Ho hum, my week is almost done. Not much has happened in my life of note. Just tests and reading and eating and sleeping. Weeks are going by faster now. It's a happy and sad thing. I don't really have much to say this week. Instead, here's a cute picture of Rach and I taken at Claire's aforementioned birthday party. A picture is worth a thousand words right?

I like how Rach's arm pushing on mine make me look somewhat toned.

Speaking of that, I'm going to work out.

No, I want to write something interesting.

I learned yesterday in my Women in American Society class that a man's high school diploma is worth as much as a woman's bachelor's degree. In other words, a man with a high school diploma, on average, earns as much as a woman with a bachelor's degree. My professor, who is a woman with a Ph.D., said that when Baylor first offered her a job, she found out that she was offered $1000 less than a man who was offered the same job. She confronted the powers-that-be about it and their response was they offered her less because her husband had a job. "But what about me?" was her response, "this is about me, not my husband." Eventually she got her way.

Isn't that crazy though? Two guys in that class chuckled when they heard that, about the earning power of a man's diploma versus a woman's BA. Some of my guy friends like to joke about it too, how it's worth more to be a man. I kind of laugh along, but really,I don't thinks it's funny. I'm working hard here, as are my girlfriends. We deserve just as much as anything our guy friends would earn. It's not a joke, it's our future.

Grr.

Today is such a dreary day. It put me in a dreary state of mind, but that's what working out, oatmeal raisin cookies, and roommates are for. The roommates also help with the rent.

Today is a big game day for Baylor Men's Basketball. We have a rematch against Texas. Tickets for the general public sold out even before student tickets went on sale yesterday. Student tickets went on sale at 11:30 and Rachael, Linh and I got there at 11 to stand in line. There was already quite a line formed. At least this time I wasn't alone in standing in line. A couple Fridays ago I went by myself to "quickly" pick up tickets for the Oklahoma game and ended up standing in line in the rainy cold for an hour.

What's interesting is that the Lady Bears are ranked higher than the Men, yet it's the Men's games that sell out, the only loyal fans for the Lady Bear's being local alumni. Word on the street is that men's basketball is more fast-paced and therefore more fun to watch. Well I have a ticket for the Women's game tomorrow afternoon and I'lll see if that is an accurate statement.

Ok, so it's not D Day, it's V Day (or almost anyway). I don't actually dislike the holiday, it's just fun to pretend I do. Like on our calendar, Rachael put a big heart on February 14th which I promptly wrote "Poop Day" in. I thought it was pretty clever. Being cynical is just so much more entertaining.

But really, it can be a good day. And it doesn't have to be about romantic love, it could be about love for humanity in general--love for your nieghbors. In that spirit, I've baked cookies for the people on my little hallway that I will anonymously place in front of their doors tomorrow morning (don't tell them). I'm putting a plate of cookies in front of our own door as well, so they will be none the wiser. I've also included a little note on the cookies. It says "Merry Singles Awareness Day! I hope it's sweeet" (get it? the cookies are sweet?) and then one of the six following quotes:

Love is only a dirty trick played on us to achieve continuation of the species. ~W. Somerset Maugham, A Writer's Notebook, 1949

Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Forget love - I'd rather fall in chocolate! ~Sandra J. Dykes

Love is much like a wild rose, beautiful and calm, but willing to draw blood in its defense. ~Mark Overby


Love - a wildly misunderstood although highly desirable malfunction of the heart which weakens the brain, causes eyes to sparkle, cheeks to glow, blood pressure to rise and the lips to pucker. ~Author Unknown

A bell is no bell 'til you ring it,
A song is no song 'til you sing it,
 And love in your heart
 Wasn’t put there to stay -
Love isn’t love
'Til you give it away.
~Oscar Hammerstein

I think that's pretty clever as well, and I hope to make someone smile. And to make myself smile, before I go and take my Classical Mythology test. I've been baking cookies, writing cute little notes and writing about it in my blog instead of studying. Oops.

My roommate Claire's birthday is tomorrow (as is my half birthday) and so last night we celebrated. We threw a superhero party. It was pretty sweet. I think the most fun part was getting ready for it, though.

Claire, the lady of the hour, was a Ninja Turtle, Raphael to be specific.

I was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Here I am vanquishing Claire.

Jenny, Tins, and Rach were Charlie's Angels (Jenny was Drew Barrymore, Tins was Cameron Diaz, and Rach was Lucy Lu)

This picture is funny because Melissa and I thought it was supposed to be a silly picture, but apparently it was supposed to be a pretty picture (Melissa was Just-Got-Back-From-A-Wedding Girl). So now it looks like I'm killing Melissa behind the rest of my roommates' backs. Heh heh.



Some people were lame and came as themselves, saying they were "Super Kim" or some such nonsense.

Good times.

Are you aware of Pandora Radio? It's pretty sweet. You tell it an artist you like, and then it develops a radio station for you with artists and songs of that same style. You then can bookmark certain songs or artists you discover if you want to remember them to buy or listen to them later. I had been told about this website before but had not experienced it until this morning. I was studying for my Mythology class and was going over the story of Pandora and her box and thought, "Oh yeah, Pandora, let's check that out," and I did. My Ani Difranco radio station has made for good studying music. Then my computer almost ran out of battery and I took that as I sign that I should take a break from studying and write in my blog. And as a sign that I should plug it in.

The weather has been beautiful, no? Yesterday I went to World Hunger Farm and worked in the garden for a couple hours. It was therapeutic. Going there is a good punctuation to my week. It's one of the few times in the week that I'm not doing something for myself--like going to class or studying or working or eating or buying groceries. I'm doing stuff for the Earth. And there are cool people there. I hoed with a girl who was visiting the farm and works at an organic farm in Pennsylvania. Before that she was a trail blazer in Maine--she made trails. Cool, huh? And there were two new kids at the farm, as in baby goats, that were precious.

Today, in my Women in American Society Class, we had a special visitor. One of the students brought her kindergarden-aged daughter in because she was sick and so not at school. She was a precious, well-behaved girl, who coughed and colored throughout the whole three hour class. Now I'm losing my voice. Interesting coincidence . .

Today is the first day of Lent (which I pondered in my last post). I had an omelette for lunch, sans meat, though ham sounded very tantalizing.

