Who Pressed the Fast-Forward Button?

And suddenly I have completed the last class of my freshman year of college.

Things I Have Accomplished (that have nothing to do with gaining an education):

- Dying 3 peoples' hair

- Cutting 3 peoples' hair

- Having my own hair dyed

- Modifying a dress

- Watching all 3 seasons of Mighty Boosh

- Smuggling 3 semi-legal things into my dorm room

- Knitting at least 4 hats

Etc. Etc.

Things I Have Accomplished (that have to do with gaining an education):

- Assistant Stage Managed a show

- Operated lights for a show

- Assistant light designed for a dance show

- Made a saw horse

- Sewed a pouch with drawstrings

- Designed couches, sets, and costumes for "No Exit"

Etc. Etc.

Things I Have Learned (the hard way):

- Couch arm sleeves do not make it easier to slide a couch; the couch legs rip the sleeves and scratch the floor

- Actors hardly ever read their line notes

- Always do what the Stage Manager says as soon as he/she says it

- Knives aren't just for boys

- Daggers can cut you

- Technical crew doesn't get nearly enough appreciation

- Baby incubators are really heavy

- There's a fine line between looking pregnant and fat

- Walks at 2:30 am are the best, regardless of whether it's 8 degrees or 80

Etc. Etc.

Classes Accomplished (in total):

- Intro. to Theatre

- Intro. to Psychology

- Western Civ.

- Critical Writing

- Education

- World Civ.

- Intro. to Philosophy

- Fundamentals of Design

- Critical Perspectives on Lit.

- Stagecraft

Etc. Etc.

This year has truly gone by at light speed. It is already difficult to imagine a time when I did not know the people with whom I am so close. I never knew I would find so much joy in late night walks, "working" until 3 am, and Sunday sundaes. Although I am incredibly anxious to get home and have some Iggy's and Del's, I will be leaving a school that has warmly welcomed me to the cold city of Syracuse.

Freshman Year; Semester 2

Time for an update of my freshman year, which is officially 75% (3/4) done. Huzzah! All-in-all, I feel as though this semester has already been more academically productive than last semester, and perhaps more productive than most of my high school career.

My Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays begin at an ideal 11:30 in the morning when I go to World Civilization II. Though this class is in a lecture hall, there are not nearly enough students to fill it. My professor is very knowledgeable on the topics he covers, which I have found to be more interesting than Western Civilization because he talks about Africa, India, and other countries about which I have very rarely learned in the past. What makes the class even more bearable than the usual history class is my professor's tendency to go off on a story of his own experiences. He is very well travelled, and I have recently learned that he speaks Turkish because his specialty is Middle Eastern history. I consider this to be pretty nifty. We do not have any tests or quizzes until the final exam in May. We do, however, have three short papers that are due throughout the semester. They are each based on different books we are assigned to read, drastically ranging in topics and lengths. The fourth and final paper is not a brief one, but a lengthy paper on a topic of our choice. I am yet to decide what in the world (no pun intended) I am going to choose.

World Civ. ends at 12:20 and I usually grab some lunch in the cafeteria before my Philosophy class at 1:30. I had no idea what to expect for content of this class, so I found it (and still find it) to be interesting, though not exactly fascinating. My professor, not unlike the professor of my previous class, teaches using lecture. He describes many philosophical ideas brought about by the many philosophers of hundreds of years ago, i.e. Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Socrates, and a bunch of other guys with funny names and even funnier spellings. We discuss the different views on the gods and free will, as well as ideas of the origins of the world. This class has three short papers due throughout the semester, the final of which is a dialogue between two characters representing two different philosophers' views on a subject. There are also three reasonably simple exams. It is difficult to firmly grasp each belief of each philosophy, but it is nonetheless interesting to learn about what ideas people had for creation and such.

