in case you wanted to know

why i don't like watching television or movies: what i always wanted to say but never knew how to say it well. thanks to someone else for writing it.

"Much of today's television entertainment shows an unhealthy preoccupation with sex, coarse humor and foul language. Essentially lazy and indulgent entertainment does nothing for our society and will never nourish great minds. Parents who are casual about their viewing habits ought not to be surprised if teaching moral choices and civic values to their children becomes harder as a result."

i'm pretty funny.

i was all alone this morning eating breakfast and i thought of something that made me laugh out loud for about eight minutes. not really that long, but i did laugh out loud.

this one time, i was out to dinner at the bombay house. we were a huge group, and i only knew about half of the people because it was friends of friends of friends. we were having a great time. at one point i was thirsty, so i reached for the water pitcher and poured the rest of the water into my glass. in a few seconds i realize that the water pitcher is still in front of me, and i am holding my friend ryan's glass. i had dumped ryan's water into my own glass, and all he did was watch me.

i laughed pretty hard then. how embarrassing. and i laugh out loud every time i think of it.

the end.

buon primo giorno di primavera!

my life is amazing. ha.

friday. train station. cremona. i see this kid with an old-man hat on. a paperboy hat. i find him reasonably adorable, minus the horrible backpack, and when he walks by me i look right at him instead of looking away. that's my new favorite game: italians stare, i stare right back. he seemed interesting and i really wanted to talk to him, but, ya know. then we are waiting for the same transfer at the fidenza station. he looks at me as i walk past and i don't look back, i just laugh. he's standing near me and i am trying so hard to not just laugh out loud. then i'm behind him as we're getting on the train, and he has trouble opening the door. i say: "sei capace?" (are you capable of opening the door?) then walk past him and choose a seat hoping he'll sit near me, but his friend has already gone ahead and scelto a seat. but as he walks past he looks at me again and i say "chi sei che mi guardi così?" who are you to be looking at me like that? he responds "sei tu che mi stai guardando!" it's YOU who's looking at ME! and i object, and he introduces himself as emanuele and calls his friend alessio over to sit with us. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. i'm a clever sly figliola. and the mission was worth it, he was one of the most interesting and spiritoso (witty/clever) and adorable italians i've met. instacrush. a few minutes later i pulled out the secret to my most recent social success: the old man hat ("coppola," after francis ford) that i'd stolen from shawna that morning. it looked like his. "ecco perché mi stavi guardando!" oh, so that's why you were watching me. the friendship begins. this kid is SO funny, he uses the latin word "ergo" in place of the italian word "quindi" (so, therefore) and anyway was just entertaining. then he tried to exchange coppolas with me--oh would i have wanted to if mine weren't actually shawna's. his argument: look, would you rather have this "made in sri lanka" one or this one, "originale italiano." he took mine and wore it, and put his on me, and announced that he would wear mine until they got off the train. shawna was glad i didn't trade. his friend studies in crema so guess what, i have new friends. they invited me to go to lecce, in puglia, the very heel of the italian boot, so i will probably go when alessio goes does to vote election weekend, 12 hours by night train, april 7-10. i LOVE southern italians. they are enchanting. there's a certain italian racism here... the northern italians, proud of their industrialized, wealthier society, call the southerners by the derogative "terrone", land worker with negative implications. it really frustrates me because all my favorite italians have been from the south. they're so friendly, funny, generous--and they have this rich accent and speak using the passato remoto (which until speaking with alessio i had only read in the libro di mormon, never heard someone use it in conversation).

i had a really good weekend. starting with above account. shawna went to vienna and i couldn't bear the thought of being in that one-room apartment alone, so i went to rimini, san marino, and ravenna. rimini is the legendary summer dirty beach getaway... the italians think i went during the wrong season but it was perfect for me--a dock, a place to sleep before going to the republic of san marino. san marino is, evidently, a separate country. you can get a passport stamp and visitor visas but i forgot because i was too busy climbing towers and exploring castles. and i met some guy who lives in taormina, one of the most coveted vacation destinations in italy--sicily--so shawna and i will probably go back to catania in may.

i'm coming into this whole speaking italian thing. i feel comfortable speaking and listening in casual conversation. especially when i am not with the drunk boys.