Have I told you I have class on Wednesdays from 8-5? Because I do. Ok, so I have a two hour break 11-1, but that's still a lot of time to be in class-mode. So Wednesdays I feel like all I do is go to class, study, and sometimes work-out. It's not bad, it's just kind of exhausting. Bleh. I'm way tired right now and it is way before my bedtime.

You've probably heard that women live longer than men-on average 7 to 9 years longer. But interestingly, women tend to marry older guys-on average 3 years older. So, at the least, a women is assured at least 10 years of widow-dom under that system. That's kind of silly of our society. In the the Hopi tribe, women marry men about 14 years younger than them, which sounds crazy to us, but works out just dandy for them. My Women in American Society professor suggested we should start talking to ninth grade boys. Could be promising.

I like how at the end of my last post I ended with a question to my public. We'll do that again. What do you think of ninth grade boys??

I told you I'd tell you how going toWorld Hunger Farm went on Friday. Well here I go. First I ate lunch with some of the live-in volunteers and a group visiting from A&M. It was a tad awkward, because like I said, I kind of just showed up, but it was cool nonetheless. We had food all grown on the farm--some sort of rabbit stew, cornbread, sweet potatoes (I think), and kale. Then I joined in on the A&M group's tour of the farm. It is a really neat place, and it was a beautiful day. Then I peeled some pecan shells. I don't know the correct term. Cracked pecan shells? Che-ev. And that was all I did that day. I'm going to go back next Friday and hopefully the next and for the rest of the semester. Sweet stuff.

In other news, I've decided to give up meat for Lent. Two of my roommates are vegetarians, so they will help me out. Why meat? I'm not really sure. I just want to challenge myself I guess, and see what being a vegetarian would be like. I haven't decided if I will eat fish or not. Both of my vegetarian roommates eat fish, so really they are pescatarians. I don't eat fish much anyway so perhaps that won't be an issue. I have taken a liking to sushi though . . but Lent isn't really about what I like. It's about the opposite kind of--it's giving up what I like. I like my cousin Rob's take on Lent. It's not really the thing that I'm giving up that's the big deal, it's being conscious of the season and anticipating the coming of Easter. Last year I gave up sweets. The year before I gave up sodas and Collins' cookies (it's a dining hall that had delicious cookies). This year during Lent I will also keep of Facebook as I have been doing. I think I'll get back on after Easter. We'll see.

What do you guys thing about Lent?

I have a headache. Grrrr. And I don't have Advil because the only time I think of buying some sort of painkiller is when I am in pain, like now, but when I am in pain, like now, I don't feel like going out and buying medicine. So I'll complain and growl instead. Grrrr.


On Fridays I get out of class at 11. Holla. It's awesome. And today, at 12:30, I'm going to the World Hunger Farm. I've mentioned before wanting to volunteer there this semester instead of getting a job, and so today I will embark on that endeavor. They eat lunch there at 12:30 all together, so today I was invited to come and partake and meet everyone. I'm kind of nervous. I've never gone there by myself. So I'm just going to walk up and be like, "Hey guys, you said I could eat lunch with you . . .?" Apparently they are all really nice and welcoming people. I don't see how you can't be, working at a place called "World Hunger Farm." I'll let you know how it goes.

I had a dream last night that I was back in Florence. It was a very real dream. I remember looking out the window of our apartment (in the dream) and thinking,
"Ok Laura, you're only here a few days. You better make the most of it."
But then I thought, "But I'm not in Florence. I"m home. This isn't real."
But then I thought, "Yes you are! Look around you!"
And I went back and for like that for a little while. It was weird, like I knew I was dreaming, but didn't. The strangest part was this morning, I put on a skirt I haven't worn that much since I've been home, and when reached in the pocket I found a five euro bill. Five euro! I wish I could walk down the street with that and get a pastry and cappuccino like I would every morning in Florence.

But isn't that weird?

"The Kenya of today is almost unrecognizable to the Kenya that until recently was celebrated as one of the most stable and promising countries on the African continent. On Sunday night, local television stations showed menacing young men brandishing machetes and iron bars at road blocks along one of the country’s busiest highways. The men hurled rocks at buses, with one large bus run off the road, as police officers stood by. . . Kenyan newspapers reflected the gloom on Sunday.
'For the umpteenth time, we again ask President Kibaki and Orange Democratic Movement leader Mr. Raila Odinga to work for peace, truth and justice,' said an editorial in The Sunday Standard. 'Kenya has bled enough.'"

That hurts my heart.

I went to a concert last night at Waco Hall. It was headlined by Matt Wertz and opened by John McLaughlin. I had never heard of either, and John blew me away. Matt was alright--good, but nothing memborable for me. John made me melt. It was just him and a grand piano on the stage. I bought a CD. Here's a sample for you; it's him playing "Indiana."

So dreamy! He's married though. His loss.

In other news, I went to my first American sporting event since I have been back. Today I watch the Men's Basketball team play OU. We were beat 77 to 71, and my heart hurts a little. It was so much fun though. I forgot how enjoyable it is to go to stuff like that. To yell and scream and cheer and sing the fight song. You really feel like apart of something

I don't know where these last few days have gone. I guess that's what taking 18 hours will do to you--it takes away your time. It's actually starting to feel a little more like 18 hours. I'm still on top of things, but there are more things to be on top of now.

This is what happens when one leaves a tea kettle on the stove for an indeterminate amount of time

For future reference.

And this is what happens when our apartment is visited by a sugar glider named Peetree

Don't I have cute friends?

(Since I've given up Facebook, you can be expecting a lot more posts from me. More free time and all.)

I just got great news! My two hour 8 o'clock tomorrow morning is canceled. Woohoo! I feel like I've gotten a new lease on life. And the interview for Buffalo Wild Wings went well today, and I got the job, but I don't think I want it anymore. I think I want to use my free time instead to volunteer at the World Hunger Farm. That feels more right to me. The extra cash would have been nice, but I would have had to take out my nose ring and close at 2 am (when I have 8 am classes the next morning) and I just don't think it's worth it. Hmph.

I had been debating the decision in my mind--whether or not I wanted to take the job--and then just now (I'm at Common Grounds) a guy complimented me on my nose ring (and my hair cut and my shoes) and I took that as I sign I should keep my nose ring in and not work there. Hmph.