After Philosophy ends at 2:20, I am done with classes for the day. On Mondays, however, I have Le Moyne College Singers rehearsal from 6:30-8:00. Our theme for the year as been songs from movies, but our music for this semester is for a concert entitled "Favorite Things". It will not only feature the Singers, but also a number of soloists doing songs from shows and movies. We are planning on using some costumes and choreography to enhance entertainment of this performance, so I am quite excited. The concert is the 8th, 9th, and 10th of April.

My Tuesdays and Thursdays are a bit more rigorous, but I also enjoy them much more. I oh-so-cleverly call them my "Major Days" because they include classes for my English and Theatre Arts majors. They begin at a bright and early 10:00 with Fundamentals of Design. This is a theatre class about set designs in theatre productions. It is a lot of work, but is probably the most useful and rewarding class I have ever taken. Though many would not think it seems relevant for everyday life knowledge, for a theatre kid, it is simply splendid. The class focuses on three large projects, each with "smaller" assignments due every week, though there are hardly small assignments. For example, I have a 3-dimensional model of my dorm room due for class tomorrow. It is in 1/4" scale, so it is pretty small, but I am quite proud of it. We also have reading assignments from a book about theatre and drawing assignments so we can improve our skills at getting our ideas down on paper. I also have to draw an apple with proper shading for tomorrow's class.

Right from Fundamentals, which ends at 11:15, I go to Critical Perspectives on Literature for a 11:30 class. The professor of this class is a self-proclaimed strict teacher, but she also guarantees that, even if you get a lot of not-so-great grades, as long as you try in the class, you will be able to pull off at least a B. She gives a quiz almost every class based on the reading of the night before, which is usually a chapter in the text book and several poems/short stories. In class, we discuss a few poems thoroughly, usually with a lot of my professor talking to us and asking us questions. We just handed in papers written about a short story we read. It was a challenging assignment in some ways because she did not actually assign a topic; we had to choose what aspect of the story we would write about for a length of our choice. I truly enjoy the class, however, reminding me why I added English to my major.

After Literature ends at 12:45, I usually go to lunch and often take a nap, followed by Stagecraft at 2:30. This class is taught by the same professor as my Fundamentals of Design class, and I was greeted with expressions of awe and worry when I told any theatre students that I was taking both of his classes during the same semester. He is infamous for assigning lots of work. However, I cannot say that I have ever really regretted taking these classes at the same time. Although my nights before Tuesdays and Thursdays are very late, when I finish an assignment, I have something of which to be proud. Stagecraft is a class about the technical aspects of theatre, such as lighting and sound, and the basics of actually building a set. We spent two classes getting our hands on massive power tools and learning how to use them. This is quite practical.

Once Stagecraft ends at 3:45, I am done with classes for the day. However, my time has been/will be occupied beyond classes. Though Emma's Child just closed, where I played a pregnant birthmother in a short but charming little scene, I will be operating lights for the Major Arcana production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. This will be in mid- to late March.

So that pretty much describes my life thus far in my second semester of college. We get our housing packets tonight, enabling us to choose housing in a few weeks. However, my main focus right now is getting through the week to March break. I'll be in RI on Saturday and I cannot wait! Before that, however, I get to see Leah! I am sure there will be pictures.

Peace, out, loves.

I'm One Eighth Done?!

The title is not false: In a matter of a week, I will be on eighth done with my college career. It is not that I am anxiously awaiting this, either. In fact, I am quite enjoying my time as a poor college student. Nevertheless, I cannot help but notice how quickly this is going by.

As the Spring Semester approaches, some changes have taken place in my educational priorities. For example, the most significant would probably be my change in majors. I was previously a Psychology major with a concentration in Elementary Education; I am now a double Theatre and English major with a Creative Writing minor.

Contrary to what I should hope no one would think, this has nothing to do with my sister's BA in English. In fact, I would have preferred to be just a Theatre major, but then the question rises of what will I do with this in "the real world"? I am really not banking on acting professionally. With an English major and a Theatre major, I have many options, including Education.

I am somewhat disappointed that I will not be pursuing Psychology, however. Since I had had no previous experience in this subject pre-college, it was a new and interesting topic, and it continues to intrigue me now that I have a little knowledge of it. Regardless, there is little in the field of Psychology that I would ever wish to continue with as a career option.

