europe so far:

ireland= done!
blogging from an internet cafe just isn't the same, but i'm trying to keep this page updated for all my loyal fans. (wait, fans?) anyways, i saw more rain in ireland in three days than i did in the last 3 months in arizona. the pubs are outta control! they have a crazy vodka drink that i can't even explain... but it's worth the trip. One thing to note* there were 2 (maybe 3 ) hot girls in ireland... and none of them were irish. but with so much beer, i guess all the girls look good. anyways, ireland= fun!

england=done!
the first night we got here every hostel was sold out, so we walked around till 3 in the morning and ended up sleeping next to the river. real sketchy. but now we're staying at the ashlee hostel and it's pretty good. i have a new drinking friend... or six. this one guy was from south africa, and he brought a bottle of "cane". so from what they say, "cane and coke" is what they drink in africa, and it gets you "boosed up right proper". and yes, yes it does. i would also like to quote that cane and coke is "some faulty shit". if it seems like i'm just drinking my way throught europe, you're right! it's sooo legal tough:) ok so far i've been hangin out (or drinkin with) with a few girls from canada, 3 guys from south africa, 2 guys from california, and no people from england. who would'a thought? anyways, all the tourists are really fun!


spain=done!
wow. just wow. barcelona is amazing! the beach is amazing. i don´t wanna sound shallow, but all i did was lay on the beach, drink, and watch really hot topless spanish girls. ýeah, i really don´t know what else i did. hm, things to note: maybe like two people speak english here. you don´t really know what you´re gonna get when you order food from a menu, but it doesn´t matter because the food is really good anyways. uh, yeah that´s it i guess. it´s really hard to sign into blogger when all the web pages are in spanish tho!

amsterdam=dude... i don't even know what's going on...
ok so amsterdam. what is there to say about amsterdam. um the police don't care if you smoke pot here. and uh, that can pretty much sum up amsterdam. Seriously, i can't even remember a good story right now. Oh i've got one: we stayed on a boat! yeah, instead of a hotel, we slept on this boat/hostle. the captain was awesome! he had a sweet dutch accent like 'gold-member' from austin powers. yeah "shmelting accident". anyways, um you can order pot from a menu in almost any cafe. i was offered coke and hash at least 500,00 times. If you ever go to amsterdam, i would suggest staying on a boat, and trying the 'silver haze'. it's a winning combo!! ok but my time in amsterdam is drawing to a close, and i no longer have an excuse to sit around all day with the munchies... so it's off to zurich next!

p.s. i don't know if it's staying on a boat, or smoking pot... but i swear this internet cafe is swaying back and forth. seriously... it's not even fun anymore. i've gotta get outta here :(


Italy- still here!
wow. i just typed for the last 10 minutes, and then the computer kicked me off. so now im gonna recap as fast as i can. here goes: in venice i saw serge and ella from school. that was cool. i am in cinque terra now, and earlier today i saw my math teacher from the u of a. that was also pretty cool. we are staying on the top floor of this old lady's house and it's pretty sweet. the beache is amazing. and i found out that my last name is prounced: free-go-na-zee. so there you have it! de home caantry is amazing!

-steve

europe...yes!

ok so i'm leaving for europe tomorrow morning. if you haven't heard the story... i'm basically backpacking with a friend all over europe. i have know idea what i'm actually gonna do, but i'm sure it will be awesome. i'll try to come back with a few good stories. other than that... see ya in a month!
-steve

Motorcycle Crash : (

alright, i'm switchin the topic back to motorcycles. The other day a kid from school asked me if i wanted to go riding. He just bought a brand spankin new 600cc gixxer. (That's my dream bike for the record). Anyways, it's like 9:30 at night, and we go for a quick ride down a winding road. We've never been on the road before, but we're still going pretty fast anyways. He was in front of me setting the pace. Maybe this is where i should mention an important piece of information. He has almost no riding experience! He's a nice kid and all, but he didn't even have his license or insurance. Anyways, we took a hairpin turn at like 65 mph and he couldn't stay in the lane. as he drifted to the outside of the turn he locked his back tire (bad!) and his bike high-sided. If you don't know what that means.. let me explain: the back end of his bike swung out to the left, then to the right, and back to the left. After this, the bike threw him over the handle bars. The bike hit a curb, did a flip in the air and landed in a ditch.
At about this point i hit my brakes pretty hard...but not hard enough to lock up my back tire. I pulled over to help him, but he was already standing up. He ended up breaking his collar bone... the bike was totaled, and the fire department had a nice chat with us.
So my our little ride took longer than i thought. On the way home (at like 1:00 am) i got to do a lot of thinking. My first thought was holy shit, what am i doing on a bike. then i thought about how he could have died if a car was coming in the other direction. But then i realized that this situation is exactly what i warn people about. What i mean is: i recognized the fact that he was on a bike that's really freaking fast, and he really doesn't have any experience at all.
So yeah- he crashed and it was pretty graphic to see when i was like 25 feet behind him... but it's also a really bad indicator of how dangerous motorcycles actually are. That accident came down to the rider. period. not the bike, or hazardous condition, or other cars... it was just the kid on the bike going way to fast.
Ok well i'll admit i was really scared right after the crash, but now i think i've considered every factor of the accident, and it really should be something that makes me scared to ride. The important thing is that the kid's alright (walking around with a limp, his arm in a sling, and a few bruises) but he'll live. If he wasn't wearing a helmet he would be either in the hospital, or in a graveyard. So what have we learned? wear the correct riding gear (duh), don't race down a road you've never been on while it's dark out (also duh), and don't ride past the level you're comfortable with (duh!). I guess i haven't really learned anything, cuz i already knew all that. but it's still a good lesson

-steve

p.s. the real victim here is the 2005 gixxer that's totaled. what a loss *hangs head in shame*