Happy MLK Day! It has been quite a dreary day here in Wacko Waco. It's cold and wet; the kind of wet where you feel like a pansy for using an umbrella, but get moist when you don't. It's misty.

This morning I was bored and so decided to become informed. I Wikipedia-ed some of the presidential candidates. I was sitting in the living room whilst roommates around me were studying. I think I started to annoy them with my random facts and questions. "Did you know Obama was born in Honolulu, lived in Indonesia, and his father is Kenyan?" "McCain was a POW in Vietnam and now can't lift his arms over his head! And he wasn't bad looking back in the day." "Why do people hate Hilary Clinton so much?" None of us really knew the answer to that question. I mean, all of the candidates have those who are for and against them, but a lot of people have especially negative feelings towards that woman. Why? This isn't rhetorical.

Politics were discussed again tonight at the kitchen table amongst Jenny, Tinsley, and myself. We didn't talk about the election per-say, but just went through the list of hot topics and gave our two cents: abortion, gay marriage, the environment, immigration, captial punishment. It was fun. We didn't always have congruent views, but we didn't fight about it. We just said, "Hm. Ok." and moved on.

Something that annoys me is when my peers say they probably won't vote in the upcoming election because they aren't informed enough, like it's beyond their control. Just become informed! It's not that hard. When people say that, they're basically saying they are lazy bums. What I did this morning wasn't difficult. And tonight I was perusing CNN's website and found a helpful page where they spell out for you what each candidate thinks about the big issues. You lazy people should check it out.

In other news, this time tomorrow I may be a server at Buffalo Wild Wings. I'll let you know how it goes.

Big news: I've deactivated my Facebook account. I know, quite counter-cultural of me. I haven't gone of the deep end, I just didn't want to spend countless amounts of time learning about people I don't even know. And people I do know. And having people I don't know be able to learn about me. Now I'm much more mysterious. Except I have a blog.

Molly and a bunch of other people who will soon be gone are here for the weekend. It's nice how you can just pick up with people where you've left off. That you don't have to fill them in on every detail of your life in order to feel close to them again. You know? You know.

Today has been full of people and catching up with them. As soon as I got out of class I had lunch with my cousin Rob, then a couple hours later I had coffee with my long lost friends Sandy and Jiye, during which I ran into my long lost roommate Molly. They're not lost anymore, I found them. I chatted with them for a couple hours, and then met up with a couple other long lost friends for dinner at Food For Thought. I found so many people today! And now my throat is kind of dry from all the talking. Phew. It's been fun though. I definitely have become quite the extrovert since high school. I just got back from dinner and am already getting bored and wanting to hang out with more people. What is going on with me?! It's probably living with six girls last year and then nine last semester--I've just gotten used to constantly having people around me. Now there are five of us, which feels like nothing.

And I'm taking eighteen hours, which you'd think would keep me rather busy, but really, I'm having a lack of things to do. I feel like I must be doing something wrong, because right now I have no homework. I could read a little Ovid for my Classical Mythology class on Tuesday, but I have all the time in the world to do that. Oh well. Life is hard like that sometimes. I'm sure I'm jinxing myself and will have five papers to write next week. Bring it on, universe.

Tis now the morning of my second day of classes. The nice thing about having an 8 o'clock yesterday is that now my 9:30 on Tuesdays/Thursdays seems so late. I'm already ready already, when yesterday I was scrambling to be ready.

Yesterday was a good day, though I had my doubts at the beginning. It just felt so strange to be back on campus. I had been looking forward to it, but everything was just the same. There are a couple new statues, and a lot more Sperry's, but everything else is the same. The people look the same and they all speak English. What barbarians. (On the topic of Sperry's Top Siders--it's interesting what becomes in fashion. Sperry's are boating shoes.) But it turned out well. I'm interested in most of my classes. They are . . .

3D Design
Political Science
Backpacking
Classical Mythology
Astronomy
Rest and Relaxation
Women in American Society
I know, no Art History classes. That hurts my heart a little. Melissa, my Art History roommate, is taking an Art History class, and I will probably be jealous of her all semester. Oh well. But something crazy is that I have classes with three of my four roommates. That never happens! Design with Mel, Poli Sci with Rach, and Astronomy and its lab with Tins. That makes going to class a little happier. And with my backpacking class, we get to go on a backpacking trip later on in the semester. That's pretty sweet. And I was the only girl in the class who has had backpacking experience. Yes, I am that cool.

Geez, it's still not even nine. What am I going to do with my life?!

And all through the loft
Roommates were unpacking
And one just coughed [It was Claire]
Boxes were thrown in the hall without care
Next to old things and new things and ones that we share.

That's enough of that.

It's the eve of a new semester. I start tomorrow at eight with 3-D Design, a class I dropped last spring; so I'm not really looking forward to that. At least I can get it over with early.

Going to UBC this morning was really nice. I've missed it. And seeing a bunch of people I hadn't seen in awhile was cool. It's always kind of awkward to see people at first, because I don't really know what to say. There's just so much that we've missed in each other's lives, it's hard to know where to start.

"How are you?!"
"Good! How are you? How was Italy?"
"Great! I really enjoyed it. I'm happy to be back though."

And that's when the conversation starts to peter out. But oh well, it's still nice to see them.

I'm all unpacked now and comfortable. Everyone is back, including people who will soon be gone. It will be interesting to see how this semester turns out. It always is.

I'm back in Wacko Waco, surrounding by boxes and pink walls. The pink is not really my color, but I'm making it my color. I haven't gotten very far in the unpacking progress. The most unpacked-space is my back corner, pictured below in a picture taken moments ago by the photo booth on this computer. It's from the vantage point of my bed.

I got here at about 1, but didn't open a box until around nine (I'm not quite sure why I decided to write out nine but not 1. Hm). I've been busy catching up. Rach, Tins, and Mel are here; all that our little family is missing is Claire (her name is already only one syllable). It felt funny to be here at first, but now it feels really good. I'm happy to be back in this silly town. I feel like I'm just visiting. I'm happy I have many months yet to go.

