By Lindsey Besecker
Staff Correspondent
FLORENCE—Winter break is finally over and it is time for a fresh start in the Florentine villa. Most of us are tired of traveling and living out of a bag, but we all have plenty of stories for the 10 new students in the house.
One of my favorites deals with the Jimmy Eat World concert in Lyon, France. It was during the first week of break and about 25 Pepperdine students from the four Europe programs bought tickets. Let me tell you, it was worth the 20 Euros.
After the show all the girls in the group were invited backstage where we got to hang out with Jimmy Eat World and Midtown. The most memorable part of the whole night would have to be when Jim Atkins, lead singer for Jimmy Eat World, cocked his head to the side and asked us “Pepperdine … didn’t we play there?”
No Jim, we got stuck with Chris Carrabba.
Everyone had their different experiences over break, whether it was re-adjusting to the United States, living on one meal a day or overnight trains.
One group traveled up to Scandinavia to experience the cold weather in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Another small group flew to Turkey and spent a few days in Istanbul.
For New Year’s, a group of students went to Barcelona for the celebration. I don’t think any of us will complain about that night, even if Lauren Sager and I did get lost around 1 in the morning. It is all a part of the experience.
It is strange coming back to the house and having new people living in the rooms. On my floor, there are five new students. The house is not the same without a lot of the people here. It is just a different atmosphere.
The second semester students are adjusting well. A small group of them went to Venice for the first traveling weekend, and Matt Loevenguth ventured to Budapest with five other “veteran” students, including myself. I do not think that I would have been that adventurous on my first weekend, but I think we all had an amazing time.
The first day we all went caving. That was definitely interesting because we all had to contort our bodies to fit through small holes underneath the earth. I would definitely recommend it to anyone, but just know that you will not feel clean for about a week afterwards.
Jorie Miller and I had quite a different experience the next morning. We woke up feeling sore from the caving, so we decided to go to the thermal baths. They were cheap, but a little awkward. Just imagine old ladies floating around naked in a pool … definitely a different experience. To anyone who is going overseas next year, I would offer this piece of advice: Bring a bathing suit if you go to Budapest.
January 23, 2003
