Goals 50, 72, & 94: Italy

Let February 17th-22nd be named the most epic time period of the year. The trip to Milan, Italy included many of my favorite things such as dancing, design, destruction, dialects, and smuggling. This was all sponsored by a very good, old friend, Elis Bonini.

Goal 72: See my Italian friend, Elis, in Italy

It's been quite a while, at least 2 years since I've seen this old friend. Once a foreign exchange student to my high school, he knew me as the asshole that poorly imitated his accent for six months. We became good friends over doing ridiculous things in and around Albuquerque.

Well now it was my turn to return the favor with a ridiculous trip to Milan, where he now lives and goes to school. We wasted no time before beginning progress.

Goal 50: Eat an Italian Pizza

The first stop was a small pizzeria in Milan where pizza was sold by the gram, square, thick, and delicious.

They give you little forks to eat with.

I ate with those little forks.

Later on, Elis grabbed a couple of mushroom pizzas from another shop, and we dined on a circular Italian pizza.

After a day in Milan, we left to see the infamous town that formed Elis, Reggio Emilia. This town is very small, but has great importance. Not only did the Romans feature a road right through it, but it is also the birthplace of the current Italian flag. Reggio featured some incredible treats, including more Italian pizza at Piccolo Paradiso.

I had four different types of pizza here, all custom made, with different types of mushrooms and meats that I've never been privileged enough to see on my pizza dough.

The paradise had some unexpected bonuses as well. This was an anchovy bread combo that was gratis. In addition to this, I was seeking to eat a leftover pizza. The others I was with asked a waiter for permission, and he kindly rejected the privilege, but then brought out two of the largest sandwiches I had ever seen to be polite. These huge sandwiches play a major role in an adventure later on.

Goal 94: Laugh Until I Cry

The morning after our first night in Milan, Elis, Kenny and I were eating breakfast and discussing various things. One of the topics was of my previous night's rest with no blankets, on a bed in the living room. This was peculiar because I was awoken by Elis's roommates as they were eating breakfast at a table that was in direct line with my face while I was sleeping. We laughed about dumb things, but it was a good laugh we had.

Notice Elis is wearing the I heart 06 shirt, our senior shirt at St. Pius.

Nutella was the nice breakfast treat, who knew it would play an interesting role later on.

Epic Italia

Besides goals completed, Italy proved to be such an epic trip. We got free drinks at a club that left us wasted and bumbling about until 6am. That was then followed up by an authentic Italian meal by Elis's aunt and uncle where I nearly 'sploded from all the delicious, homemade food I ate.

After the drink and food, we found an abandoned factory that was inhabited by gypsies. We explored it a bit, and then started smashing up whatever we could.

That's not all though, because once we were getting ready to leave, we arrived at Bergamo Hotel/Airport the night before our 6am flight.

That was the worst of our problems though, because we had a 750g jar of Nutella that we had to smuggle back to Stockholm. Upon checking the rulebook, we saw that cremes can be in a maximum of 100g containers.

Lucky for us though, there is an exception to this rule...sorta. In the book, it cites that cremes "inside of sandwiches" is ok. Well then, it just so turns out we were given two oversized sandwiches that would be perfect for putting 750g of Nutella on.

My first time smuggling something across the border couldn't have been sweeter.

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Goals 11 & 14: Paris

Our first weekend long (6 day) trip, we went to Paris. We stayed with two most excellent couchsurfers, and did about every touristy thing you can imagine, and then some stuff that was not so touristy (like a catacomb party).

This post comes a little late, as Paris happened about 3 weeks ago now, but better late than never, right? While I was in Paris, I completed two of my goals, to see the Eiffel tower, and to go to Disneyland Paris. The Eiffel Tower was almost the first thing we saw, and we wouldn't see it again until just before we left.

Goal 14: See the Eiffel Tower

The work was really something. It was so industrial, yet so elegant. Such a symbol of industrial revolution, it was beautiful. It was really something to see THE tower that is featured in countless everythings.

