Snow!!!!

Hey, guess what?!?
We got snow!!! And the Bora! phew, that's a lot of wind.
Yesterday it got quite cold, and everyone was complaining about the weather. I went to an amazing production in the evening - two men from Paraguay doing a play about one of the men's experience as a political prisoner, how he was tortured physically and psychologically, and how he and his fellow prisoners used theater games and imagination to retain their sanity for 13 years. It was really good, and very moving. I found it disturbing because when they finished and bowed I realized that they hadn't stepped out of their characters and become just people again as normally happens at the end of a play: these horrible experiences had really happened to this person and he would never step out of a role and become "normal". After the performance, they held a Q&A session, which was very interesting. It turns out that he was released partially due to the efforts of Amnesty International and other organizations, and it was surprising and heartening to actually see a person to whom the efforts of a group that I participated in made a difference.
We had Tutorial Dinner afterwards, so my group left a little early. I was expecting the dinner to be subdued, after that performance, but when we got out I felt something touch my cheek...I looked up in disbelief - snowing? In Italy? Before Thanksgiving?? No way. But there they were, few and far between, but very clearly drifting down past the streetlights. Eduardo was amazed - he's never seen snow before (even though they have mountains in Peru...) - and we both ran about like maniacs, catching snow and jumping up and down and hugging each other. So the dinner was fun after all.
Today I had my first encounter with the legendary Bora. I went outside in the morning to go to class and was immediately assaulted by a huge wind. I could hardly get down the stairs, but it was fantastic, I ran all the way to class (well, technically I was late, but I would have run anyway...).
This afternoon we went climbing (our leader, coming most recently from Antarctica, doesn't mind cold) and it was Freezing. The rocks were cold, the wind was cold, we were cold, we had to keep our hands exposed to grip the rock and our feet were squeezed into too-small, thin rubber climbing shoes, and we weren't particularly happy.
But I eventually warmed up, and I'm happy about the cold. Who would have ever guessed it would get cold in Italy?? I'm so glad it did.