I think I'm about to turn into a pumpkin or something. I soon as it became 11:30 I began to feel a little sleepy, and I have been getting progessively more tired as I get closer to midnight.

I'll close this post now, before then, so that it won't get posted on the wrong day. I hate that.

Something I've learned this evening is that not many girls work out at Lifetime at night. I went there tonight at around eight and very much felt that. There were plenty of us around the cardio machines, but when I looked around whilst doing weights, I felt rather alone in representing my gender. And exposed.

Sometimes, when I work out and it's really hard and I need to motivate myself, I say, "Laura, it's called working out for a reason. It's not called easy out. It's supposed to be hard." That's just a little something for ya. I enjoy motivating people, including myself.

People say that two subjects you should avoid talking about are religion and politics. They ignite passions. Well, here at the Carmack table (which is where I'm sitting right now, as a matter of fact), that is pretty much all we talk about, I've noticed. Well, I wouldn't so much say we, because I'm usually more on the listening side of things; I absorb. Especially the later, what with it being election season and all. I feel pitifully uninformed when it comes to that. But I become more informed by absorbing.

I don't see how these politicians get any sleep. They're always talking on TV.

There's a cute little baby in the house now, my first-cousin-once-removed Caroline (not to be confused with "Sweet Caroline" under my "friends" list. "Sweet Caroline" is a bit older). She's not so much a little baby anymore actually; she just celebrated her first birthday. She's up and walking all over the place now (you can see her mommy's blog by clicking on "The Huffmans" link). And today is my mommy's birthday! Happy Birthday mi madre! Buon compleanno!

This time next week I will be in class. I was excited about that until I looked at my schedule yesterday. That made me not so excited about it. I'm taking eighteen hours. We'll see how that goes.

One Tree Hill has gotten crazy. I'll catch an episode on the Soap channel every now and then. In the one I'm watching right now there is a guy trying to kill Brooke and Peyton--it's like a slasher movie. They escaped the murderer just in time to go to prom. The last episode I watched had Lucas being visited by his dead uncle who showed him what his life would be like if he was more selfish. What happened to the simpler days when you just had two half brothers battling on the basketball court, one of whom married the other's best friend when they were sixteen? Those days were much less complicated. High school is hard.

So now I've applied to the Shelburn Museum in Vermont, the Kimball in Fort Worth, and then next on my list is The Fort Worth Modern. I'm pulling for the Modern, but the Kimbell would be cool too. Vermont is far away and scarey, but maybe that's why I should do that one. We'll see what happens.

Oh snap! Lucas just found out who killed his uncle! And Brooke and Peyton are at Prom and all bloody. Gross. Just in time for Brooke to be crowned prom queen!

I hear people say sometimes that their life isn't interesting, like it's beyond their control. It frustrates me when people say that. For one, of course your life doesn't seem interesting to you, you see it everyday, and something you see everyday inevitably becomes uninteresting. For two--it's your life. It's as interesting as you make it. And you don't need to do something crazy like live in Italy to do it, that's something I've learned this semester. Things are as interesting as you are interested in them. I came across many people who were uninterested in living in Italy, who were bored and complainers and couldn't wait to go home. I wanted to slap them, but that's not what this is about. What I'm trying to say is that you are in control of you.

I was watching the America's Next Top Model marathon on VH1 this morning, and became bored. I wanted to be outside and walk around. So I did. I drove to Parr Park, journal in tow, and spent some time outside. It was a good idea. Today is beautiful. When I first got there a little white dog with no owner in sight followed me around. A man jogging asked me what kind of dog he was, and I said I don't know, he's not mine. Then the man jogged after the dog and said, "Snickers! Snickers?!" Apparently he suspected it was his neighbor's dog, but the dog didn't respond to Snickers and so the man gave up. I didn't see the dog again until 45 minutes later when I was leaving and I saw another man run up to "Snickers" and say, "Snickers!" with relief in his voice. He was the aforementioned neighbor and it was his dog. It's felt funny, like I was on a TV show or something, the way it happened that this dog framed my time at the park. When I got there he was a mystery, and when I left, the mystery was solved.

I thought about this whole "interesting" thing while I was at the park, about how going there made my day more interesting.

A song by Kimya Dawson (I found her on the Juno soundtrack)comes to mind (it's also one of her songs that is quoted above)

The flower said "I wish I was a tree"
The tree said "I wish I could be
a different kind of tree"
The cat wished that it was a bee
The turtle wished that it could fly
really high into the sky
Over rooftops and then dive
deep into the sea

And in the sea there is a fish
A fish that has a secret wish
A wish to be a big cactus
with a pink flower on it
And the flower would be its offering of love
To the desert
and the deserts so dry and lonely
That the creatures all appreciate the effort


And the rattlesnake said "I wish I had hands
So I could hug you like a man"
And then the cactus said "but don't you understand?
My skin is covered with sharp spikes
That'll stab you like a thousand knives
A hug would be nice but hug my flower with your eyes"
Till the flower said "I wish I was a tree"

Happy New Year. (The song is called Tree Hugger, by the way. And the song quoted in my heading is called Loose Lips)

My brother got me a CD for Christmas. It's St. Vincent. I like her and you should too.

I've decided I don't like plans. They're dumb. A hazy guide, an idea, is ok, but not plans. Plans are just arrogant.

And episodes of The Office never get old.

And here is a donkey and some friends on Christmas Eve.

Chicken and stuffing are a-cooking. We had a big yummy Christmas brunch and now are awaiting our big yummy Christmas dinner. I'm wearing a new Christmas watch and listening to my brother's new Christmas record player. Earlier I watched an episode of my new Christmas DVD set of the first series of The Office (the British version). It's a beautiful day but I've barely set a foot outside and now the sun is thinking about setting. Where do the days go? I only have a few left of 2007. I guess I should start thinking of a New Years Resolution.

Here's me and my Christmas mommy. With my haircut that makes me look like a business woman, apparently.

I deleted my link to Florence University of the Arts from my bookmarks. It's apart of my past night. I did it.

I'm home now and it feels good. It feels like I've only been gone a day. The unpacking I still have to do tells a different story though, but I have time for that. And I'm going to a yoga class at 11! I've so missed yoga, and just working-out in general. And my car Timmy, is having troubles, so a new car for me is in the works. And I played guitar last night for the first time since August. I haven't forgotten how. And I'm anxious to get back to Baylor, but that doesn't mean I don't love being here.

