maurizio and I went to meet some of his friends. I was introduced to Christina, who is apparently famous, (or perhaps infamous) for being Italy's first SuicideGirl, and has a big following both here and abroad for her various exploits in media -- she is an establish musician and writer. She also spent some time in Austin a while ago, so it was interesting to share stories and had something to relate to. We spent some time at a bar and, afterward, a park, just talking about whatever it was on our minds.

Once everyone was tired, I headed back to my apartment. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I live outside the city center, so it's typically a long walk to my apartment. I walked some 45 minutes before I got home. It was late, but for the most part, the city is relatively safe. It wasn't like Moscow where I had to watch the corners.

On Sunday I studied for a bit, but I simply wasn't in the mood. Fortunately Maurizio distracted me with a phone call to see if i was interested in having some Naples-style pizza, which differs from the Roma style pizza that is prevalent throughout most of Northern (and perhaps all of) Italy. Roma-style pizza, from what I can tell, is typically flat, thin, and with lots of sauce, cheese, and topics. Napolese pizza is more simple -- the center is thin, but the crust is thick and puffy. There is less sauce and cheese, but plenty of oil. I don't think most Americans would like it as much (somewhat ironically, considering how much grease we eat) but myself, I was in heaven. I think I might actually prefer it. It sort of reminded me of the pizza they serve George's, the Greek restaurant in Corpus Christi.

After that, we went to his place to watch a movie. He is obsessed with horror films -- especially apocalyptic zombie type films. In fact, that's part of the reason why he started learning English and has been a major source of his learning. We watched Doomsday -- which was pretty entertaining, it was a tribute to many of the post-apocalyptic films of the early 80s. There was a little more action than necessary, but for the most part I was entertained. I left after that and went home and pretty much studied all evening long with a short distraction when my friend Magsud, the Azerbaijani student who showed me this apartment showed up and wanted to share some of his Russian candy. Despite all of these distractions, I've been studying hard and it is nice to have so many nice friends.

Today I had an Italian class and I'm currently waiting for my economics class. I'm not really looking forward to it -- I already know the lecture is about my least favorite topic in micro -- production factors...I hate dealing with production fuctions and isoquants....but I will get through it. I'm sure I'll be up late tonight studying. Fun fun fun.

Italians Don't Mess Around...

This week has been incredibly busy for me. On Monday I finally settled into my new apartment. I live in a small studio apartment not far from the center of the city off of one of the main roads that lead to the center. It's relatively convenient, it takes me 20-25 minutes to reach the Johns Hopkins University SAIS Bologna Center, and just about as much time to get to the city's main landmark, the two towers. My landlord is pretty nice, she's a doctor who is married to a concert pianist -- allegedly the late Luciano Pavarotti's former pianist. Needlesstosay, they are wealthy, but nevertheless, very humble. The reason why it took long for me to get an apartment is really due to the expense -- I had expected it to be expensive, but not nearly as bad as it is. Most of the students here have to pay between 350-500 Euro/month for rent and 100 Euro for utilities and have to share the apartment with 3-5 other students. Landlords also typically require 2 months' rent in deposits. It's a vast difference to the $399 I was paying back in Texas. Actually, pretty much everything here is more expensive with the exception of pizza and coffee. So, the stereotypes and economics relative to such remain true.


Anyway, I'm happy about my place, I live by myself so I can concentrate on my studies. Since I'm on the roof, I have the entire area to myself, which is actually much larger than my apartment, and I have a 270 degree view of the city. The picture to the right really doesn't do the view any justice -- you can see the entire center of the city -- it's incredible. On the roof, there is a huge garden as well, they have plenty of spices, herbs, and fruit trees growing everwhere. I've never seen anything like it -- it feels strange to see this on the top of a roof. In terms of size, the apartment is about, I don't know... maybe 14' x 14' -- that's including the "kitchen" (it consists of a sink, a hotplate, a toaster oven and a dorm-sized fridge) and bathroom. The bed is basically a full-size futon. I have a little room for a small table and chair. I also have plenty of closet space. So it sounds like it's very little room, but it actually is just enough for me. If I really need anything, like to bake, I can just go to my landlord's place -- she said all of her appliances are free for me to use. However, that is one big caveat for this dwelling -- in order to get to my apartment, I must go through my landlord's den and kitchen. It's a minor inconvenience, and so far, it hasn't been any problem. I can still invite whomever I want up here, given that they don't cause any problems, of course. Oh, on top of this, I sort of get free internet (I'm 'borrowing' the signal from someone else -- my landlord has internet but my apartment is too far from the router)... so given all of the amnities and conveniences, I think the price I'm paying, 500 Euro, is actually a steal -- I'd rather pay this much and live by myself, than pay $450-600 and also have to deal with all the problems associated with having roommates on top of it.

