La vita di Jessica

8:49AM

9:02PM

I'm going to DC! I'm going to DC!

And carmiebob is going too!

Yay vacation...

11:41AM

(done with the quarter) + (very excited) = (Jessica)

(still has 8 hours of exams) + (big loser because of it) = (Jeremy)

this leads to the overwhelming conclusion that:

Jessica rocks!

10:43AM

So I am now an aunt for the second time...

Mom and baby doing fine.

1:33PM - Did people skip that lesson in school?

Didn't people learn in kindergarten and elementary school that if you don't have enough to share with the whole class, don't hand it out during class?

I just had a class where someone handed out valentines to people in class. But then I noticed that while most people got one, not everyone did. How inconsiderate.

I've never hated Singles Awareness Day before. I've never loved it either. I've just always been ambivalent. But after today so far, I can safely say that I hate Valentine's Day when it happens during the school week. And not for the reasons you are all imagining. It's not because I have homework to do tonight, instead of going out. It's not because I had to get up this morning, instead of lazing in bed for another hour or two.

It's because I had to walk through campus. And it's not because there are couples everywhere. I have no problem with that. (perhaps this is because I'm in a couple...) But the affection does bother me. People here are using Valentine's Day to sell anything and everything. Every single tiny-ass, insignificant, pointless student group ever created for anything is out there trying to push their club through candy on me. "Roses for tsunami relief." "Eat Sweethearts and join our table tennis club." "In case you forgot, buy your Valentine candy, AND help cure Leukemia." "You can solve world hunger AND eat dessert."

Give me a break.

It's bad enough that everyone asks what you're doing for Valentine's Day and then looks at you like you have a major disease when you say you and your boyfriend have nothing planned. It's pretty amusing actually. I'm not sure if people are more shocked/disgusted by the fact that we have no plans or the fact that I don't give a shit that we have no plans. Tonight Leah asked me, and actually gave me a whimper of sympathy. Lol. :-)

So to all you singles out there who have couple-hood shoved on you all day long: I'm sorry. Not all couples like it either.

Current mood: chilly

10:53AM - Please help!

Okay guys. I know these things are total crap, and at some point people are screwed. However, I want an iPod to take to Europe with me this summer. Since I'll be sitting on the trains for hours on end, and will be sitting on airplanes for hours on end, I'll need the music to get me through.

So help me out and just do this stupid thing, and I will love you forever. And hey, maybe you'll get a free iPod out of the deal.

Here is my referral link. To help me get my iPod, go to this link and sign up: http://www.freeiPods.com/?r=11351260

Or, if you don't wanna do that, just send me $300 and we'll call it even... :-)

11:00AM

This will be the week from hell.

"Why?" you ask. Ah, let me count the ways.

#1: I had an exam this morning. All we knew about it was the format - 2 essays and 4 short paragraph responses. What it would cover? Everything. Gee, that helps me know how to study. But I've already taken it, so this hellish addition has been dealt with. And I think it went pretty well. The only problem with it was that it meant I wasn't able to focus on other classes this weekend, which I really needed to do (see below, you'll get why).

#2: Outline for take-home midterm essay exam due in class Tuesday. This is good, cause it'll make me think about the exam earlier and more carefully. But it's now something else I have to create, and it's just annoying.

#3: Take-home essay exam due in class Thursday. It should be 7-9 pages when done, on difficult authors such as Durkheim and Weber.

#4: Paper proposal, with bibliography, due in class Thursday. It should describe what I want to do my final paper on, what theoretical approach I'm going to use, sources I'm going to use.

#5: 5-6 pages of my research paper for my Task Force class due Thursday. Notice the word "research". See, this means that in order to have written 5-6 pages, I have to have done enough research to come up with 5-6 pages. When the paper is done, it should probably be about 20 pages. That'll be due in another two weeks.

These are just the things *due* this week. I also have readings for all my classes I'm supposed to be doing, as well as the aforementioned research.

So again, I repeat, this will be the week from hell. And I affirm that I will be loaded on caffeine and sleep deprived.

Yay 6th week of quarter...

But in good news, I'm going to see the Vagina Monologues in the HUB on Friday night. Should be a good reward for getting through the week.

Current mood: overwhelmed!

10:39AM - Jokes

I've decided that I really want to laugh really hard, so please, if you've got a good joke, post it. It's middle of the quarter, and we can probably all use a good laugh. So do your good deed of the day and post a joke.