My strongest reason for switching my majors is my never-ending passion for Theatre. In high school, theatre was a mere after-school activity to which I loved dedicating most of my time. Now, my passion can be transformed into classes where I can excel in doing what I love. What better reason could there possibly be than this?

Therefore, as I approach my week of final exams, I eagerly await my two theatre class that I will be taking next semester, as well as the play in which I am acting. The Boot and Buskin (faculty-directed) show is "Emma's Child", which is a more depressing version of Juno. There is a cast of eleven, as well as an understudy cast of another eleven. I was fortunate enough to be cast in the lead cast--the only freshman! (Not to brag, but I am quite proud of this!) Our show is in mid-February.

For other updates in Spring Semester, I will keep the blog up-to-date.

Where Did My 1st Semester Go?!

I said that I would write again after classes had started.

I lied.

In reality, I'm writing past the half-way point into my first semester of freshman year! I like to think I've come a long way since then. It's simply impossible to try to fill my readers (if they truly exist) on what's been going on since then, so I'll just address some main points of my year so far:

Classes:

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I have three classes.

My day begins at 11:30--a reasonably late time--with Western Civilization until 12:20. I suppose that it is appropriate that this is my first class of both the day and the week because it is my least favorite. My professor, a priest, is more than competent on the subject, but his lecture-and-note-taking style of teacher does not work for me. I require some form of activity to create comprehension, and not just listening and writing pages of notes. Nevertheless, I have enjoyed the emphasis the class subject matter has had on Rome, considering my vacation over the summer. Just today, during our class on the Italian Renaissance, we looked at several pieces of Roman art and sculpture, most of which I can now say that I have seen (Birth of Venus, David, Pieta, etc.). I have even taken to pulling up my own photos from iPhoto to reference during class, mostly because my own photos spark personal memories of the experience of being there in a real experience, rather than a vicarious one.

Right from Western Civilization I go to Theatre from 12:30-1:20. This is a class that I enjoy greatly, as many might imagine. About once a week, including today, we have a guest speaker who comes to our class to talk about something in theatre. Today, for example, we had someone talk about set design. The speaker was none other than my advisor, who I will mention when we get to my Tuesday-Thursday schedule. In theatre, we also do many little skits and acting activities that go along with chapters we read in our textbook. We're currently in the process of presenting skits that we did as part of a lesson on directing. In groups of three, we got and "empty scene," which is basically a short scene where, when taken out of context, there is no purpose evident within the lines. As directors, each person in the group directed the other two members in acting out the scene in a different way. Since the scene was "empty," one director may have seen it as the dialogue between a mourning woman burying her pet and a teenager, while another may have seen it as the dialogue between two men in a line-up. The possibilities are endless.

After a short break for lunch, I have Psychology from 2:30-3:20. Since psychology is (currently) my major, I'm happy to say that this is definitely one of the most interesting classes I'm taking. Taught by a Jesuit of Le Moyne, my professor is not only fully intrigued by his subject matter, but obviously applies WHAT he teaches to HOW he teaches--a refreshing change. Today, we had a quiz on learning, which is obviously relevant to someone like me who has a concentration in elementary education. We've been studying the different experiments scientists have done to test learning, such as the "Bobo Doll Experiment," where young children watched a "model" adult beat up a bobo doll (the inflatable ones that have sand at the bottom and look vaguely like people). The children, when placed in a room with toys, were significantly more aggressive towards the doll than the other group of children, who did not witness the adult model's example behavior towards the doll. This proves that children are very impressionable when it comes to mimicking the actions of adults around them, and therefore translates to explain why families with abuse between parents often lead to the children living abusive lifestyles.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have either two or three classes--it varies.

