Friends in Europe... Part One

I've been back for well over a month, but I'm just now getting around to posting a bit here. My next few posts will be about the people I've met while being over in Europe.

Riccardo, Vefik, Eirik, and myself

At the Film Academy of Miroslav Ondricek in Pisek, I was enrolled in an International Film Studies program. I was the only student from the United States. There was supposed to be another from West Virginia State University, but circumstances changed shortly after I got there. My roommate, Vefik, was from Turkey. Above us was Eirik, originally from Norway but living in Denmark. Also in the program was Riccardo, born in Italy but spent most of his life in Germany. To top things off, we had George, from the country of Georgia.

It was an eclectic group, but we all generally got along. Also, of course, there was Iain and Anna.

On the tour I did with Dad, I met several people. Most were from New Zealand, but there were a few from Australia as well. Lots of fantastic accents. Dad practically adopted some of them. A group of Kiwis (people from New Zealand) bought him a Swiss Army Knife on his birthday. Several of us went to the top of Europe together.

I can't even tell you how many people I met in hostels. There are too many stories to list from that kind of a place. I didn't run into too many Americans, but several Canadians.

Also, I really can't write about this without mentioning some of my instructors over there. Namely, Jeremy Willis (and his wife, Dale, and their nephew Daniel) and Antonio Riestra. They were great.