This past weekend, Chelsea and I took a fantastic trip to Vienna. We flew straight out of Lugano and we were there in a few hours. The trip to the hotel was by train, and a lot easier than I would have thought. We walked out of the station, and BAM! There was the Hilton, Vienna; a magnificent 15 story building right on the center of town. It was a little late in the evening when we arrived though... but we soon found out that thanks to our tardiness, we received an upgrade! To the executive level suite!

Chelsea and I walked into the beautiful, spacious room. It had a glorious view of dowtown, with the Belvedere, the Stadtpark, and several churches in our vista. We even had a bathtub, that came with a set of robes and a branded rubber ducky (of all the free perks...).

Anyways, we spent most of our time there taking in the works of Klimt and to a lesser degree of Schiele. I hobbled pathetically around about 3 million museums, including the Leopold and the Kunsthaus. We basically visited everysingle tourist spot possible with the amount of time we had. I would have to say that the zoo at the Schonbrunn Palace was my favorite, mostly because I had seen most of the other places. More than anything, I wanted to share these places with Chelsea (such as visiting the Sacher Hotel and enjoying their world famous cake).

Well, the trip was incredible. I want to thank both my parents and Chelsea's parents for having funded this whole thing. As usual, I am going to leave you with a little photographic montage of the whole thing. Enjoy!

I just finished a very satisfying, meat and potatoe filled meal. Stay away...



The hunchback of Vienna...




Here Chelsea is taking a picture of herself... I swear, I did not do it...

Oh my God! I am being trampled by the Emperor!




The art is killing me! Wait, I mean my knee is killing me...




Mmmm... Tower O'Desserts




Chelsea lookin all artsy... Even if she doesn't think so




First I went to the Mozart Museum...




...Then I became Mozart!

Ok, so by now every one should know that I am hard at work on my thesis. I am typing my butt off here. That is not to mention all of my regular papers due for other classes. Meanwhile, back in Florida, my little brother Jason, also in school, is doing something completely different. He is putting all of his brain power into... [drum roll]... Puzz3d!

I mean, are you kidding me man?! I am writing a stupid under-graduate thesis and you are playing with puzzles?! Life is sometimes cruel... Anyways, it is still a really cool Puzz3d of San Francisco. I am putting up some pics here per his request. Enjoy!

Here I am, all alone in Lugano writing my stupid thesis (ok, in a few weeks when I am done with it, I am sure that I won't be calling it stupid, but for now, that is its official name). Practically every one else on campus is off wandering around foreign lands, enjoying their academic travel, and here I am like a schmuck writing a thesis. It is actually about Haiti and the wave of attempts to democratize the island, but what is that in comparison with going around the world?! Truthfully, I am not that jealous, but I felt like I had to do a little song and dance to make myself feel better.

Anyways, for these past two weeks, I have had plenty to do. You would think that with almost nobody around, I would have gone insane, right? Well, I think I did... My sleep schedule was way off, I battled fits of anxiety from being alone, but nevertheless, I did have things to do...

First, I had to design and build a website for a local company here in Ticino. It is called Point to Point Shuttle, and they will take clients from Lugano to the Zurrich Kloten airport. If a group or family needs to get to another place (almost anywhere in switzerland), the company is willing to due custom trips at a negotiable price. If you are actually in need of something like this, feel free to send an email to info@pointshuttle.com. Now, if that sounded like a corporate plug, that is because... it was... Seriously, check out the page to see the work I did. It might not be the prettiest color scheme ever, but it certainly matches the bright orange shuttle bus.

Finally, it was time to start working on my thesis. I was dreading the whole thing so badly. I could not get started for the longest time. I just kept looking at my research books, and saying:

"It's too much... I can't possibly do this! Who writes a thesis for an under-grad degree anyways!? What kind of sick school do I go to!?"

But, when I finally started to just type, I kept on going and going, energizer style. Before I knew it, I had finished up my first chapter. That's right folks! 25 pages! That part flew by. However, students were starting to come back, and the distractions were mounting. Before I knew it, I was enjoying my "guys night" beer and definitely not writing anymore. And then, Chelsea came back, and of course I had to put my writing on hold. It had been a long two weeks without her. Anyways, what I learned was that I should have just kept writing, and now I will have to fight off distraction and finish my thesis... in two weeks! That's right. You heard me. I want my rough draft to be done in two short weeks. I have spoken.

I can't even believe this thing myself. You see, a couple months ago I had to put in all of my applications for graduate school, but I was not very hopeful. I guess I am like that so that I never get let down. Anyways, I heard from the first school two days ago. Not only that, but it was the program that appealed to me the most. I was so freaking nervous that it took me twenty minutes to even open the email. I waited until I was all alone and then... [click]... I opened this:

I could not believe my eyes! I got into my favorite school with a 75% scholarship! I started jumping around in my IT office! Then I ran into the library where my girlfriend was and I told her the news and she began to cry. I was so happy right then, I can't even describe it. The next thing I did was call mom and dad even though it was probably like six in the morning for them... Who cares!? I got in!

Sorry it took me so long to post this. I actually went to Nice a week ago, but it took me a little while to get the pics from Chels. Anyways, like the title suggests, we went to Nice. It was me, Chelsea, Annie, and Brett. We were lucky enough to have a car to go with, because the train would have sucked and cost a fortune. So we stayed for two nights and saw both night-time and daytime parades. Although, it was kind of a rip off to get in, with us having to pay ten euros every time we wanted to get onto the grounds. But whatever. We also got on the ferris wheel and had some good chinese food. Then we stopped in Monaco on the way back. It was a hell of a trip. Now, if you are feeling let down by this meager amount of text for a post, let me make it up to you with pictures! Plus, nobody wants to read what I say anyways... actually, that goes for any blog...