At the beginning of the year, it was typical to have three. I would start my morning at the way-too-early time of 8:30 for advisement until 9:20. This class, with the theatre professor involved in set design (who I mentioned before), is not exactly a 'class.' It is a required class for freshmen to promote involvement, as well as to support new college students by assisting with organization and other techniques to make college an easier adjustment. Since I am in the Performing Arts Learning Community, the students in this class, as well as my Theatre class, are the same, for the most part. We all are also located on the same two floors in our residence hall. Advisement is also involved with our year-long theme of Evolution, including reading "Only A Theory," by a guy named Kenneth R. Miller. I have come to despise Miller because I do not agree with many of his ideas on how evolution and religion can co-exist. Regardless, advisement is meeting less and less as the year progresses, bringing my Tuesday-Thursday down to two classes.

From 11:30-12:45 I have Critical Writing, which is easily one of my favorite classes. With its focus on grammar and writing and lack of emphasis on reading, I immediately fell in love with this class. The professor is a kind, little old woman. One of my friends is famous for saying, "I wish she was my mom!" Not only is she quite agreeable, but we also do various activities to learn the subject matter repetitively, making it exceedingly easy to pass her (few) grammar quizzes. We write rough drafts of essays in class, so that we never have huge writing assignments hanging over our heads for her class. Then, she organizes us into small groups and we work together to critique each other's papers. The next draft would focus on global revisions (content), followed by a draft with local revisions (grammar), and then a final, graded copy. Our first essay of the semester was on drugs and alcohol, and our current one is on academic integrity and plagiarism. Before an essay, we read a series of articles on a topic and fill out Critical Reading worksheets that analyze the thesis of the article, the counter-argument, and various other elements of it. The semester will culminate with an efficiency exam for three hours of writing on a specific topic. I feel as though English AP prepared me greatly for this class, since my last meeting with my group members for the essay on plagiarism found little to criticize in my hastily-written first draft... though I know my professor will have plenty to critique!

My next class is Education, from 4-5:15. This is not specifically for elementary education-studying students, but for the ones doing adolescent education, as well. Our professor has made it clear to us that the point of the course should really be our practicum hours in an actual classroom setting; there is only so much one can learn from a textbook about teaching. The technical name for the class is "Teaching in a Diverse Society," so there is a lot of emphasis on diversity in a classroom. We recently had a mid-term exam (my only class that gave one) with many short answer questions on everything from a specific field on which we did research (mine was theatre arts, naturally) to describing extrinsic rewards of being a teacher (summer vacations!). We also had to choose between two essay topics for a short essay, and I chose one discussing the pros and cons of inclusion for special education students--a topic I think my mother would love to discus or write about for an essay.

My schedule, however, does not end with classes. On Mondays and Wednesdays, I participate in a group of about 20-25 other students in the Le Moyne Singers. This groups is vaguely equivalent to Pilgrim's Chorale. The girls had to tryout because we were greatly overpowering the boys, but I successfully made it through auditions and was placed in the Soprano voice part--obviously. We sing many tunes from musicals and movies, including Into the West (Lord of the Rings), Seize the Day (Newsies), and Little Shop of Horrors. We also sing some John Williams Christmas songs, The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire), and the Star Spangled Banner (for sports events). Just Wednesday we started learning Linus and Lucy, which is quite a challenge. We got the music from the Jazzuits director (the Jazzuits are a far more select musical ensemble), so it makes sense that it is difficult. We are also expecting to get Seasons of Love (RENT) any day. We'll be having a concert some time in December.

On Sunday nights I always have to make sure I check my school email because I get an email from the executive editor of the Le Moyne Dolphin--our school's newspaper that publishes every Thursday. I get two or three emails of articles that I copy edit and send back to her. Though this task comes easily to me, I find myself getting aggravated with how unprofessional these writers for our paper sound. I am aware that articles that are editorials are not supposed to be completely formal, but how can anyone take a writer seriously if it is written in a VERY amateur way?