So that's my life at the moment.

I feel like I'm in some sort of limbo, this last day. I'm just waiting to leave.

Isabel left early yesterday morning

Jenny left yesterday at around 11.

Ady and Anna left early this morning.


Hannah left at noon.

Tomorrow morning, at the buttcrack of dawn, Vanessa, Whitney, and I will leave.

And Melissa is sticking around with her family until Monday.


WEIRD.

I finished finals today, and I think I did pretty well. Home is so close I can taste it. But I'm still here for two more whole days. That's weird. It's weird to be here without a purpose. I guess I do have some purposes--packing and cleaning. And I have some rolls of film left from my photography class. I want to walk around these next couple of days and take cool Florence pictures.

Melissa's sis is here visiting. It's fun walking around here and seeing things through her eyes-- fresh eyes. Makes me appreciate it before I leave it.

So I'll see you soon.

There is this infectious song that plays on the radio a lot here by a UK guy who goes by MIKA. It's such a fun song; you can't NOT be in a happy mood when you're listening to it. I remember paying for my groceries earlier this semester and it came on. I started dancing a little in line and the Italian cashier started dancing and singing along. It was a beautiful moment I dont know if he's popular in the US, but I just bought his CD and am in love with it. Here's the video of the aforementioned song.



He's just so fun! I want to be his friend.

What I'm going to miss most about this place isn't the art, it's not the beautiful churchs nor Tuscan landscape, not the wine, gelato, nor pasta, not the shoppping nor the traveling nor the catcalling Italian men, not the language nor the cappucini nor the pastries. It's my roommates. I'll miss this most.

And this.

And this.

And this

And this.




We're just really cool people.

I miss people wherever I go. Here, home, Baylor. And as I get older I'm just going to miss more people There will just be more people and more places and people and places and faces and memories. It's the beautiful burden we bear.

Today I visited Florence's Serial Killer Museum. *shivers* It seemed like a good idea at the time. In the museum, you learn about and see wax reproductions of the world's famous serial killers--Jack the Ripper, Ted Bundy, Charles Mason, John Wayne Gacy Jr, to name a few. It was intriquing and disturbing. I felt dirty afterwards, and suspicious of everyone.

I learned that the United States has had more serial killers than any other country in the world, by a land slide. Out of all recorded serial killers, 58% have been American. The runner up is Italy with %6. The rest are dispersed throughout a plethora of countries. It makes you wonder about us.

And did you know that Tuscany was the first country to outlaw the death penalty? Tuscany is the region of Italy where Florence is located, and was it's own county back in the day. They did so back the the 1700s. The anniversary of the ban of the death penalty was a few weeks ago actually. There were these people walking around dressed in 18th century garb, led by a guy that looked like an executioner, walking to the beat of some boys following, banging on drums. We were all perplexed at the time, but then learned the significance of the day.

So those are some fun facts for you.

But on a happier note, I finished my paper. Yay! I'm done with papers for this semester! Now all I have to do is study for and take finals.

My brain is about to ooze out of my ears. I've been working on this paper for too many hours. It's for my Renaissance Art class and is about the emergence of female nudes in Western art. I'm calling it, "The Renaissance Takes Off Her Clothes." I dig the title.

Since I've been studying Art History, I've become much more comfortable with nudity in general. It's all over the place here. And it's interesting to see the changing face of beauty, from the voluptuous women of Giorgione (to your right), to Kiera Knightley.

Maybe I should go walk around or something. My back is starting to hurt.

One and a half weeks, people.

I went to Italian Mass this morning at the Duomo (pictured to your left). Actually, it was not so much in the morning, more like the afternoon--it can be hard ro rouse up my roommates. It was my first time to go to a church service since I've been in Europe. I've never gone so long without attending church, but at the same time, I've never been in so many beautiful churches. Mass today was a cool experience. I didn't understand much of it, but following along in the program helped. And they had all the verses they were reading in English on page five. Next week we want to go to an English Mass in one of the other beautiful churches around Florence.

I've had fun this weekend being a tourist in Florence. I went to the Pitti Palace today by myself and wondered around the
opulent rooms and beautiful paintings. I went to the Uffizi Friday, and yesterday, I went souvenier shopping with Melissa and Vannessa (pictured to your right in the Piazza della Signoria, which I walk through at least once a day). It's been pretty chill.

And then I have one week left of actual classes, one week of finals, and then I'm finished. Egads.

In other news, we've already ruined are kitchen table from multiple people neglecting to use cutting boards, and our landlady has told us we are going to pay her for a new one, and so, like the free-spirited, Florentine art students we are, we've taken to decorating said table with colorful sharpies.

We plan on selling it on ebay and making making thousands of dollars to donate towards AIDs research or some such disease.

I believe this is the meaning of the phrase, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."

So this is ridiculous.

So last weekend I went to Rome with my Michelangelo, Caravaggio, & Bernini class. We saw about a million things in one day, running all around the city. It was enjoyable, but long. Then, Melissa, Hunter, and I stayed the night and did some other sight seeing on Saturday. For some reason, I went on strike from my camera for the weekend and took no pictures. I just didn't feel like it. But Melissa did, so it's ok. I have this weird paranoia that if I don't journal or take tons of pictures, I'll forget my life. I'll forget these places and people and experiences. It was nice to take a break from that paranoia for a couple days. I didn't even bring my journal to Rome; that is so unlike me.

Going to Rome last weekend was the first time this semester I visited somewhere I had been before. Four years ago I went to Rome with my dad. I rememberd a lot from that trip, which surprised myself--like streets and shops and stuff. And it made me miss my Dad. I'm sure I got annoying, "That's where my dad and I bought souveniers . . .My dad and I went inside the Coloseum last time . . . That's where my dad and I took a cute picture . . .I saw Michelangelo's Moses with my dad last time . . " I'm sure everyone was like, "Ok Laura, you were here with your dad, we get it."

Speaking of. I would like to apologise before hand for the many references I will inevitably make to Italy in the next year. I'm sure that will get annoying for all of you. "We get it Laura, you lived in Florence for a semester. You don't have to talk about it ALL THE TIME."

