Off to Italy

Well, I have two weeks of stories to reconstruct from photos, so bear with me while I sort things out! I just returned a few days ago, and I'm still trying to catch up on things. Our journey began on Friday June 3rd, not counting the weeks of planning that took place beforehand. The itinerary was to spend one week in Fiesole for the first week of the Vespucci Summer Institute, and the second week traveling around Italy. My friend Rhonda had some time to take Sean and I to the Goleta Airbus Station for the ride down to LAX at 10:00am. I was my usual excited self.

Our first adventure started with an unusually demanding woman scheduled to take the same Airbus down to LAX with us. Her behavior was a bit odd from the start which escalated quite a bit along the way. I'm trying to remember where she said she was from... Jerusalem, Bethlehem, or maybe she just said Israel... I can't remember now.

I like to sit in front, and apparently she does too, so when I sat down in her apparent seat, she got a little huffy. It may seem awful that I saw no need to move out of a seat that she decided to claim before she even got on the bus, but trust me, the driver surely preferred that she not sit so close to him with all her demands and aggression.

She was difficult to understand and had some trouble communicating even though her English seemed perfectly fine to me. She just had zero patience with anyone that didn't immediately understand what she wanted or meant by her half constructed utterances spoken at a tempo befitting of an auctioneer.

First she demanded to have her picture taken so she could have it added to some newsletter she was babbling about, but she didn't have a camera. Then she yelled about me taking her seat. Later she asked if I had a phone, to which I said yes, and then she asked to use it to call her relatives. Of course I said no and then she yelled at me. She asked why I would tell her I had a phone if I was not going to let her use it.

Between Goleta and the Santa Barbara stop, she went on and on about her Rolls Royce and limo service company, her husband (which she demanded to speak to which was obviously not possibly), and a bunch of other nonsense. When we got to the Santa Barbara stop, there was a limo in the parking lot. She asked the Airbus driver if she could get off the bus to see if it was her husband's limo. He told her he would leave her if she wasn't back by the time he finished loading the new passengers and she went into a rage and stormed off the bus to talk to the limo driver. I can only imagine the conversation she had with that unsuspecting limo driver.

Luckily, someone at the Santa Barbara stop spoke her language so she ended up moving to the back of the bus to sit with him or her. When it was time to get off the bus, she demanded the driver collect the food she had carried on to the bus and when he refused to carry her stuff she again went into a rage and stormed off. With no phone and terrible communication skills, I can only imagine what happened to her next. Her family was supposed to pick her up there, but LAX is a big place and I highly doubt this woman would stay in one place near the curb to be seen by passing cars.

We were there with plenty of time to spare, so we walked around for awhile. Sean took this cool picture of the list of international flights leaving from terminal four, and I got a cheese burger meal at McDonald's. Yes, that's me piling french fries on top of the patty. No, I don't know why or when I started doing this...

Where's our flight on the board? It's not. We flew out of terminal 2 on Alitalia which was a Delta code share flight direct from Los Angeles to Rome. The twelve hour flight was pretty uneventful. The video system wasn't working until the flight was nearly over and all that could be seen was True Grit filled with interruptions and static. We slept on and off, read books about Italy, and I had several articles to read for the Vespucci Institute. Special meals couldn't be ordered online, so we went with the standard meals instead of dealing with the hassle of calling Alitalia to make special arrangements. I had the veal and although it tasted more like dark meat chicken, it was pretty good! It came with a side of cheesy penne pasta, green beans and cured ham, and a collection of oddly crunchy yet sweet chunks of cantaloupe. I think it may have been soaked in sugar water.

We arrived on time, even a bit early I think, and headed in to the Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport (FCO) only to find that the mobile hot spot we rented from Cellular Abroad did not work. The display read "SMS Only" so we set out to figure out what was wrong by visiting phone stores in the airport hoping someone could help us check the device or the SIM card, but no one was able to help us. Needless to say, this generated quite a bit of stress but I knew we'd find our way. I rented to hot spot specifically for Sean so he'd feel more comfortable getting around during the week while I was attending the Vespucci Institute. If we didn't resolve this Internet issue, I knew it would cause problems, but there was nothing I could do so I though it better to enjoy this new environment the best I could while trying to keep Sean comfortable the best I could. To pass a little time before we had to catch a train to Florence, we visited the tourist information office and took a few photos from right outside of the Termini station. It's Saturday afternoon, and we're in Rome!

Getting to the Termini from FCO was relatively easy although having Internet access to make sure we were going in the right direction would have been beneficial. Here's a picture of someone running to catch their train, and here's a picture of Sean.

We're on the fast train from Rome to Florence. It's Saturday afternoon, and we booked a 2 for 1 deal well in advance. Luckily the train has free wireless so we're able to log in. The scenery from the train is beautiful and so green!