I mentioned practicum when I was describing my education class. My practicum hours, which must total up to ten hours by mid-December, are spent at a tutoring center in an apartment complex right off campus. It is a ten minute walk to get there, and I am supposed to be there at 3:30 on Mondays. In case you're keeping track, this means I go right from Psychology (ending at 3:20) to practicum. I spend my time there working with a few kids on homework. I am not entirely happy with my placement here because I was hoping to get a taste of actual classroom life. This lacks one of the most important parts of elementary education: a teacher who requires the characteristics of leadership and patience. There is no teacher or teacher-type role in the tutoring center. How can I decide if I want to be an elementary school teacher without being in a classroom? Working the with children one-on-one is fine--I don't mind explaining and describing things or giving an example to help them understand what a vocabulary word means. Nevertheless, I am conflicted with my want to be in an actual classroom for my practicum hours.

The most demanding of my extracurricular activities, however, is as one of the two assistant stage managers of one of the plays our school is doing. There are two groups that put on shows here. One is Boot and Buskin, which is managed and directed by the faculty. They are currently working on Shakespeare's "As You Like It," which is being directed by my Theatre professor. The other group is Major Arcana, which is completely run by students, which the exception of having a faculty advisor. The director, stage manager, set designer, etc. are students. My roommate (Kari) and I are the two assistant stage managers. Rehearsals are usually four or five hours a week, generally from either 6:30-11:30 or 8-11:30. It is a very rigorous and time-consuming schedule, but I truly enjoy it.

As you can tell, my schedule has very little free time, which is why I tend to stay up until the wee hours of the morning on the weekends when I have a bit of time to relax. However, I am enjoying all of my extracurricular activities thoroughly--so thoroughly that no matter how bogged down I am with work, I do not want to drop any of them. My classes, though I favor some more than others, are a refreshing change from high school because the professors seem genuinely intrigued by their subjects. All in all, I am having a wonderful college experience so far.

...And Then I Moved In.

It is official. I have moved in at my new home--Le Moyne College.

The road here was bumpy. We knew that departing from the house by 4:30 am would be no simple task, but it ended up being the reason my day did not go smoothly. In fact, I hardly want to remember the first half of it! Due to summer activities back in RI, I had not been going to bed before 2 am. Therefore, it was exceedingly difficult to fall asleep that fateful Saturday morning. In actuality, I did not fall asleep. Instead, I tossed and turned as my mind refused to stop ticking away, until I realized my efforts were futile.

I arose and dressed and found that my parents were just waking up. And so my real day began. I slept for about an hour in the van on the way. It was not easy, considering all of my belongings prevented us from reclining our chairs. And then the nausea set in. We shall call it nerves.

I was restless and felt sick for most of the day. Move-in was a blur for several reasons:

1. The move-in Orientation Crew were amazingly quick at delivering my things from the van to my third floor room. In fact, they beat me to the room. It was like magic!

2. Though I acted social and personable as I walking into my residence hall for the first time, I literally shook as I filled out their information sheet. I was so nervous. My eyes were darting around the room at all the strangers, and I just could not keep still.

3. I continued to feel sick as we unpacked boxes, and my lovely sister and mother did a good portion of the work for me. I needed to sit down and breathe! It was very overwhelming.

I failed to re-gain my normal personality until I took an hour-long nap around dinner time. I felt so sick I could not even eat. So I slept it off, and woke up feeling quite refreshed and ready to face the evening's activities, which ended up being really fun.

My roommate is the perfect roommate for me! We both share many, many interests, and even some classes. We had no problem setting up our room the way we wanted, and it is truly a sight to see. We are quite proud of its colorful beauty. We have spent most of our time here together thus far, including tonight's activities, which were a hall meeting and fireworks. While attending the former, we met many fellow participants in the Performing Arts Learning Community. These outgoing new friends sat with us for the fireworks, and we all came back to our residence hall together and relaxed in the basement together.

Our basement is quite amazing. It has got a bit television, a very loud juke box-type music player, the kind of video games where you sit in the chair and control whatever is on the screen, a pool table, and tons of comfortable chairs. Even though it was only 10, we ended up back in our rooms after a short amount of time.

I fail to think of much more, though a post will follow in the next few days about my classes, which start tomorrow. Peace, loves.