Aside from the expense, the city is beautiful. I am not an art person, so I'm not going to even begin to pretend to act like I know what I'm talking about -- all I know is that it's beautiful. The attitude is pretty laid back and relatively friendly. I haven't had a negative vibe or anyone outright rude. Most people are very welcoming and have been patient with my lack of Italian language skills. Speaking of which, I started taking classes earlier this week and I think I have learned a lot. We have started to read small passages and I actually comprehend most of it. It sort of is a foil to my studies in Russian -- I have come to realize how much more difficult Russian is to many other languages. I have not had any Romance language experience, but certainly, since I've lived most of my life not far from the Mexican border, although I can't compose a single sentence, my exposure to Spanish has undoubtedly helped.

My studies at Johns Hopkins have been intense. I haven't taken any quantitative based economics in a very long time, and I regret that I feel a little unprepared, atleast in terms of math, not so much the theory. Fortunately, it looks like everyone else is as well -- most of the students there are political science/international relations students, so their exposure to economics is typically somewhat limited (which is really strange given that economics and politics are so intrinsically involved with each other, but I guess that's a debate for another day). I have been working hard every day to get to speed; the class I'm taking is intermediate microeconomics, which is basically like the hardest class I had during my tenure as an undergraduate student, Price Theory -- but it's compressed into 4 weeks -- so, I spend about 10-12 hours a day at the university studying and working out problems...then I come home and continue doing the same thing until I fall asleep. It's tough, but I think it's working; I did fairly well on my diagnostic math exam and although it was difficult, I got through my first major assignment. The scary thing is, though, I'm only taking 2 classes -- micro and survival Italian -- albeit there are both accellerated courses, I can only imagine how things are going to be in the full term, where I have to take 4 classes and a language class.

On top of this, the university also has a bunch of mandatory programs that we have to go through regarding career development. Since I am sort of having problems with just pidgeon-holing myself as a foreign service officer, I think this might be a good chance for me to regain focus and explore other opportunities that might be available that I haven't considered.

The other benefit of the university, especially because of its geographical location, we have several interesting guest lecturers scheduled to appear during the year. Last night, we had a lecture held by Michael Leigh, the Director-General of the European Commission on Enlargement -- and he discussed some interesting topics on (surprise) the enlargement of the EU in regard to Turkey and the Balkans. Afterwards, there was a nice reception held -- I had plenty of wine and hors d'oeuvres.

Afterward, a friend of mine from the center met up with some Italian friends we had made last week. It's very strange, I don't know how I do it, but everywhere I go, I find same kind of people who are into the same niche interests as I am. It's somewhat comforting but at the same time intriguing. Like most of my friends in Russia, the Italians I have met are well versed in somewhat obscure American and British music, actually, much more than myself (not that I profess any sort of omniscient encyclopedic knowledge of the subject, bust still, you know what I mean). Anyway, we had a few drinks, met more friends, went home. Slept.

I suppose that's my most interesting experience thus far. For the first time in my life I really feel like I belong in all aspects, or atleast in most aspects of my interests. At home, I have difficulty finding people who are professionally or academically serious in the same field as I am -- its easy to find friends who are interested in the same music, but when it comes to things I like to think about when I'm in school, there are very few -- again, I'm not trying to sound pretentious as much as that most people I know have much different careers or academic backgrounds, or focii -- that of course is not necessarily bad, quite the contrary, I think it helps each of us build character and understanding of our surroundings -- but at the same time, without meeting people with the same academic focus, its sometimes not very stimulating either.

So to say the least, I am very happy where I am at, and I do fit in. I know it's going to be challenging, but I've never been one to not give it a shot. We'll see where it takes me, I'll give it a good fight. I'm sure everything will work out in the end.

Welcome

I just started this up. I really don't care anymore about design since I've been out of the business for some time now, so don't expect any pomp or anything like that.

In any case, if you're here, I suppose you're here to hear about my adventures. I'll post some, hopefully with some regularity, when I have the time.

Until then,

ciao! пока! good-bye!
George