Current mood: busy

10:13PM

12:49PM - What I've been waiting for finally happened!!!!!!!!!

IT SNOWED!!!

We woke up this morning and found that it had snowed last night. So we went and played in it. We walked to the park and built a snowman about chest high. Then we came home and i built a mini snowman on our porch.



Fun and games!

Current mood: ecstatic

2:05PM

Thank god it's almost break! Although I don't really get a real break. I have to read an 800 page book and write a paper before the first day of winter quarter! How uber-lame is that??

6:25PM

Feeling anxious.

Happy election day!

Go vote if you haven't already.

10:50AM - Yay freedom of speech

So there are some days where I love my school. Or perhaps it's better to say that I love what universities stand for and represent. Universities are a collection of different and differing ideas, thoughts, beliefs, opinions, etc... What makes a university powerful is its ability to bring all these different people together with a common purpose: sharing with and learning from each other.

Today I was reminded of this again when I was walking to the HUB (our student union building). As I approached the lawn outside the HUB, I noticed that someone had put white crosses across the whole thing. There were probably a few hundred of them. It successfully looked like Arlington Cemetery. Some people had written on some: names of people and dates or ages, religious symbols, etc. Then I reached the table where the people who put this together were situated. There was a sign next to them that did *not* have the names of Americans killed, soldiers, civilians. It said: "In memory of the Iraqi civilians killed." It then gave the number of fatalities (I believe it was over 13,000!), and listed about 15 people: their name, age, and how they died. There was a two-year-old listed that was killed by a bomb. There was a 87-year-old that was killed by a mortar attack. They then invited people to either write something themselves and put it on one of the crosses or to put one they had already prepared, with the name of an Iraqi civilian killed. I felt my eyes well up a bit. It was a very effective demonstration that not only reminded us as to how many civilians get caught in the middle of war, but allowed us to reflect for a moment on all those killed. We may not be able to do much from here to stop them, but we can at least pause for a moment and think of them.

There are normally lots of people on the lawn trying to talk to you (sometimes yelling at the crowd) and shove pamphlets in your face as you walk past. They are mostly ineffective. Most people just walk past, looking at the ground and say no thank you. These people today made no noise. They didn't try and trap you into a conversation. They didn't push paper on you. They let it be what it should have been: a moment for us to stop ourselves and think about it by ourselves.

I wasn't the only one moved by this. In the two minutes that I took to walk past the lawn, I saw at least five or six people take a picture. I was one of them.

Current mood: thoughtful

10:34AM

It has, officially, been forever since I wrote anything. Most of you have probably forgotten I exist.

I have no motivation for anything school related. I would love nothing more than to come home from class every day and do nothing. Even when I try to sit and get work done, I end up staring at the wall (for example) for two hours before anything gets accomplished. I had a paper due monday and another one due Tuesday. On Sunday, I tried to get it done early, but this of course didn't happen. I read for hours on my topic, which is good. I finished my research fairly early, which is good. I was feeling good about it. Then I tried to start writing. I proceeded to look at my computer screen for about two hours before I wrote anything but my name. Then I wrote a sentence, stared for 20 minutes, and deleted it. I then stared for another 30-45 minutes. Frustrating. At this point it's probably 1am, and I have nothing written. I was exhausted, and was trying to tell myself that all that was stopping me from sleeping was writing this, and that if I wrote it quickly then I could go to bed. Then I went and trimmed my fingernails. I then came back, wrote half a page or so, and decided to trim my toe nails.

Somehow the paper got written, and I got very little sleep. Sadly, the next night I had to go through the same process. Luckily I was able to get started faster and to bed much earlier. However, I still didn't get enough sleep and was exhausted the next day. All told, SUnday and Monday nights I only got a total of maybe 8 or 9 hours of sleep.

Last night I was too tired to even contemplate doing any work. I spent some quality time in front of the TV, looking over the words of my choir music, and went to bed after Law and Order.

But then I didn't fall asleep for over an hour. Jeremy was laying there, fast asleep, and I was strangely wide awake. So of course, even when I went to bed (relatively) early, I only got 7 hours. Grrrrrr.

I think my stupid 25 page paper in the first couple weeks of the quarter really burned me out, and burned me out early. Since it wasn't even for a class, I was using all my energy on non-class work, meaning I had almost nothing left for my actual classes. It was three weeks into the quarter before I was able to devote any real energy or time to my actual class work. And there is nothing worse then the feeling of perpetual catch-up. Cause while you're getting caught up on old stuff, you're still getting behind in new stuff.