Another Day, Another Country

A mere two days after returning from Italia and I have already been ambushed by calls and texts from friends asking when we will be going out to do various activities and socialize in all sorts of ways with different combinations of people and places. Do not get me wrong--I love my friends and the time I spend with them is always a memory in the making--but sometimes I just do not feel like going out. It may be difficult for people to understand, especially people who have been sitting on their rumps watching television and monitoring Facebook fifteen hours each day, but after doing miles and miles of walking and losing the comforts of home, I just want to chill.

And there was a lacking of comforts. Our trip to Roma was amazing, but it had its ...unfortunate events. The first came on our first night. We were staying in a small apartment-type house that is rented out to people. It had a nice living room, a tiny kitchen, a long, creaking staircase, a master bedroom, a small bedroom, and a tiny bathroom. When we had arrived, the woman who was there to meet us told us the basics--which keys were for what, how the couch pulled out to be a bed, etc. Most significant to this tale was one bit of advice: Do not run the microwave at the same time as the air conditioner or the water heater. Simple.

We took this advice, but by some error of communication, we thought it would be alright to use the air conditioner and the water heater at the same time if we did not use the microwave at all. Fail. The power went out soon after we had both of these appliances running. Plunged into the darkness of a home with which we were not very familiar, we all went to bed. Un-showered and hot, we forced ourselves into slumber.

But not me. I could not sleep. Not matter how I tossed and turned, my body could not be fooled into thinking it was time for sleeping, despite the fact that I had not slept in many hours. At this point, it is significant to mention the bugs. Upon our arrival, my sister and I promptly flopped down onto the master bed for a moment's relaxation. Not ten minutes later, I had gotten at least three bug bites. They looked like mosquito bites, yet we had seen no mosquitoes.

Bed bugs? An image of a festering mattress popped into my head. Until we found bug spray on the ground for gnats. Ew. Suffice it to say, we all suffered from frequent gnat bites throughout our journey.

Going back to that first night, we had not had enough light to pull out the bed from the couch, so my sister and I were laying on the regular couches. Therefore, we had no sheets or coverings, which would not have been a problem due to the extreme heat (no air conditioning and no fan without power). But the heat was not the issue here. Without a covering, I was an open target to the little creepy crawlies in our house. Every time I was beginning to fall into an actual sleep, I would feel a tickle from a bug and it would jerk me out of my state. Not to mention the garbage trucks that go around every night around midnight, the oddly sounding European sirens, and various other noises that distracted me for hours.

I did fall asleep eventually, only to wake up about four hours later to begin a day of lots of walking. Throughout our seven days abroad, we did all the major tourist spots--The Vatican and Saint Peter's Basilica, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, and so many other museum and Villas and such. We quickly learned the metro stops and the Italian words necessary to our travels.

We also saw many things that drift away from the tourist attractions. For example, our last full day featured the Appian Way. Our day consisted of a long trip on the metro to a long, hot, city-side walk, followed by more walking, and then going through the San Callisto Catacombs. While this was refreshing (since the catacombs are underground, and, therefore, very cool in temperature), and a good length of walking and standing time (45 minutes), we could not take pictures--a small let down. Then, we had to walk back. We walking slowly under the olive trees and took pictures. It was semi-relaxing.

We found our way to a bus stop, but this was another fail. We could not buy bus tickets on the bus. You had to have them ahead of time. We did not. So we continued on foot, going on intuition alone because we had drifted off of all of our maps. But then we moved on to the city, where we had to walk on busy streets with no sidewalks--a dangerous feat for my mother's nerves. We found ourselves in a more residential part of Rome, though it was still very city-esque.

Finally, we came across a metro station. We were quite happy to see that red sign with the white "M" on this occasion, and even happier to see our quite street and little home, regardless of the gnat infestation.

The infestation was not the only problem with our house, however. By this time, we had called someone who got the power back in the house. However, we were a bit scared, understandably, to run the water heater again. We ran it for a little while and then tried showers. Freezing. It was like an unheated pool that sits in the shade. And then twice as cold. Not pleasant. But it is no fun to think about the negatives of my lovely trip.

