One Week Later...

So it's been a week.
wow.
It feels like eternity. How could it not? An eternity of sunshine, sparkling seas, adventure, consternation, and parties.
We'll address each issue in a linear order, as I'm officially in school now, and that's how we do it.
Sunshine. Weird. So, I'm used to sun, like all weather, it happens. But for an entire week straight? No rain, no clouds, no anything imperfect (except a bit of heat, and even that wasn't that bad). It was ... Unnerving to have it be such perfect weather for so long. Maybe I should get out of the "top ten cloudiest cities in America" more often.
Sparkling seas. beau-tee-ful. Especially out my bedroom window. We get the gentle sound of waves all night long and I make a point to look out at the fantabulous view every morning and evening. Unfortunately, not quite so spiffy to swim in. I don't know what all the hype is about seas, I'm really not partial to them (and never have been - ask anyone who went to cape may with me when I was a little. I was a sandbaby) they're salty!! You get it in your eyes and your mouth and all over your body and it's ick. And not only that, they have nasty creatures residing in them like jellyfish and sea urchins. I haven't encountered a jellyfish yet, but they're around. And I have had close, personal contact with a sea urchin. It's funny, when I wasn't allowed to go in the water it was all I wanted to do, and when I was allowed, (having passed the swimming test) I never want to go in again (sort of). I was walking out to go swimming, and I was mid-thigh-deep in the water, just about to kick off, and I slipped and landed straight on an urchin. I look down into the water to see black spikes sticking out of my heel. Ow. I went back, obviously, and to the nurse, who couldn't pull them out, and so walked on tiptoe for the next two days, until she said they weren't dangerous and I could walk on my foot normally. I still have little black spots.
Adventure. I went climbing on the cliffs near the sea, which was amazingly cool, or rather hot. It was the hottest day yet, and the rocks were scalding to the touch. But we had fun, and I did some crazy cool rockclimbing moves, like maneuvering the corner that half the people (including the leader) fell from (into the sea, no problem. We actually wanted to fall, it was so hot) I was so proud of myself that I jumped into the sea. It felt great, and there were no urchin problems, but I was insanely thirsty by the time I got back. Oh well. And now I'm officially doing climbing as my physical activity. Starting tomorrow. yay!
And there were some other adventures, like the 20-some-odd people who got caught by the Carribinierri (police) for singing too loudly and drinking at 2:00 in the morning. drinking was no problem, but singing made people mad, so they had to write down their names and they're all not so happy. I, of course, was innocently minding my own business in Pala (one of the residences) singing yellow submarine and playing pingpong.
Consternation. Oh, I guess that is summed up in the phrase, "help! What classes should I take??" and other variations. I ended up dropping philosophy and taking world cultures, math, environmental system, English, Italian, and music. All classes but one are going to be cool. Some more than others, like World Cultures. Wow. I can say no more, I'm in too much awe. Maybe later. And music is cool too.
But -*gasp*sob*- English is awful. The teacher is no good and the reading material is all previously covered. I've read everything from Waiting for goaded to 12th Night to The Stranger. Poor me, I've been spoilt for the past ever-so-many years by fabulous English teachers, and now I get a normal one, I can't stand it. Sigh. I guess y'all will have to send me care packages of great classics. I'm requesting Dickens, Tolstoy, Shelley and some really great poetry. email me if you want to take up the job. I'll send you something cool and Italian back if you want.
Ah, Parties! This is great. We seem to have them for no more reason than someone has a laptop and speakers. It's great. Not only that, but I've lost my phobia/selfconsciousness for dancing. Now I'm the one telling people to let go and have fun, not the other way around. It's cool, I like it.
The secondi put on a great show for us primi Saturday night. It was really funny, they did everything from an abbreviated version of the coming year (unnerving) to a stripshow (male) to a modern dance piece (really beautiful).
And I had a date! =) The secundi assigned us all partners for the show, to make it more interesting. We knew about it all day, but weren't sure how it was going to work. So while we were on our excursion to Trieste (on a treasure hunt in which our team won a huge jar of Nutela: ambrosia-for-mortals) Bilkan, a Turkish primo, asked if I would be his partner. I said sure, and we left it at that until we got back. I found a card on my desk saying I was going with Marco, so I went to Bilkan and said I was, unfortunately, taken. He asked if we could switch, and I said, "I dunno, why not?" so he talked to Marco and it was all arranged. He came to "pick me up" at my room 5 minutes beforehand, and when I opened the door he presented me with a bouquet of roses "for a lovely lady" !! Hey, guys! What's with that? You all warned me about Italian men, but you never said anything about Turks!! ;)
Anyway, we descended the stairs to flashing cameras and jokingly jealous comments: "Hey, Bilkan, you were supposed to be my date!" I'll try to get some of the pictures of us and upload them when I figure out the camera-computer connection (along with all the other pictures I've taken so far). And the show was great and the dance after was wonderful and yay.
And gosh, it's time for mensa and I've written a crazyhuge amount. I wonder if any of you are still reading...
More posts (and pictures, I swear.) coming.