Goal 11: Go to Disneyland Paris

Get ready for castle.....

Sleeping Beauty's castle was very ornate and...pink. It was a very nice castle, but I thought it a little cheezy. Was it really necessary to include Tinkerbell frozen in flight around the top steeple?

That is where my complaining about the castle ends, because everything else about it was excellent. You can actually go INSIDE of this castle, and it's filled with custom embroidery and stained glass that was beautiful.

The Fantasyland that the castle was connected to was also really good. It really gave the impression of a medieval little village, all joined up and part of the castle. I was a big fan of that.

Called "Tic and Tack", I'm pretty sure Chip and Dale were getting pissed at me for calling them by their American names. BUT, if that was the case, they certainly didn't show it. All of the characters were super chipper and fun to play with. Probably because it was a cold day, and there weren't many people in the park. Chip...Tic...Took the above picture on my camera for me.

Hollywood Studios is also part of the Disneyland Paris Resort.

Paris was a good little trip. Baguettes every day, Nutella every night. I saw epic and historic things every day, which was pretty neat in itself. Things like the Arc de Triomphe and the Mona Lisa make an impact on your memory once you've got your own point of view on them.

Although we did do lots of things, coming home I felt like I had not accomplished much more than being a tourist. Although we did do stuff a little out of the ordinary, such as the catacomb party, or the farmers market, we mostly stuck to the typical sightseeing things. Although I understand the necessity to get this kind of thing out of the way, future trips should be as much without the plain as possible.

Goal 66: Get on a Boat

The Baltic Queen

This cruise ship goes to Estonia and Latvia and Finland at very cheap and cool prices. I thought I was in for a simple ferry ride until I witnessed this awesome ride chillin at the dock in Stockholm.

Take a good hard look at this cargo-holding boat.

Take a picture, trick.

We're drinkin' Stroh and Vodka cause it's so crisp.

Arms spread wide on the starboard bow

It's a big blue watery road.

You can't stop me mother f*cker

cause I'm on a boat.

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Goal 56: Eat a Swedish Dish

Swedish roll at Fika

Fika is the Swedish coffee break time. It's nice, especially when the health center sponsors it by feeding the international students these delicious rolls. They are basically cinnamon rolls that aren't smothered in sugar syrup, rather just sprinkled with it.

Traditional Swedish Meatballs at IKEA

This plate of traditional style meatballs may look like regurgitation, when actually it is a half eaten plate of swedish meatballs covered in sauce with a side of lingonberry jam, and parsley.

"Did he just say parsley?"

HELLZ YES, DAT BE PARSLEY ALL UP IN HEHAR!

Lingonberry seems to cover the food of Sweden. Between juice, and sauce, and jam, lingonberries can make any food more Swedish. And the meatballs... come on, it's in the name: Swedish meatballs.

Black and Green Rumcake Dessert (also at IKEA)

This started out in the form of a green spring roll with chocolate caps on both ends. It had a chocolate, fudge center that had a light rum taste. Although the flavor was a bit bland beyond that, it was a good finish to this Swedish meal at a Swedish furniture store, IKEA.

100 to go.

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Travel to Sweden - Settle in Västrås

Depart from Albuquerque Sunport (ABQ) - 12:32pm MST 10/01/13

6-Hour Layover in Chicago O'Hare Airport (ORD) 10/01/13

Vodka Shots at "Skybridge Restaurant and Bar" ~6:12 pm CST 10/01/13

Depart Chicago O'Hare (ORD) - 10:05 pm CST 10/01/13

Depart Copenhagen (CPH) - 17:10 CET 10/01/14

Upon arriving to Scandinavia I realize something very quickly:

It's much better here.

The Copenhagen airport was a monument to interior design and architectural beauty. The dark wood floors and glass walls set this place apart.

