As you may or may not (but probably the former) know, I am currently in Italy. In fact, I have been in Italy since September. In fact, I was in Italy for 6 weeks this summer, returned to the states, and then returned to Italy for this semester. You may be aware of these facts, and yet there is no indication of this in this journal. I've never really considered myself a blogger, but I do think that this lack of info-sharing probably constitutes an epic blogging fail to end all epic blogging fails.

Unfortunately, though I am in Italy, I have very little interesting news to report. My Italian is better (I hope) and I've met some cool people and seen some cool things, but mostly I'm just going to school and doing silly things with silly people as usual. Apparently study abroad can only change me so much.

The best example I can come up with to prove this point: the only *real* reason I'm writing this right now is to avoid doing the homework that I really really really need to do. Alas, I am full of woe. And by 'woe,' I think I actually mean 'extreme laziness.' They're basically the same thing, right?

As per my tradition I must now find a picture with which to leave you...



This is a view of Florence from Piazzale Michelangelo. You can kind of see everything from up there. This is a somewhat close-up shot of the Duomo. It's one of those places that is always amazingly beautiful, no matter how many times you look at it.



I also leave you with this gem of Florentine graffiti. I think the alarmed faces on the pieces of bread/toast really bring the piece together, don't you?

OK, maybe I'll do homework now. Or sleep. Whichever.

Well, dear reader, I have re-located. I shall tell you the story:

I was up in my room, minding my own business and reading Merlin fan fiction (because what else would I be doing on a Tuesday night?) and intermittently conversing via facebook with a few friends.  All of a sudden I look up from my entertaining fic to see something moving at the foot of my bed.  It was a big (ish) black spider and it scared the living bejeesus out of me. Anyway, I cowered on my bed as far away from it and watched it work its way across my laundry basket (I will now have to wash the bras and sweatshirt that were hanging over the edge because it touched them) and on to my window sill. My mother, on her way to the bathroom, sees this and tells me to go to bed. In her sleep-dazed state she apparently misses the me cowering and whimpering and pointing at the spider part. So clearly, no help is coming from the parental side of things.

Now, I pride myself on not being the really ditzy girly afraid of everything ever type, but one 'girl thing' I cannot deny is my fear of spiders. They freak me out so much. I can't be around them, it just doesn't work. If there's one in the room, it needs to go away. You don't have to kill it, but it needs to go far far far (and I mean FAR) away from me.  The really ridiculous thing about this fear is that I can't touch them. Not even through a tissue. Which means I can't be my own hero and kill it myself. So it's nearly 2 in the morning and everyone is asleep and I've at least gotten over the wake-up-my-daddy-to-kill-the-spider-phase, so I'm on my own.

So I have a brilliant idea. The dustbuster! I can stay a decent-ish distance away (I was still cringing, but I could deal) and get the spider safely out of my room.
...At least that was the plan.
I moved my blanket, my sheet, my pillow, my computer, and my cell phone near my door and went downstairs to grab the dustbuster. After running back upstairs and praying to whatever gods would listen that the damnable thing would stay in the same place, I approached the spider with the dustbuster and turned it on.

I've already told you that I've relocated, so you've probably guessed that this plan didn't work.

This dustbuster is good. I mean, you probably couldn't vacuum an entire carpet with it, but it has a decent amount of suction for its size.  AND YET it had no affect on the stupid spider.  Actually, it may have just made the damn thing mad.  

Well, that was it. That was my last-ditch plan. So now I'm downstairs on the futon with the dog sitting pretty much on top of me because it just started thundering and so she's scared.

Oh well. I fled. But at least I fled with my pillow and blankets and, of course my computer to continue reading Merlin fan fic and make myself feel slightly better.

So to once again borrow from thatdamneddame (oh, I love her so):

To damn: spiders
To bless: Merlin
To purgatory: dustbusters (because it tried its darnedest)

And now to continue reading.

...ugh, I still feel like things are crawling all over me.

I think it is important, dear readers, that you all know how horrible a person thatdamneddame  is.  I thought I was fairly corrupt, but she has taken it to new levels. I can no longer simply look up something on Wikipedia and it is ALL. HER. FAULT. It starts simply enough. You are reading an article on Wikipedia. A keyword is highlighted and you think "hmm. I wonder what Wikipedia has to say about that."  If you click, you will 1) waste valuable hours of your life and 2) learn really unfortunate things. I never really wanted to know anything about erotic electrostimulation, but I somehow ended up on that page. 

Now she's not the only one to damn things. I'm making my own list!

To damn: thatdamneddame 
To bless: basements that are about 10 degrees cooler than the rest of the house
To purgatory: Wikipedia

And now for our photo:


not sure why it's sideways, but it wouldn't rotate. In any case, don't let the stars fool you, she is evil and has ruined my brain.

I find that when I'm at home I automatically lose any sense of productivity. Thankfully, I finished my last paper, so that's over with and I'm DONE. Of course now I'm sitting here still in my pajamas (I did brush my teeth and hair, but why change clothes to lounge around all day?), eating yummy Chinese food and watching True Life: I'm a College Freshman. Yes, my life is truly pathetic. And yet, not quite as pathetic as the people whose lives I'm watching. They're all so whiny. Are we that whiny? They spend all their time partying and doing stupid shit and then complain about their lives. One kid actually let his mom pick his classes for him. Wtf? I mean, I consult my mom when I can't decide what to take, but I don't just shove the course catalog at her and turn a blind eye.