Back to Rome. First, here's a picture I've dug up of my Dad and I in Rome quattro anni fa (us on the Spanish steps):


And now here's Melissa, Hunter, and I in Rome last Saturday (us in front of the Coloseum and . . . a Jeep. It was an ancient Roman Jeep, I assure you):

What I really want to do is scream. I don't want my roommates to pity me, or tell me they understand, that they screwed up in the darkroom at such and such time blah blah blah. I just want to complain and huff and puff and scream.

I just wasted the last three hours of my life. For my photography final, I've been taking pictures at Florence's Santa Maria Novella Train Station. It was a beautiful day today, crisp autumn weather with a clear blue sky, so I decided to walk out there and take a roll. So I did. I was feeling pretty good about these 36 pictures, and so went straight to the darkroom to process the film. That's when things went downhill. To make a long story short, I stupidly exposed the whole roll to light while in the darkroom, but then processed it anyway--hoping maybe some pictures could be salvaged. Well, they couldn't. It was all black. Bleh. So then I decided to print a picture from a past roll. I just wanted one good print so that my time in the darkroom wouldn't all be for naught. Well, I didn't get a good print and my time was all for naught. Naught naught naught.

Naught.

Let's not talk about it anymore.

I love doing drastic things, like chopping of my hair. People stop you in the halls to comment, some whom you've never even talked to. You get lots of comments on your blog. You don't recognize yourself in pictures. It's great. And having short hair is a lot of fun. I like coming out of the shower and just shaking my head around. When my hair was long it wouldn't do anything but fall in my face when I did that, but now it flies all over my head. I love it.

Thanksgiving turned out wonderfully. We all cooked. We couldn't all fit in our kitchen, because there are nine of us, so we dragged a table into our biggest hallway. Some people, like Jenny, spent the WHOLE DAY in the kitchen. And I'm not one to exaggerate. I was in and out of it all day, helping out when I could and I made green bean casserole. And did I mention that I didn't tell anyone I was chopping off my hair on Thanksgiving? So on one of occasions of me popping into the kitchen, my hair was about eight inches shorter. People screamed. It was fabulous.


Jenny and Whitney, our two main cooks.


Me being helpful-ish.


All of my roommates in the aforementioned hall.

After we ate dinner, we watched a Thanksgiving episode of Friends and then ate pumkin pie. Yum yum. We had a lot of leftovers, but unfortunately, Melissa and I were in Rome Friday and Saturday and so now all of it is gone. Sad day.

And now it's Sunday and I have nothing to do and I will relax.

My first away from home. We're having a big Thanksgiving dinner at our apartment tonight. I'm in charge of the green bean casserole (hey Julia). And bigger news. I chopped off my hair!



Che strano! How strange! It's feels so different, but good different. Light and healthy and bouncey. I'm very excited about it. Im also excited about putting it in cute little pigtails.

So this weekend I was in a snowglobe, pretty much. I went to Vienna, Austria with my school. It snowed, and was beautiful. That's me with my new snowman friend. We also went to an outdoor Christmas Market that got me super stoked about Christmas. It was magical. I ate roasted almonds, such as the picture illustrates.

And this time next month I'll be home.

And I've also come to be more into hats, if you can't tell.

There has been a wonderful new development in our apartamento. We now have heat! Benisimo! Hallelujah! It has come at just the right time, too , because today is rather rainy and cold, but I'm snug and warm in my heated apartment. Yessss.

Yesterday morning, I went to our coffee shop for the first time by myself. I usually go with a whole troop of my roommates, but I had to finish a book for lit class, so I decided to do so there, da solo. Aside from all the italiano surrounding me, it felt like home--sitting in a coffee shop by myself and reading; I haven't done that in awhile. I was sitting in a booth, and a random Italian dude sat across from me at one point. The only thing he said was to ask if he could sit there (in italian), and then he just sat quietly while finishing his coffee and pastry. It was a bit awkward actually; I was glad to have a book to hide behind. I snuck a glance at him at one point though, and he was actually pretty cute. Too bad no other words were exchanged between us. A little while after he left and right before I was to leave, a woman set her stuff down in the seat across from me as well. So perhaps that's a normal thing to do here--invade someone else's bubble.

And here's me and Whitney in rainy, cold Prague.


edit:
So I was just reading my old blog posts. I thought to myself, "What was Laura thinking this time last year?" and so looked. I looked at October and saw the post where I pondered how many people actually read my blog and if I had any unknown stalkers. i had everyone who read the post leave a comment, just to say "Macaroni." They didn't need to reveal their identity, or say anything else, just "Macaroni." I want to do that again. I want to know how many people are reading this. So if you are, even if you don't know me and just stumbled across my blog, do it. Macaroni. Do it!

You better. I'll know if you don't. I'll just know!

Oh life. How wonderful art thou. So many things to discover around every corner.

This weekend Whitney, Melissa, and I did Prague. That city is ours now. I had a lot of fun using the word "Czech" in punny ways. And I walked a lot. More than I've walked since I've been in Europe, and that's a lot. And I froze. A lot. And it snowed! And I met cool people. And I took 303 pictures. Here's a sample--the cutest picture of the three of us. Because you'd rather see us, than Prague, right? If you want to see Prague, just Wikipedia it. If you want to see us, you're at the right place.

"I had leave the house of self-importance
To doodle my first tattoo
To realize a tattoo is no more permanent
Than I am, and who
Ever said that life is suffering
I think they had their finger on the pulse of joy
And the power of transcendence
Made its grace a practice we can employ "

So this dove and me, we're going to be together for the rest of our lives. When I grow old (hopefully it will come to that) and wrinkly and my hair is gray and my skin sagging, I'll still have my little dove. She can remind me of who I was, or hopefully who I still will be. And of Italy. And of Chio, the Brazilian Italian who needled her onto me. And perhaps I'll get tired of explaining to people what "pace" means. "No, I didn't misspell peace . . . No, it's not a homage to Pace Picante sauce, though I do love Pace Picante sauce . . .No, I'm not particularly found of pacing . . ." It's peace. I lived in Florence when I was 21.

And here is a picture of me and my roomies on Halloween, sans Melissa who is taking the picture, and Isabel, who owns the pink hair I'm wearing.

