i've received complaints from a certain sister that i use the word "lovely" too much, so from now on i'll be using the word "splendid" instead or a more ridiculous word if appropriate.

i got a book from my program's office that covers the history of the contemporary world from 1848 to now to review the events of WWII in europe, and although it's all in italian and really dense, it's really helpful. i plan on reading a little bit every day until everything makes sense.

this morning laurel and i went to the università di bologna (unibo, from now on) sports center office to get our student cards, so now i can finally get involved in some extra-curriculars! unfortunately there are a lot of really awesome things i want to do and i'm having difficulty choosing. there's an ultimate frisbee team/course/thing that i'm definitely interested in, but i may wait until march to do that. i'll stick to indoor things for the rest of february. i'm thinking about salsa, hip hop, scuba diving, tae kwon do, ballet, or a general gym membership. hmm.

tonight i'm going to try and sit down with gilberto to talk about some things i was too nervous to bring up before, like getting a WATERPROOF shower curtain and switching the heating plan to cold during the day and warm at night.

getting internet in my apartment is turning out to be a horrible ordeal. WHY doesn't anyone want my money? i know it's on an american credit card, but it's still good. :( there is apparently a wireless network that shows up in the main piazzas and certain university buildings that i should be able to access with my unibo name and password from my laptop, and in theory with that i could stay on for free for three hours a day every day of the week. if that turns out to be true (you never really know here) then i can just stick with that and life goes on! for free!