I think I need a vacation.

At least my roommates are great and are not adding to my stress. It's amazing how much of a difference that makes. Also, I've been able to spend a bunch of time with my little brother, which has also been awesome. He's such an amazing kid, and he loves to come over and hang out with me too.

Well, time to try and get some work done.

Current mood: burned out

1:40PM

Mt. St. Helens totally just erupted! How cool is that!!

12:00PM

So I wanted to post a couple pictures from my trip to Capri. For some reason I can't get the images to load properly, so hopefully this will work okay.

Peter, Cassie, Alfonso, Rami and me on the boat to Capri

Grotto Azzurro, no flash

Me in my improptu swimming suit

1:03PM - A bat, cornetti, fishnet socks, and sand........

I took a long weekend this weekend...

On Thursday after classes I went to Florence, where I stayed for two days. I stayed in a hostel with two guys, Rami and Alfonso, while the rest of the people we were going with met us there on Friday. It as great fun. That night when they arrived, we walked in our hotel room to find that there was a bat flying around the room.... Rami freaked out, and started hiding behind Alfonso (Rami is probably about 6 feet and 180 pounds. Alfonso is about 5'6", 110 pounds...). I was laughing so hard. Anyway, the next day we met up with the other people and spend the day wandering around Florence, making time to first eat and thoroughly enjoy some of the fabulous cornetti Jeremy and I discovered there. In the afternoon, Cassie and I (she's actually a UW girl) decided to have some fun. We were in a department store and decided we'd each spend about 20 euro on stuff for the other person, which we had to wear for the rest of the day in Florence. It was already about 5 or 6, so it was only a few hours. It was so fun though. For her I found these HUGE HUGE HUGE sunglasses, a see-through, flowery wrap around skirt thing that is supposed to go over a bathing suit, and neon green stockings. It was great. For me she
found a neon yellow visor, pink fishnet socks, and a bright orange sarong. That night everyone left again, except me, Alfonso, and Rami. We proceeded to have a pillow/tickle fight that was so raucous that the creepy night manager came and told us to please keep it down, because we had woken someone up. We then tried to go get food at about midnight, figuring we'd have a myriad of choices, as it was Friday night. No. Nothing was open, we were starving, and we finally gave up and sat down at a place. We ordered a coke and a sandwich each, to later discover that this cost us €45.00. And it didn't even taste good. We had a good grumble/laugh over that, returned to the hostel at about 2am (waking up the night guy, hehehe), chatted for a couple hours, and then collapsed into sleep, exhausted.

The next morning I left for Rimini to meet the Australian girls I know here. We were going to stay the night, but changed our minds once we arrived there. The town it totally tacky and touristy. We stayed at the beach for a couple hours, went in the water a couple times (which was fabulous), ate lunch, got caught in a HUGE HUGE HUGE rain/thunder storm. I honestly don't think I've ever been in a downpour like that. We then took the 4 hour bus ride back to Perugia, where I collapsed into my bed and slept for 10 hours.

On Sunday I got up and met up with some people and headed to Arezzo, which is where many scenes from La Vita è Bella were filmed. Not much to see there, but it was cute and tiny, and we just wandered around without any real agenda to see anything. Nice and relaxing. We probably all had more fun on the train taking pictures of eachother... Digital cameras are great! :-)

Anyway, I should be off now. I actually have to go to class today.

2:56PM - A Fabulous Weekend

I spent the weekend in Naples/Pompeii/Capri, and it was fabulous. I had a great time...

The bus left Perugia at 5:45am. Well, correction. We were supposed to be there and leave at 5:45am, but we didn't leave til 6:30, because the second bus hadn't showed up... We then drove to Naples, with a stop near Rome on the way, arriving at about 11:00-11:30am. We then had about three hours in Naples, some of which we spend wandering around, some of which we spent eating (pizza, naturally!). The whole time I was there, I was clutching my bag and my camera, terrified that stuff woudl get stolen. Naples has a reputation for petty theft, and I was determined not to be a victim. Our tour guide dude was saying on the bus to us, "Oh, you might want to remove earings, watches, etc.", so yeah, I was feeling safe... And my feeling of safety was further confirmed when within minutes of getting off the bus, a small child ran up to one of the girls I was with and grabbed her legs. Yeah, warning bells were going off. This child proceeded to follow us around for about 15 minutes (we were in a mall-like thing), begging for money. At one point, some of us were trying to take a picture, and moved away from where she was. She just followed us into our picture. Quite an experience.

