Just so everybody is aware of this, anytime there is an update here or an email in your inbox it means that I have waited for 10-40 mintues for a computer to free up in the library. For a school as huge as this one, the computer resources are remarkably small. I have never seen a printer in the library anywhere, and there is always a long line for computers... Maybe the school should spend less money on palm trees and fountains and more money on the students. Of course there is a giant empty computer lab on the first floor with 250 computers that no one is allowed to use until November because those are reserved for "registration." The lab is EMPTY. I think I spend about 4 hours of every day waiting. For the bus to come, for the bus to get where I´m going, for the bank, for the computers, for Paz to go shopping/come home, for the food, for siesta to be over, for SOOO many things. I am learning patience. I am learning to think too much. I am learning to be really damn sick of waiting all the time. Yesterday was a really fun day, hopefully a turning point for me. The evening before had been long, I did skip choir where apparently they began sightreading the hallelujah chorus (hm should I pretend to sightread teh soprano or the alto part that I know by heart?) without warming anybody up and there was a lot of screeching horribleness, so it was okay. At home I was making a card for Ellie´s birthday and Paz and Paloma asked me what present I had for her. I told them, this card, and they immediately insisted that I give her one of the tiny porceline dolls out of the china cabinet. Paloma has a collection of dolls-- most are disney barbies of all of the main characters of all of the movies, pretty cool, but then there were a few of these little cheesy tacky spanish dolls... I didnt want to take it but they insisted and reminded me I had no money and helped me wrap it up and everything. Paz made fun of me once again because my perfeccionist tendencies gave me difficulties in present wrapping, and I have the same difficulties when trying to wrap my sandwiches in foil. Argh. She gave me a hard time about redoing my braids this morning too-- "¿Puedes? ¿Puedes? ¿Necesitas ayuda?" Anyway. The next day I made it through the morning and went to Ellie´s for lunch. She LOVED that little tacky doll! It was really nice to be over at her apartment and meet her señora. I was really thankful that she (Sacramento) had invited me. We had delicious paella and coffee and a cake from Corte Ingles and champagne... We were stuffed! Afterwards Ellie and I just hung out in her room and talked, which was really great, something very normal that we don´t get to do very often here. I ran some errands and then studied with Amy in a café, and then Lauren, Rachel and Ellie met us and we all went to take Ellie out for her birthday. Churros and chocolate as the place was closing up, then to Jazz Bar where five guys from our program were playing guitar and singing. Everyone from Council was there, it was a pretty bizarre reunion, but it was really fun and I stayed out late and got home at 2. The 45 minute walk home is a pain in the ass but better than a taxi I suppose... I was with a group of people for almost the entire way as well. Still, living so far away is a problem for me. At Ellie´s, Sacramento offered that if I don´t want to make the trek home some late night I can spend the night there on the extra bed in Ellie´s room-- an awesome option. I don´t really have plans for the weekend except to go watch shopping. I can´t really decide if I like not having a watch or if it drives me crazy. I may go to Altea with the girls on Saturday, but they are leaving extra early and right now sleeping in sounds much more appealing. Plus I wanted to hang out in Alicante during the morning/day on Saturday... the weather has been sunny and windy and cooler, and it helps my mood a lot and makes me want to be out and about. I wanted to go to the outdoor market or the central market, and both are only open on Saturday mornings. We´ll see. I am praying that this good mood holds up... I am almost halfway through my time here, I am beginning to think I can make it through and enjoy the majority of the time I have left. I hope so. I mostly hope that I can just regulate myself and stop being so manic... as some people on my program often say, "We need some tranquila up in here." Tranquila is nice, y felicidad es mejor.

I am sick of crashing through so many moods here... I feel like my schedule is too irregular, I go from being overwhelmingly busy to totally bored to thinking about coming home to feeling like I know where to go in Alicante. Yesterday I was fine in class, then went to the elementary school to work with the kids for the first time, which was kind of haphazard and out of control, but I think I will go back. Out of control kids who you can´t understand or speak to are hard to deal with. A letter from Katie and a phone call from Ben were both happy things and also made me sad, but I was brought out of the dumps by Cat Stevens and songs from "Sad Lisa" to "Don´t Be Shy" to "Miles from Nowhere" to "On the Road to Findout." More music made me feel better that night when I dressed up and went to a free piano concert. It was really good, really different. I was feeling better, feeling like I could handle it here, and then this morning has been another roller coaster of emotions and exhaustion. Bad morning in the casa, frustration in class, frustration with other people, didn´t do a paper that was due today... I think I am going to cut my busy Wednesday short and skip choir... I can´t handle any more re-reading of West Side Story. It´s the only thing we work on, I know it, I am sick of it. Arrghhhh......... Tomorrow is Ellie´s birthday, I have to figure out what to do for her, but we´ll go out with some friends and hopefully that will be fun. I am crashing from mood to mood moment by moment. I am the little blonde engine that couldn´t decide how she felt.