It was a bit rainy and humid as we passed rolling hills and lots of vineyards. When we got to the station, Sean got busy studying the map. This is just one of many "Sean studying the map" photos I have... of him in the green shirt.

Needless to say, I was pretty excited. Sean was more subdued, likely due to the hotspot issues and the lack of help we were able to get with our inability to speak any Italian. There's a church right outside of the Florence train station. It's pretty loud. I liked it.

We decided to try to walk to the bus stop we needed to catch the number seven bus from Florence to Fiesole where we would stay for the next week. Finding your way around a city that isn't on a grid system can be a bit tricky. We stopped at a TIM store to see if someone there could help us understand why our hot spot was reporting "SMS only" and the guy there spent a lot of time trying to help us. He suggested that the device needed to be unlocked and it may not be which would make the TIM SIM card inside unusable. There wasn't much else we could do until I was able to contact Cellular Abroad, so we began snaking our way through Florence to get to the bus stop. Along the way we passed through an incredible street market filled with all kinds of leather goods. I meant to make it back to this market but never did. So many beautiful jackets in styles that are never seen here in the States.

By the time we got to our bus stop it was starting to get dark. The buildings around the bus stop were interesting, and there's a bus waiting for us!

To ride the buses, you have to buy your tickets ahead of time at cigarette shops, news stands, or at the train station. They cost 1.20 Euro and can be used for 75 minutes. You just get it stamped the first time you use it and we were quick to learn that passengers usually wait until the bus starts rolling before stamping their ticket. Our ride up to Fiesole takes about half an hour or so, and affords amazing views of Florence as you climb up into the hills. Here's Sean on the bus (studying the map of course). As we got off the bus in Fiesole, I snapped this photo. Sean will take this bus almost every day while we're in Fiesole. It makes frequent trips down to Florence.


Finally, we're in Fiesole, we're tired, and we must have eaten something, but I can't remember what. The hotel is cute and our room has two twin beds and its own bathroom with a toilet, bidet, and a very small shower stall. The view from the window included olive trees and a narrow road below. I'm so glad we made it!

As soon as we got settled, I connected to the hotel Internet access and contacted Cellular Abroad right way to get assistance with the hotspot I rented. Since it was a Saturday, no tech support was available. The customer service person who did answer was impossible to deal with and had no interest in helping us. I have no idea why they would even have a customer service person available if they can't help customers and feel the need to be rude and unsympathetic. The guy we spoke to said we couldn't get help until 9:00am PST on Monday which for us would be in the evening on Monday. That means we would be without the use of the device we rented for three whole days. It was such a hassle and inconvenience, not to mention frustrating, but with nothing else to do, it's time to rest.

Tomorrow morning we'll ride the number seven bus back down to Florence for the day before we need to return to Fiesole in the evening for the open reception for the Vespucci Institute.

Agent-Based Modeling in Nelson BC, Hackathon Style

I was up early enough on Monday morning to drive a partial loop around the town, grab some cereal and soy milk from the local grocery store, and discover the overwhelming beauty of Nelson I missed when I drove in under the cloak of darkness. I really should have brought a box of this cereal home with me. Sean and I discovered it in Vancouver and we loved it.

The city is sandwiched in between a lake and mountains all around. Somehow you miss the feeling that you've dropped down into a valley when you arrive at night. Downtown is relatively flat and adjacent to the lake, while the neighborhood gently climb up the mountain giving every home a stunning view.

Miles was there to collect me right at 9:30 and we walked from the WhiteHouse Backpackers Lodge up to his house. If you made this walk every day, you'd have buns of steel. Nelson has lots of environmentally conscious residents that walk just about everywhere.

He has a fun family. Elka is the sweet smiley baby of the house. Z is the energy of the house. He's probably wondering where I am right now. Kell is their oldest and he's a bit quite and reflective. He seems wise. Miles's wife Jane takes care of everyone, including me while I'm there. There are two dogs, too. One hyperactive Chester, one mellow Lola. I kept quiet about my allergies so I could pet them as much as I wanted. People tend to squirrel their pets away when they find out I have allergies. I was loaded up with antihistamine. I'm petting those dogs. I'm excited. One is jumping all over me. Jane and Miles are trying to make him stop while I'm probably encouraging the bad behavior by trying to get in as much petting as I can. Dogs are just rad. I'm reminded of Hyperbole and a Half.

We spent the first day reviewing models to see what we could re-purpose after talking a little bit about the goals for my project. On Tuesday we really dove in collaborating in a "designer to developer" style very much like my Adobe Flash Hackathon experience. We came up with an underlying TB model that is far more sophisticated than anything I would have been able to formulate on my own. Monday and Tuesday were ten hour days, and Wednesday stretched into twelve. All of the behavioral aspects were coded on Wednesday. We were both exhausted, and I'm not sure how Miles had the energy to push through for so long when he was up most of the night taking care of two sick children.