We wandered a bit more, and were frustrated to find out that the churches all seemed to be closed. We weren't sure if it was because it was during the siesta time or if they were just closed, so we gave up and found a place to get food. We were all hungry. Huge pizzas, one per person, and we all struggled to eat it all, but most of us did. In fact, we were all peer-pressuring eachother to finish. Quite amusing.

Oh, we went to the Disney Store when we passed it, and found that they had stuffed animals of the 7 dwarfs with their names in Italian stiched on their hats. Tehy were bigger ones. There were seven of us, and we realized that there was probably a drarf to correspond to all of us, and thought we might have to purchase them, but the small keychain ones instead. We got up there, and were disappointed to find out that they only had the names in English on the keychains. Would have been neato, but that's okay.

Anyway, after wandering a bit, taking pictures, and eating pizza, we headed back to the bus, where we took off for Pompeii. We had two hours to wander around the ruins, which was very cool. Like Ostia Antica, but different.... :-) It's amazing to think that this town, as we were seeing it, was a moment locked in time.

Then (after waiting for the bus for 35 minutes, cause it was late for some reason) we headed to our hotel, arriving at about 7pm. It turned out to not be in Naples, but somewhere between Naples and Sorrento. It was another hill town, but a hill/cliff town with views onto the water. Turns out our hotel was up the hill, with a fantastic view. Now, you know me and my luck. I always get the shit places. And by that I mean the crap ones. I've never really won at anything. My day to day life is great, but I don't ever really have anything fantastic happen, like winning the lottery or even just winning a silly raffle at a concert.

My luck changed. I shared a room with the other two girls that were on the trip (one of whom actually goes to UW). So we walk down the hall of the 4th floor, our pace quickening as we realize that our room is on the view side. I begin to think, "Ah, cool, we'll get an awesome view from our window." I unlock the door, and we walk in... The three of us start running and cheering, throw our crap on the beds without looking at the room, and run onto our BALCONY! That's right. Not only did our room have a view, but it had a view from the balcony. A few minutes later the one of the guys shows up, saying that he knew our room must have been good, cause he heard us from his balcony. His problem, however, was that his room was on the 1st floor, so he had a fantastic view of the pool. We then find out that the two other guys in a different room had no view at all. Their window had been blocked off. We girls were quite pleased (and probably a bit smug as well!). The next morning, one of the girls said, "I think now we can honestly say, without bragging, that our room was the best." I just laughed. hehe

That night we ate dinner at the hotel, and then just chilled, took a bit of a walk. I took some pictures of the sunset. It was great. We returned to the hotel at around midnight, exhausted, took showers and got ready for bed. Amrita (one of the girls in my room) said that we should sit on the balcony for 10 minutes before going to bed, so she and I did. (Cassie had already gone to sleep about 2 hours before) Turns out that 10 minutes was one hour, 15 minutes. We just chatted, looking at the view. It was really nice. We then collapsed into bed.

The next morning, we had to get up at 6:15 and leave the hotel at 7:30. (Bear in mind that we hadn't slept much the two previous nights, so this is early). But we had a good reason to leave early: Capri. We got to spend basically the whole day there. We left at 7:30 to catch a boat to Capri. It was gorgeous outside. Sunny and hot, but with the wind blowing, making it fantastically comfortable. The ride was about an hour and a half, and we arrived in Capri at about 10am. We then took a boat cuise around the island, which stopped at the Blue Grotto, where we got into small row boats and went into the Grotto.

The Grotto is a story all of its own.

So, I didn't bring my bathing suit with me. For some reason, when packing, I decided to leave it at home (in Perugia). Why, I'm not sure. I thought about it, but I think decided that I probably wouldn't use it, so why bother. Now, I'm the type of person who always takes my swim suit when I travel, even if I know for sure that I will not use it. Always. But I didn't this time, and I'm a moron for it. As soon as the bus left Perugia I knew this was a mistake: our tour guide dude said, "Okay, so did everyone bring a bathing suit, cause the hotel has a pool and Capri has a beach." I started cursing at myself. That night, Cassie and I had walked around near the hotel the night before looking for a place to buy a cheap one, not finding one cheap enough. So we just gave up. So the next day in Capri, I've resigned myself to the fact that I won't be swimming, which is okay. I didn't even have shorts I could wear in. Jeans or a skirt. But two of the guys were planning on swimming, and actually came prepared. Cassie I think had decided she would wear her shorts.