I would have to say that my favorite day was when we went to the Villa Borghese. The Borghese family line started many generations ago, and they began to accumulate acres of land and rooms of art. Then one of them became a Pope and his cousin a Cardinal, so the family was even better off. Now there's a gallery and tons of gardens and fountains and land one can wander through. And it is off of the beaten path, so to speak--quite a peaceful place.

Best of all, there was a freezing cold fountain outside of the gallery. In case you were not aware, all of the water in Rome is perfectly fine to drink. It is a bit mineral-y, but definitely clean. So there are fountains all over the place--even in the heart of the city. Here, there were six taps all in the entrance area, and we spent a good part of the day relaxing by the cool water.

We also made a rather expensive two-day trip to Florence, or Firenze, as it is called in Italy. This was my sister's favorite. It was still a city atmosphere, but in a more laid back and pretty way. I would definitely suggest it to travelers simply because it is such a nice area with so many things to do. Seeing the Ponte Vecchio, which is the main bridge in Firenze, completely full with shops and food and great photograph opportunities, made it completely worth the while.

All in all, the trip was a success. If I were to go back, the only thing I would change would be investing in a week-long metro/bus pass, which was 16 euros. A single trip on the metro is one euro. And though we did not take the metro sixteen times, the use of buses any time would have been quite handy. Nevertheless, I got my exercise for the summer. And I sure did make the best of all of it.

To Europe...And Beyond!

It's important to note that when I begin a blog entry, I never have a set purpose. Often, I'll have some hint of inspiration, or I will just need a reason to stay up later at night than necessary. The latter is the case this time. After an epic adventure with five friends in a small car making the trip to Rhode Island's capitol just to go to iHop (mind you, Providence is only about twenty-five minutes--got to love the smallest state), I do not feel like going to bed. Instead, I'll just sit here on my bed with my fancy little laptop in my room, which is currently more full of color than ever before. You see, I went college dorm shopping today. Even without the $116 of new things my room is pretty amusing. It's violet and lime green. Now, there's a whole mess more of violet, plenty of orange, and bits of green, pink, and blue. And suddenly I feel as though I'm a lot more prepared to begin school. Of course, there are still six or seven weeks until I will make the six hour drive up to Syracuse with all of these new colorful things. However, I assure you that I will be occupied thoroughly until then. In four days, I embark on an over-seas journey to Italy. Specifically, I'll in in Rome for five or six nights and Florence for one. I'll be traveling with family (an adventure all it's own), including the Ma and Pa, as well as my older sister (22) and older brother (20).

It's not as though we've never traveled together--our month-long trip cross-country was a doozy--but this is the first one in a while. Of course, being on a plane together for 9 hours isn't much improvement from being in a van for a month. Nevertheless, our family is exuding excitement. Especially since Mother, Father, and Brother have never been abroad. It is sure to be quite the experience.

Just today I converted $160 into 105 euros--it sounds weak, but keep in mind that exchange rate variation is all relative. Those euros found a cozy spot in my wallet. I'll admit that it's nice to have foreign money on me again. It's been a year since I last travelled abroad, on a world-wind "Mosaic" trip to England, France, Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Austria. All in two weeks.

Anyways, this trip is sure to include lots of museums, for one, since my sister is filled with knowledge of Italian artists, and she's never shy to share it. My brother is looking forward to the Vatican, which I'm sure will not disappoint. And I know disappointment. Last year, in Paris' famous Louvre museum, we saw the Mona Lisa. Yes, it was from a distance, but it was quite a bit smaller than most people would guess.

Personally, I'm excited to dive right into the culture of the country. What do people eat? Where do they shop? Yes, all the history and sites are fantastic to see, but once the night sets in, I hope to be able to explore.

So, I'll be sure to write again when I've gone to yet another European country. It should be a blast! And even though it's raining in this lovely little state and it will be 90 in Italia, let's try to enjoy the summer, sì?