None of us really dressed up as anything in particular. We just dressed fun. My pink hair created quite a reaction wherever I went.

So this morning, me and two of my roommates left our apartment to get our usual cappuccino and usual pastry at our usual cafe, but did not see the usual site when walking down our stairs. We saw three firemen, sweeping water down the hall, water pouring out of Maria's apartment. Maria is our underneath-neighbor. She's little and old and lives by herself and doesn't speak any English and yells at us in Italian all the time. Anywho, apparently her apartment flooded this morning We don't know the story, but it was an abnormal site--the firemen sweeping the water out of our apartment building, while Maria is yelling at them. And her coat rack in the hall. I feel bad for the lady. And then Matteo, the guy who works at our usual cafe, forgot our cappuccini. We just sat there for a little while, waiting--"He's not making the cappuccinos. Should we say something? He's helping that old man. It's been awhile . . Maybe he knows the old man? Maybe the old man is sick? Should we say something?"--until finally Matteo looks at us and says, "Tre cappuccini! Ho domenticato! [Three cappuccinos! I forgot!]"

It was just a weird morning.

The rest of the day was fine. It's nice to actually get stuff done for a change, unlike this weekend . . . when I watched a lot of movies and Family Guy . I also took the big touristy double decker bus this weekend. You get a little red headset and are driven around the whole city and the headset tells you about Florence in the language of your choice. I had just been aimlessly walking around by myself (it was a beautiful day), saw the bus, and just got on. It was a nice diversion. And a nice change from walking everywhere.

I don't know what I'm going to do with myself when I'm home and have my car again. That'll be strange. And sweet.

Blurg. Blah. Blu.

I didn't have class Thursady, I never have class Fridays, today is Saturday, and I haven't been doing much else except not having class. We've watched a lot of Family Guy. And today Whitney and I went to Pisa. It's only an hour and a half away by train. We ate pizza, took the obligatory pictures with the tower, layed around in the grass, and came back. It was a nice day. And now I'm curled up on the couch watching "Hot Fuzz." I think my brain is about to ooze out of my ears. Tomorrow is Sunday. Perhaps I'll actually do something. Perhaps not.

I got some new ink in my skin. Cat's out of the bag. I wasn't going to tell people until I got home, but I just couldn't stand it. It's sweet. You'll see it when you see it.

Tonight, our roommate from Taiwan, Ady, made us sushi and fried rice. Exquisite.

I just have to laugh. I just have to laugh so as not to yell.

At first the problem was people not washing their dishes. Piles of dishes would just chill in the sink for days. People made angry signs to each other to vent their anger. Everyone was complaining but no one was washing. Now, there are less dishes in the sink. But no, the problem's not over. You see, we don't have a dishwasher like you spoiled Americans, we have a sink and a drying rack. And now, as we empty dishes from the drying rack, we find dirty dishes. So someone is not washing their dishes and just putting them in the drying rack. Still dirty.

So I just had to laugh as I was rewashing someone else's dishes. It's just so ridiculous you can't not laugh. Laughter or anger. I'll chose laughter. Ok, maybe a little of both.

So something new I've learned--floss is very durable. Over Fall Break Whitney's backpack strap broke, and she fixed it by sewing it back on with floss. My new purse just got a little tear, and so I sewed it together with floss. Floss is the new duct tape.

I painted my nails black for Halloween. They match my computer.

Happy Halloween! Not that it feels like it's Halloween. Here, the only people who celebrate the holiday are American College Students (there's quite a few of us in the city), but there are still many stores selling costumes and most bars and clubs are having special stuff tonight. That should be fun, but I'll miss Trick or Treaters. I guess I haven't seen much of them since I've been at Baylor, since they don't go around college apartment complexes, but I still miss them.

I was going to go to Paris this weekend, because it's a four day weekend. Some of my other roommates were going to go to Barcelona, but now, for one reason or another, all our plans have fallen through, and we're pretty much all chillin' in Florence this weekend. I"m pretty excited about it now. I haven't been in Florence a lot on the weekends. It'll be nice. I want to do a lot of the touristy things I still haven't done, and I want to sleep. Mmm.

While I'm here, I'll show you some more pics from Fall Break.


Here's Whitney and I swinging in Switzerland. So beautiful there!!


That's Vanessa and I in front of the sign of our hostel (the sweetest hostel ever). It was the first morning and was all foggy and snowy--very exciting. You can't see it because of the fog, but behind us there are beautiful mountains.


Here's me and my travel buddies/roommates inside the aforemetioned hostel. Vanessa has a pool triangle on her head.

Next time I'll show you some of Bruges,Belgium perhaps.

I'm never in Florence on Sundays. Usually I'm somewhere else--in Italy or otherwise. Usually in Italy. We got back yesterday evening from our Fall Break adventures. That was definitely one of the best weeks of my life. We did Switzerland, Belgium, and Amsterdam. We started out in the small town of Gimmelwald in Switzerland and the towns we visited got progessively bigger as the week went one untill we ended up in the city of Amsterdam. In Amsterdam we stayed with my roommate's family which was really nice after all of the hostels. And none of us have really been in a home since we were in America. I mean, these people even have a dog. Oliver. And they would lay out breakfast for us every mornning and the mom was always concerned we wouldn't be warm enough when we walked out the door. I haven't had a mom worry about my body temperature in a while. It was nice.

But yes, all that to say that I've never been here on a Sunday. I've never been here on a day when I have no obligations--no class, no train to catch. Just sitting on my bed writing in my blog, totally needing a shower but not wanting to move.

What a great week though.

That's probably another thing about how this is nice. All week I've had to get up and go do the tourist thing--Anne Frank's house, Van Gogh museum, hike through the Alps, canal tour, etc. But now I'm home in Florence and can just sit on my bed and write in my blog.

What a great week though.

Oh, but I am sick. Cold sick. I have no voice. Let's not talk about that. Or class. Yuck.

Because it's been a great week.



But I miss you.

edit:
That is very much not me in the picture. That's Vanessa. She's quoted in the post below.

Melissa: I feel like being here is good for your soul.
Vanessa: Yeah, humans are like, natural.