Anyway, to the grotto. So I'm in a boat with the two guys (Rami and Alfonso) who are planning to swim at the beach later and Amrita. After we got in the boat and paid, the guy rowing says, "Oh, you can swim." Alfonso and Rami get all excited, and I start cursing again. So we go inside, which requires that we lie down on the floor of the boat, and it's amazing. The room glows a brilliant blue color, a color you couldn't possibly describe. But it glows, and is amazingly beautiful. The driver dude rows us around the inside a bit, and then says, "Okay, if you want to swim, go ahead." Rami and Alfonso jump in, and the driver asks me if I'm going. I said no. And then a minute later I took my watch off and jumped in, fully clothed, much to the shock of Alfonso and Rami, who were in the water in front of me, as well as Cassie (who was already in the water), Amrita, Peter, and Adam. It was completely spontaneous.

I was wearing a skirt, which was immediately up to my neck after jumping in, which I put back into place as best I could. Luckily it was dark... Anyway, It was SO nice. It was salt water, but it felt fabulous. Cool, but not cold, and the light was amazing. Apparently it's 20 meters deep or something. I had no idea, but it was so worth it. Then we crawled back into the boat, and made our way out of the Grotto. Totally cool. I'm not soaked, but I'm not cold, cause it's a warm day.

Our boat tour around the island continues, and at about noon we make it back to the beginning. We ate lunch, and then decided to walk up to the center, which is up the hill. But we didn't know how far up the hill it was. It was far. Lots of steps and hills. I'm going to have calfs of thunder by the time I return to Seattle... We walked up there a bit, and then decided to head to the beach. At this point I've decided I want to go in again, so I guess I'll wear my skirt in again. We get down there, and get ready to go in. Turns out that Rami had an extra pair of shorts, so I put them on, knowing that they're going to be HUGE. Sure enough, they are. Alfonso was wearing shorts over swim trunks, so I manage to convince him to give me his shorts, and he can wear Rami's shorts. Alfonso is tiny. He has no body, and so Rami was convinced that I wouldn't be able to get Alfonso's shorts on, probably because I actually have hips.... Anyway, I did get them on, so I wore bright orange big board shorts and a purple bra. Quite a sight to be seen, on a beach full of style-consious Italians, lol.

Anyway, the water was amazing. Again, not hot, not cold. Salty like craziness. But we stayed in for a while, and then got out, dried off, and headed back to the boat, so we could return to the buses to return to Perugia. We had til 5:00ish in Capri. So we get back to the buses at about 7:00, and we find out that we'll be stopping for dinner outside of Rome, in about 2 hours. We're all starving and exhausted. We all fell asleep on the bus, and end up arriving at food at about 10pm, and then finally arrive back in Perugia after 1am.

I had to go home and shower still though, because I was covered in salt water, so I ended up not going to sleep until about 2:30. Luckily I don't have class today until 3pm.

But it was a fabulous weekend, and I had a great time.

Anyway, I gotta head to class now.

Ciao

8:46PM

I went to an Alicia Keyes concert last night. She is a fabulous performer... very entertaining.

Tomorrow, I'm off to Naples, Capri and Pompeii for the weekend.

Yay Italy.

5:38PM - My 4th of July

I spent my 4th of July in the least American way possible...

I didn't speak in English until about 7pm, and then it was only for a minute with some random girl I started chatting with in the center of town. While we were speaking, some strange American guy came up to us and asked if we felt American today. We said, no, not especially. He seemed shocked: "What? You have to feel American on the 4th." We said: "We're trying hard not to feel American here." Come on, it's part of the experience...

In the evening I went to a food place and watched the football (soccer, for you Americans...) game. It was the final for the Eurocup, between Greece and Portugal. It was a good game, and I am happy to say that Greece won. You have to root for the team that has been the underdog since the beginning of the tournament. Anyway, it was fun, and afterwards watched the Greeks in town go nuts again. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera to this one. But such is life.

Anyway, that was my 4th. Probably the most unusual one I've had. But it was fun. I bet everyone had fun at home. And I'm sorry I missed it. But at the same time it was great to be here, and experience it in a different way. It's very interesting how little other countries care about the things that are so important to other countries. Very interesting. In fact, I forgot it was the 4th until my dad mentioned it to me a couple days ago.

Well, I'm off to eat with one of the many people I've met here... Til next time....