The Daily Grind

Been a busy week with school and such. Had a great start with karaoke night Monday night. From 9:30PM to 2AM a great majority of the 200 students on campus gathered in the cafe (called Rinaldo's) and sang and danced. Anyone who knows me well knows that this is right down my alley, so naturally I participated extensively. They served us wine, which was really kind of odd at a school sponsored function. You'd think I'd be used to being legal after a month, but I think I associate dances with people trying to sneak drinking before or in the bathrooms, and it was strange to see people just openly drinking. It was a blast though, and there were some pretty funny performances (including 2 football players from John Carrol performing "I Got You, Babe"). One of the most fun nights I've had in Rome. Tuesday began studying for this morning's Art In Rome test. It took forever because there was an incredible amount of information, but I think the test went well. Tomorrow, for my history class, we are on site at the Victor Emmanuel II monument, affectionately known as The Wedding Cake here in Rome, because of how the monument looks. Anyone from SLUH Eurotrip junior year will remember this as the monument that the massive gay pride parade was in front of. It will be my first time going inside, and I am excited. Tonight, my philosophy professor is taking us to dinner in Trastevere as opposed to having our make-up class tomorrow. He is lazy like we are and has no desire to have class on a Friday. Valentine's Day went well, and being single and bitter, Jim, Andrew, Julia, Julie, Mandaline and I decided to celebrate by having a few beers and watching The Lord Of The Rings. It was a good night. Jim and I also enjoyed the Cuban cigars we bought in Brussels. I'm not smoking cigars all the time, but the US really needs to get on lifting that embargo. I suppose the biggest news of this week is what I'm doing this weekend. Everyone's been telling me I need to take a trip by myself for the experience, and quite frankly, I'm getting to the point where I'm crabby because I'm seeing so much of everyone here, so I booked a hostel in Florence and am taking a trip there by myself Saturday and Sunday. I am a little nervous, but I am really looking forward to it! I'm planning to go see the David and the big church there (name?) and do some leather shopping. I'm a little curious what I'm going to do at night, being that it maybe kind of weird to go to a bar or club by myself, but I guess we'll see. I'll be sure to update on that one when I get back. Via e-mail I've been keeping in good touch with Conor, Mikey, Suzanne, Olivia, Cath, Nic, Mary, and my good friend Sarah Moore, and I am loving it. If you're reading this, e-mail me. It's great hearing from home. Also talked to my cousin Liz Buhn back in Chicago this week, which was very nice! I am really looking forward to going to Madrid on February 23 to see my good friends Sophie, Cameron, and hopefully Caroline and Grace. After that, the next trip I have planned is the school trip to Tunisia for Spring Break. It's ridiculous how fast time is going. I think when I graduate I want to apply for the SLA (basically the same thing as RA) position here and maybe spend some more time getting to know Italy (don't freak out too much, Mom). Who knows. Anywho, lunch time. Have a great week, and to anyone who is still bothering to read this blog, thanks. Arrivederci!