That pretty much sums it up. We arrived in Switzerland this morning. Its unreal. So beautiful. Besides the fact that on the Swiss keyboard, the z and y are switched (that keeps tripping me up), its wonderful. We are staying in a cozy, cramped, little hostel, the Mountain Hostel, in a little town called Grimmelwald that one has to take a gandola to get up to. No McDonalds up here.

Thats all I have to saz, I mean say, for now.

And midterms were ok. Italian and Michelangelo made my brain ooye, I mean ooze, out of my ears, but besides that, ok.

So midterm week is in full swing. The motif of this week is people freakin out and then coming home and saying, "That was easy," or at least, "not bad." For the most part anyway. Mine have been easy so far. And really, I have a lot more free time than I do in a usual week because I have no reading to do and classes are a lot shorter, because there are only tests.

So I'm having a really hard time concentrating right now. Sorry if my sentences aren't making too much sense.

Nice was amazing, btw. And now I have sooo many pictures of Melissa, since she was my only travel partner this weekend. Here's one of her and I snorkeling in the Mediterranean.

That was the day we spent on a little yacht with a bunch of new English friends. It was a very good day. Many adventures.

So I think I want to minor in either Gender Studies or World Affairs. Hm. And what will I do with my life with an Art History major and Gender Studies/World Affairs minor? I don't know. Maybe I'll teach yoga. Or live in a cabin in the woods and write poetry. Your guess is as good as mine.

Oo, speaking of, I went to a yoga class with some of my roomies today. It was so fun, even though it was all in Italian. The only words I could understand were left, right, leg, and breath. But it felt so good.

I am in Nice, France right now, at a hostel called Villa Saint Exupery (as in The Little Prince). It's pretty much the most amazing hostel I've seen or heard of. It's in an old monstery and is run by young Australians (I've met more Australians these past two days than I have in my whole life. They must really like France or something. And they are all so laid back and friendly). The hostel's big meeting and eating and interneting area is in the place that used to be the chapel, so there are beautiful stained glass windows, but now it's not very chapel like. In fact, at night it becomes and bar and restaurant and general common area. The people who work here are also sooo helpful and informative, it's pretty ridiculous. Also, the French people I've come across in Nice have also been ridiculously nice (haha. They're nice in Nice.) which surprised me because I've always heard the French people are less than friendly. That'll teach me to stereotype.

Yesterday Melissa and I went to the beach and explored Nice, today we're going on a sail boat all day with a group from the hostel, chillin on the boat, snorkeling in the Mediterrean, and swimming around. You know, the usual. Tomorrow we want to go to some local art museums and what not, and then we'll take an overnight train back to Florence tomorrow night, get back in Florence at 7am, and take my photography midterm at 9am. Alright.

Yeah, midterms are next week. Already. I'm not too worried about them though (obviously--I'm in Nice) And then Fall Break! Woot.

Walking along the streets of Florence, a girl gets use to the catcalls. "Ciao bella!" "Beautiful." "Come sta?" "Si si." "Bellisima!" etc etc. Or noises, like kissy noises, and just blatant staring. Today I got a new one though. Today, I got "Shakira!" Haha. Shakira. I was wearing a long, flowy, latina-esque skirt, and my hair was down . . . but really? . .

Haha. Shakira. Yeah right.

In other news, it's pretty entertaining in our kitchen right now. Aside from the left over birthday decorations, there seems to be a sign battle going on. Most of the signs have to do with the messy state of our kitchen, and people not washing their dishes, such as "I have a dream . . . of roommates who do their dishes after they use them, of a sink that sparkles, of a kitchen that smiles back at me because its clean." Next to that sign, is another that reads, "our kitchen gave me AIDs!" When I saw that one yesterday, and then looked around at the mess, I added to the sign, "maybe instead of making signs about it, we should . . . clean it." And then I swept and washed some dishes. In retaliation to my snide message, another sign was put up later, this one had stars on it. "After I make this sign I'm probably not going to clean the kitchen." To which I added, "duh." She didn't like that very much.

But it's all in good fun.

So this past weekend I went on an trip with my school to the Amalfi Coast, the Isle of Capri, and Pompeii. It was a huge group--like 80 students. We created quite a scene wherever we went. Especially on Saturday night when we were stuck in a boat during a terrible lightning storm and then all ran to our hotel in the pouring rain, some of us without shoes on (they just get in the way). It was a good weekend though. The above picture is me in Pompeii, taken by my roommate Jenny because I forgot my camera at home. It was kind of nice to not have to click a picture of everything I saw, and to be just be able to see it. To just be there. As John Mayer says, I "didn't have a camera by my side this time. Hoping I could see the world through both my eyes. Maybe I will tell you all about it when I'm in the mood to loose my way in words." So I journaled diligently throughout the whole weekend so I would remember everything.

And now school. And Florence. And Melissa's birthday's tomorrow! In honor of that, here's a picture of us being cold and wet during the soccor game a few weeks ago.

So we've past our one month mark. Now people are starting to diet and excercise, after all that pasta, pizza, wine, and gelato. Like me, I've taken to running every now and then (as in twice so far). You really feel like you live somewhere when you run there, leaving all the tourists in your dust. Some of my other roommates have put themselves on diets. Others have just decided not to buy anymore Nutella. I don't know if I'm that strong. Just now, looking up Nutella on Wikipedia, it's all I can do to not go to the kitchen right now and finish my almost empty chair. And the jars of Nutella I buy here can double as a glass after you've eaten all of the chocolately insides. Hey recycling! So really, my eating Nutella is beneficial to the environment.

But I'll restrain myself for the moment.

You want to know what's weird? I've been in class for a month, midterms are in two weeks, and the only grade I have right now to speak of is an Italian quiz I took last week. That's been my first and only grade so far. That feels weird.


I went to Assisi (as in St. Francis of) and Orvieto (another cute town in Umbria, located on a cliff) this weekend. Precious places. One of my favorite parts was the Basilica di San Francesco--this beautiful church built in honor of St. Francis. It is also where his tomb is located. There were so many people there, but they were all so silent and reverent. It makes one better understand why people decided to build these big, beautiful cathedrals. They inspire so much awe. You can't not think about God in them.

P.S. I love sending postcards, but what I like almost even better is recieving mail. It's like a breathe of fresh air--a letter from home. Just so you know . . .