Well, I had been thinking for a while on what to exactly post. I figure, why not discuss my week stay in Italy, 2 of the days I hung out w/ Haunter from Smogon. As many of you know, Haunter is a bit older then the average Smogon member but does an absolutely wonderful job running this place and I am pretty sure without Haunter, Chaos would be bankrupt right now. But that's another story entirely.
For those who have never viewed Haunter's profile though, let me give you a little back story. Me and Haunter became good friends in early 2011 at the latest, and I would always troll him about coming to Italy and would often joke about buying some wine and he'd have to show me good pasta places. Little did I know that a few years later, I would actually be going to Italy! So I leave on January 5th and fly to Florence. I was there for a week but instead of focusing on the adventure of Italy itself, which was fun for sightseeing but you're better off looking on google images for pictures, I will dedicate this just to the hours I spent with Haunter.
To begin though, I have never actually seen Haunter and I don't think anyone has, but he never denied the opportunity to meet up. Most Italian users wouldn't want to meet an intimidating Smogon admin such as Haunter, but I think all admins are jokes anyway and are just users who want to be loved. Bloo had told me that if I get the opportunity to go to Italy, he would ban me unless I met with Haunter. Haunter and I exchanged phone numbers using Whatsapp on his iPhone since I didn't have an Italian number, etc. It was an easy way to keep in touch. We met on Tuesday the 7th!
So begins our adventure!
I'm on the right obviously. Haunter wanted to show me around Florence - we had to be particular about where we ate due to him being a vegetarian - luckily pasta is such a popular food in Italy huh?! I had never had Italian pasta but that evening I had a huge urge for some Spaghetti and Meatballs. Before dinner though, albeit we met around 3pm, we spent the next 3-4 hours talking, getting to know each other, and of course exploring the city! It's a great tourist spot, lots of walking to do, and a lot of cool things to see you may not see in your typical American city.
This is a cool street Haunter showed me.
Haunter and I explored the outskirts of the city, which must have been a bit boring for him but I am an entertaining enough conversationalist! We discussed politics of Smogon, my future in being a moderator, which Chaos seems to be a fan of, and I even gave him some tips and tricks for picking up the hunnies.
Here was an absolutely beauiful pic I took of Haunter outside of the city.
As it got a bit later, Haunter introduced me to a cool little sit down restaurant called "La Tagliatella" supposedly the best pasta in town! I also committed to my promise of some wine! We had some Dolcetto d'Alba which was absolutely divine. And of course I got a pic of Haunter enjoying the wine and his pasta!
As you can see Haunter seems to be enjoying himself quite well! The wine was absolutely destroyed as well!
The next day we did a bit of hiking but I left my Camera in the hotel simply due to the mountain being quite steep and I didn't want to even risk breaking it or keeping up with it. The first day with Haunter was great and he really is a funny stand up guy.
Hope you all enjoy ^_^
For those who have never viewed Haunter's profile though, let me give you a little back story. Me and Haunter became good friends in early 2011 at the latest, and I would always troll him about coming to Italy and would often joke about buying some wine and he'd have to show me good pasta places. Little did I know that a few years later, I would actually be going to Italy! So I leave on January 5th and fly to Florence. I was there for a week but instead of focusing on the adventure of Italy itself, which was fun for sightseeing but you're better off looking on google images for pictures, I will dedicate this just to the hours I spent with Haunter.
To begin though, I have never actually seen Haunter and I don't think anyone has, but he never denied the opportunity to meet up. Most Italian users wouldn't want to meet an intimidating Smogon admin such as Haunter, but I think all admins are jokes anyway and are just users who want to be loved. Bloo had told me that if I get the opportunity to go to Italy, he would ban me unless I met with Haunter. Haunter and I exchanged phone numbers using Whatsapp on his iPhone since I didn't have an Italian number, etc. It was an easy way to keep in touch. We met on Tuesday the 7th!
So begins our adventure!
I'm on the right obviously. Haunter wanted to show me around Florence - we had to be particular about where we ate due to him being a vegetarian - luckily pasta is such a popular food in Italy huh?! I had never had Italian pasta but that evening I had a huge urge for some Spaghetti and Meatballs. Before dinner though, albeit we met around 3pm, we spent the next 3-4 hours talking, getting to know each other, and of course exploring the city! It's a great tourist spot, lots of walking to do, and a lot of cool things to see you may not see in your typical American city.
This is a cool street Haunter showed me.
Haunter and I explored the outskirts of the city, which must have been a bit boring for him but I am an entertaining enough conversationalist! We discussed politics of Smogon, my future in being a moderator, which Chaos seems to be a fan of, and I even gave him some tips and tricks for picking up the hunnies.
Here was an absolutely beauiful pic I took of Haunter outside of the city.
As it got a bit later, Haunter introduced me to a cool little sit down restaurant called "La Tagliatella" supposedly the best pasta in town! I also committed to my promise of some wine! We had some Dolcetto d'Alba which was absolutely divine. And of course I got a pic of Haunter enjoying the wine and his pasta!
As you can see Haunter seems to be enjoying himself quite well! The wine was absolutely destroyed as well!
The next day we did a bit of hiking but I left my Camera in the hotel simply due to the mountain being quite steep and I didn't want to even risk breaking it or keeping up with it. The first day with Haunter was great and he really is a funny stand up guy.
Hope you all enjoy ^_^