Going all the way to Nelson BC reminded me that what I do is important and valued. It's unfortunate that I often get bogged down by the politics of my committee. They have clear well intentioned goals for my dissertation work. To finish this degree, that's all that matters I suppose. Miles has had prior experience modeling the dynamics of disease diffusion and he was genuinely interested in my research questions. He's also had experience with policy makers and knows how to construct models that have the capacity to answer the types of questions they are most interested in. When we wrapped up on Wednesday night, the model was about 90% complete. Hopefully I'll be able to sort out the rest in the next week or two.

Thursday morning, after a failed attempt to find a geocache in the rain, it was time to pack up the car and start driving back to Spokane. Of course, right when I'm getting ready to leave, it starts snowing, but only for a minute. The snow came down in giant clumps like nothing I've ever seen before. They were literally big round splats a few inches in diameter. I'm not even exaggerating a little bit. I kept my fingers crossed that it wouldn't start up again, and headed over to the Ellison Market to buy some chocolate to bring home to Sean. This is where folks buy their fresh milk in glass containers among other things. I thought I'd ask the clerk how to get back to the highway that goes to the border. She was bewildered and clearly stressed by the question, so I stopped her mid stammer to let her know I had a map. I would guess that a lot of folks that live in Nelson take very few trips out of the city. The highway out of Nelson was literally a few blocks away.

The trees all around had a beautiful white dusting of snow and as I climbed out of the valley, it started snowing. I can't even begin to describe how spectacular the scenery was. The trees are enormous and everything was just so stunning in shades of green topped with fresh white snow and deeply contrasted by the dark wet pavement. Waterfalls were making their way down craggy rock faces at every turn, and the occasional creek over passes were mighty displays of white water rapids making their way down to the glassy river below. Unfortunately, I didn't stop anywhere along the snowy part to take any pictures because I didn't want to get caught up there should the light snow turn heavy. I have to say, I handled it really well.

The border crossing back to the US was less "interesting" accept that my car, bags, and suitcase were all searched. Not a lot of questions this time around which was fine by me. Heading back into the US, I just felt like the Border Dude was doing his job. A few days earlier when I was entering Canada, I felt like the Border Dude was interrogating me.

Once I was clear of the snow, I stopped a few times to take pictures at various heritage markers and the Box Canyon Dam.

The rest of the drive back to Spokane was relatively free of any precipitation, and traffic was at a minimum until a brief section through the middle of downtown. I stopped at the Mountain Gear store on Division which was somewhat anti-climactic. I was so excited to go there after having bought gear from their online store. It was very much like an REI, but I didn't find any deep discount sales racks. With still an hour before I needed to drop off the rental car, I stopped at a little Asian restaurant called the Mustard Seed for lunch. Nothing to write home about, so I'll spare you the bland review. I will say that the wait staff and manager were really nice and the service was fantastic.

I was in and out of there pretty quickly, arriving at the airport just in time to drop off the rental car before it started snowing again. It was only a tiny bit of snow that had no chance of surviving the warm pavement. Nothing like the giant snow clumps of Nelson, and certainly nothing capable of delaying my flight. In fact, the flight from Spokane to Phoenix was the highlight of the many flights I took for this trip. I flew on US Airways and they will charge you extra for what they consider "premium seats. When I booked, they only had premium seats left. I wasn't about to pay an extra $15 dollars for a premium seat, so I just didn't select a seat for the trip back to Phoenix from Spokane. When I checked in the day before my flight, an exit row seat was now available for no extra charge, so I took it.

When I got on the plane, it wasn't just any exit row seat, it was one of those super awesome exit row seats without a seat in front of it. Check out all of that leg room! It's a little wasted on someone as short as I am, but that didn't stop me from swinging my legs up and down like a kid on the playground.

On top of that, I had the good fortune of sitting next to Matt, a funny guy on his way to Vegas to celebrate his 40th birthday with his best friend.

My connecting flight to Los Angeles departed and landed on time and I thought I'd call the Santa Barbara Airbus office to see if by chance there was a bus back to Santa Barbara at 8:00PM when I landed. One was scheduled to leave at 7:30PM, and the one I had a reservation for was scheduled to leave at 10:00PM. To my total surprise, the 7:30PM bus was still circling the airport and I had literally 5 minutes to get off the plane and run through the airport down to the exits by baggage claim. I got out there exactly as the bus was pulling up in front of my terminal. I've never been so excited to get on a bus. This means I'll get home at 10:30PM instead of 12:30AM.

I've been home a few days now, and it has taken me some time to catch up on all the little projects that I'm involved with. Now it's time to see how far I can get with the model...

Next trip: San Francisco for Google I/O.