Maybe I will change the title of this page to "La Chica Blanca en la Disco Beach," which is one of the best descriptions of Alicante I have ever heard, from a guy at a hostel in Italy. I can´t believe how warm it is here... I got a new sweater in Italy and Ellie got a leather jacket and I was hoping that I brought enough cold weather clothes, but sure enough, everyone went to the beach yesterday because it was so freakin hot. It´s 61 right now with a high of 80 today. When we came into the Alicante airport after our trip, we heard a remarkable number of british accents. Upon asking some women what was going on, we found out that there was no special occasion, no convention or reunion as we had expected, but that this is how it goes in Alicante in the fall and winter; We are the British Holiday location. I can now look forward to seeing middle class Englishfolk lounging around in their shorts and sandals and yelling at the hyper kids they are holding on leashes while trying to get Grandma across the street... at least if the example we saw in the airport holds true to form.

Italy summary, continuing with Perugia, Florence, Milan: PERUGIA-- A beautiful, quaint, cute, romantic European town that is all narrow streets, old buildings, flower boxes and always either uphill or downhill on cobblestone streets. Think Amélie or Chocolat. We met: Ellie´s roommate Emily and her great all-vegitarian roommates. We saw: Their amazing apartment. An underground walled city. Many shops. The Perugina Chocolate factory. A beautiful countryside view from a park on a hill. We ate: A lot of chocolate. A meal in a funky restaraunt that was pretty fun and mostly tasty until, surprise, it cost €27. A fabulous dinner party at Emily´s apartment with lots of cool people and delicious food and good wine. And Vienetta for dessert! FLORENCE-- Yeah, it was Florence. Yeah, it is really great. We met: Ryan Hagen and the NYU crew, including Chris Koniezcka who was surprisingly in Florence after his American road trip fell through. Lindsay Goss and two other Macalester girls who were in a different program studying there. Leslie Monagle, a girl who I didn´t really know but who went to Tosa East and was also on Lindsay´s program, and we saw each other and it was very strange. We saw: A "rat" in the Arno. Some classy bars, including the Ryan Hagen favorite, "ART BAR." The cathedral Santa Maria Novella. The Medici Chapel. The Medici Palace. The leather market, several times. (The leather market saw Ellie reaching for her money belt several times as well.) The Florence Synagogue. Lindsay Goss´s reproduction of the Fresh Concepts sketch show opener on the steps of Santa Maria Novella, complete with song and dance. The Duomo. The Cupola with a rainy but incredible view of Florence. The Central Market. The Acadamia and Michealangelo´s David, which wowed me more than I expected it would and in a way that I can not explain. The open air sculpture gallery. The only free church in Florence, complete with the sound of the monks chanting. We ate: very well. A home-cooked pasta meal at Ryan´s apartment. A lot of espresso and "café mocciado." A delicious and homey 3 course meal for American students for five dollars in the basement of an American church, where the pastor kept encouraging us to finish the wine and have more pesto. We also had rice krispie treats for dessert there. A wonderful feast of fresh bread, cheese, pesto, sundried tomatoes, grapes, wine and chocolate that we purchased fresh in the market and ate there with swiss army knife and fingers on a little out of the way place on the second floor. This was probably my favorite meal of our trip. Soup and tea for my cold, brought on by the temperature change, in a little diner-type cafeteria. Tiramisu. The most delicious thing ever at Fermata Ultima (last stop), a late-night creperia disovered by Lindsay Goss: a fresh crepe with nutella, some kind of white cream, and walnuts. Holy Italian sweetness, Batman. MILAN-- We saw: Rain. A very nice hostel. A very creepy man who the people at the hostel let us hide from. A lot of rain. An internet café. The subway. The train station. Did I mention the rain? The airport. The worst fog I have ever seen, which made for a 17 hour day of traveling and waiting. Yeah, we didn´t see too much. It was raining. We were tired. We ate: Hot sandwiches in a park by the hostel. Happy-hour buffet snacks in "Bar Louisiana" which was the closest place to the subway stop we could find in the rain. Gelato, at a gelateria which was across the street from Bar Louisiana. We had planned to see some of Milan that night, but we saw two restaurants and a store that was across the street and then went home to the hostel to sleep and rest our feetsies. It was a great trip and I was glad to come home. I wished I was really coming home home, to family and familiar things of the United States. At least I had my host family to come home to-- sike! Dragged myself in at 11 on Saturday night to find a note on my bed that said, "Hola, I am traveling. I´ll be back on Sunday night. There is food in the kitchen. Careful with the gas. Close the blinds before you go to bed. Kisses, Paz." So much for a home cooked meal again... I did my disgusting laundry and sewed my bag and talked on the phone and watched a movie and sat around on sunday, and made myself food but not much because I don´t know how to cook with the food we have. I was glad when Paz came home.