Arrive Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN) ~ 18:10 CET 10/01/14

Notice the Swan chairs and design prints at the SAS gates.

Stockholm for the night and half of the day - 2010/01/14-15

Train to Västerås and Hike to Mälardalen University. Arrive ~ 17:14 CET 10/01/15

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Welcome to Sweden

This has been quite a lengthy trip so far, but we've settled at last. A total trip of about 22 hours, with total time from doorstep to doorstep being about 47 hours. I've since moved into my good sized, 10 square meter bedroom. Luckily, I somehow managed to sheist my way into an excellent room. Not only does my radiator have fins, but my previous occupier left me a bed full of blankets, a desk covered in lamps, and a bottle filled with pee.

The building we live in, Junior, is completely occupied by international students. Of which I've met folks from Mexico, Finland, Lithuania, Thailand, Pakistan, Romania, and Spain. Life will take a little adjustment, but not much.

• The toilets have two settings: Piss or Dump.
• The showers have two knobs: Power and Temperature.
• The outlets will blow if you try to plug in an 85W computer to a 50W adapter.
• The markets all close at 18:00.

The town is riddled with skybridges. We found this out when we went to buy food. While in Stockholm, we decided that we must rid ourselves of the SEK (Krowns) to USD (Dollahs) conversion at every transaction (7 SEK ~ 1 USD). So we took some notes:

• Nice restaurant lunch = 99 Krowns
• Lunch buffet = 79 Krowns
• McDonalds Hamburger = 10 Krowns

Bingo on the hamburger find. A nice, easy amount that gives a good benchmark for everything else. From now on, everything will be measured in how many hamburgers we can buy with the same amount of krowns. That being said, we purchased the basic food's we'll need for the next few weeks for a mere 364 Krowns (36 Hamburgers). That included a 1 krown mortgage on Kenneth's Orangina Soda.

Studying begins this week, at which point I will be able to complete my first task of the 101 goals I have for the next 1001 days. More to come then.

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Shedding My New Mexican Skin

The time has come for me to move from this country (and another by coincidence).

I took my final American shower, and washed clean the silt and grime that I've collected here. In a chilling finale, I emerged from the stream ready for what comes next.

I'm leaving a lot behind here. I shall return to tidy up if death can be kept at bay.

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01/10/10-101/1001

Today I've established a list of goals to be completed before October 7th, 2012. 101 goals in 1001 days. They can be seen, along with my progress as to which have been completed here:

Day Zero Project

Today is day zero. I am in Durango, CO, about to head back to Albuquerque, NM. The list is heavy with places to visit and things to do, especially places to see while I'm studying in Sweden (and even a goal to study in a foreign country). It also includes many goals that I currently have, and that I've had for a while now. But it also has personal goals based on family and love too.

I'm a man of lists, but oftentimes a man of many uncompleted lists. I typically jot down weekly or daily to-dos with about a 75% completion rate. This provides a nice chance to have some of my biggest goals, some of the biggest pieces to my five year plan, put down for everyone to see, and ready for me to check off when appropriate.

It's a good thing to embark on this mission just days before I embark on one of the biggest events of my life (so far). Three days to go. I'll be driving miles to see the one that I love, I'll be finishing my engineering paper, and I'll be saying goodbye to my family and friends (oh yeah, and packing and getting ready to leave the United States of America).

In addition, I feel that it's appropriate that the time period ends days after my 25th birthday. I am aware of what Einstein once said about personal gain:

"You will become everything you will ever be by the time you're 25" (or something like that)

I can't say for sure, but I do believe this will be true. As people grow older, their ideas become more concreted in their mind, and unless they are able to find themselves in the habit of growth and progress, they will discontinue development after age 25. It seems easy to tell how people will turn out when they are young, but people do change. I just don't think many people change much after 25.

It's been a fast paced few weeks, errr, few months. It'll be an accomplished next 1001 days.

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