Yea, this post is mostly to alleviate boredom.  I also started reading Middlesex. The 20 pages I've read so far have been good.

The one really awesome thing about being home is that I have all my pets here. I've missed the furry devils.



2 of the 3 horrors above. Bila is probably lurking somewhere in the basement. I swear, Buttercup (the cat) has pretty much been in that position all day. Now she's curled up a little closer to me and snoring. She's kind of adorable. I wonder where the dog went...

So I am home now. Usually this statement would be followed by "I'm done! Woohoo!" or something of that sort. Unfortunately, that is not the case. No, dear reader, I am not done with finals.  I have another paper to write, but alas, I have two (yes, two) doctor's appointments tomorrow (well, today. Also, the first one is at 10 and half an hour away. Sleep should probably be imminent) and so was forced to leave my BMC hovel. To add to this, I have no idea what to write for this paper. I think I shall probably e-mail my professor tomorrow, but I can't meet with her, so this will be interesting.

On a mostly different note, I miss Bryn Mawr already.  Now my loves thatdamneddame , jazzyjello  and immortal_teacup are oh-so far away! What will I do without you?!

Alas, I should probably sleep. For tomorrow I am to be poked and prodded!

For the first time since I started this journal (what, a week ago?) I leave you without a picture. Mostly because I don't have one of me packing. It was quite an ordeal.

Farewell loves!

Katie and I both have papers to write.
Instead we're watching Firefly.
How bad is it that I kind of don't feel bad?
I want chocolate.
This is turning into some sort of bizarre stream-of-consciousness thing, so I think it might be time to post the picture and return to watching Firefly.
...Actually, I think all stream-of-consciousness is kind of bizarre. Not necessarily the point, but a frequent side-effect/outcome.
OK! Picture!

I think I need boring friends. My current ones have too many interesting obsessions. It is how I've ended up on Live Journal, it is why I there is a certain theme to my icons, it is why I stay up way to late reading fan fiction when I should be sleeping.

Of course, if I had boring friends, I probably wouldn't find myself outside on warm spring nights playing with bubbles and laughing hysterically.

         

I think I might just have to deal with the burden of interesting friends. They leave me with lots of silly pictures.

As well it should.

This past weekend was one of my best since coming to Bryn Mawr.  It started with going to KOP and trying on/buying cute bras on Friday and watching Philadelphia Story late Sunday night with half the campus while reeking of fountain water and not wearing a bra. Those parts were great, but the in-between was really just amazing. 

Saturday was the prom dress rugby game. It is exactly what it sounds like. We play rugby. In prom dresses. We are really just that badass. We played Drexel (as we do every year) and remain UNDEFEATED in prom dress rugby. Well duh. We are the HORNED TOADS!  This game we also had drunk ref which, of course, made things so much better. He looked very dapper in his tux and maintained his tradition of drinking heavily throughout the game.

This game really awesome and exciting, even without the prom dresses. They were just a little something extra to put it over the top.

(Let's go green[sock] scrum!)

After the prom dress game, we played the alumnae game. It was a lot shorter (only 10-minute halves or so), but it was still a lot of fun.  Clearly all Horned Toads past and present are awesome people.

After both games we socialed on the pitch which was a lot of fun, but kind of a bitch to clean up.

The rest of Saturday was spent hanging out watching Chicago in the room and eating ice cream with Katie.

Sunday was May Day. 



May Day is quite possibly the biggest tradition of the year.  Everyone takes the day off to hang out and have fun (and, usually, drink copious amounts of alcohol).  The day starts off with a breakfast of strawberries and cream.  Then there's a parade with bagpipes and dancers and whatnot.  The parade ends on Merion green with the maypole dance.  Since this was my first May Day, I don't know how it usually goes, but this year was kind of hilarious.  My class (2011) sucked. A lot. Our pole looked ridiculous. That being said, it was still a lot of fun.  After the dance there was the hoop race and then, a little later, the May Hole.  May Hole was amazing. We stood in a circle with our arms linked and chanted "hey hey, ho ho, the patriarchy has got to go!"  over and over again.  Then we broke the links and all ran to the paracute in the center and danced around to Dar Williams' "As Cool as I Am" on repeat.  I may have forgotten to mention that it was rainy and just generally disgusting on Sunday.  It was the first May Day in over ten years where it rained.  Despite all this, everything was a lot of fun and people said that May Hole was actually better in the rain.  Then there was lunch and a rugby sing-along and possibly some other awesome stuff. After the singalong a lot of the ruggers hung out in the kiddie pool in the Denbigh backsmoker.  It was crowded and kind of just awesome. 

Katie and I returned to the room for naps, then went to dinner. 

Then it was the step sing.  I really love step sings and even though it was cold and wet, it was still the best one I've been to yet.  At the end, we sang good night as usual, but this time, we sang to the seniors.  They walked through and gave hugs and pretty much all the rugby seniors were sobbing.  When the seniors were all (or almost all) through, the juniors rushed the steps and started the anass.  It was really cool and really emotional.  We hung out and comforted the seniors as the juniors walked down Senior Row.

Then it was time for skinny dipping.  We all jumped into the fountain naked and started singing rugby songs. It was freezing and a bit awkward since some people were more drunk than ever and sort of stumbled into you, but it was fun and certainly counts as an "experience."

After putting on most of our clothes, we headed into Thomas to watch the traditional showing of Philadelphia Story. 

Then bed.

An awesome weekend and a pretty decent first post, I think.