okay so my life isn't as amazing as i had hoped. last night new friend alessio (sadly emanuele stays at home to study) and his bergamasco friend angelo took me and shawna to a concert in milano. before meeting angelo's other friends, they pulled out--guess what--a little drug we call marijuana. so apparently i have to choose between drinking boys and pot-smoking boys. it was pretty weird. i didn't know people did that after the age of 15. i wanted to click my heels and say "there's no place like provo." i'm pretty sure my friends at byu don't smoke weed :) people are pretty respectful though, i think if i ask them not to they won't when i'm around. it really annoys me when smart, interesting people do stupid things and then use "we are young, we need to have fun" as their excuse. i think my life would be ruined if they got caught while i am with them... police...

anyway. paola's nice alice (say ah-LEE-chay) is active in volunteer/religious stuff so this weekend i might go with her to swim or play with disabled kids. yay, ha.

i don't have to teach today or tomorrow. i should do something fun. i had plans to shop for a friend's bday present and then read in the park until i woke up and it was raining. happy first day of spring.

io vado. ciao belli,
savanna

se una notte d'inverno un viaggiatore

--that is the title of the next book i am going to read, and i'm really excited. i have found that it's really easy for me to read in italian, as long as it's not the newspaper. the author is italo calvino, and i have already read one of his books, albeit a very short one, because we had to read it in italian 201. so i already conosco his style. apparently each chapter of this book is a different opening to the same novel. or something. and each time it is in a different setting. how about i let you know.

today after lessons i am zooming over to the train station... i am going to sleep in rimini tonight, see san marino tomorrow (the world's oldest and smallest republic? a city composed of three castles on a cliff 1000 meters tall. population 26,000), and then go to ravenna, city of mosaics, saturday afternoon and sunday. it's pretty far away but i really need to get out this weekend and see the ocean. i realized that i am drawn to visit cities that are near to large bodies of water :)

yesterday i got a great email, the kind that should lift my spirits for at least a week. man that was a good email.

oh, and the byu travel office è riuscito a change my airplane ticket, so i won't be forced to come home at the end of march. june 6 is the official return date, which i assure you will not change again. i have so much to do before then! two and a half months. not much time.

by the way--if anyone is looking to sell a summer-only housing contract, i'm in the market. i want to pay around 150. i'm thinking condo row maybe, except for the parking problem there.

i just bought a one-way ticket to paris for the evening after the day i finish work. 36 euros. ryanair is incredible... as long as you don't have to bring anything with you.

io vado... tante cose da fare... lezioni da insegnare... città da vedere... treni da non perdere...

sava

i am angry right now so i am going to write an angry entry.

things i hate.

-NUMBER ONE: when people refuse to establish a system of what is right and wrong and instead make choices based on self-satisfaction and popular sentiment.
-lack of ambition
-depending on other people for things i need--ride to church, changing my plane ticket, money, changing my graduation date
-hearing people who know little about government talk about politics
-cynicism
-the practice of cigarette smoking: why??? because you like it?
-back to number one: choose some principles and live them!
-continuing above: so you advocate a system of individuality and "be yourself" and blah blah blah while at the same time you refuse to establish any principles that would set you apart as different from everyone else!?
-the criticism of another's tastes: if you don't like what i am making for myself for lunch, cosa ci entra?! it's not you who's going to eat it!
-the criticism of another's tastes: the only reason you say you don't like it is you are BORING and never try anything new.
-television. other forms of entertainment. most of the time, anyway. they don't do anything for you.
-when my friends don't write me back
-nostalgia attacks :)
-boring people
-the infamous lateness of the italian train system that causes problems bigger than itself
-being away from people i care about

one thing i love:
la conferenza nazionale dei giovani adulti non sposati, pescara, fine aprile.
national conference of young single adults... all the little italian mormons together for a few days in a city on the sea down south. can't wait.

things i would write about if i felt like writing

have gone on a few trips since last writing about vienna. i should write about them right now but i'm not moved by the idea. let's just say that every new italian city i see i declare is my favorite, but i guess that can't be true. except milan, i don't like milan.

catania (that's in sicily.)
torino (olympics. curling match.)
venice (carnevale. new boots. spent way too much money.)
bologna (oldest university in the world, a sweet tower.)

stupid exchange rates in europe trick you into thinking you are spending about 80% of what you really spend.

i decided, for the eighteenth time, what master's program i want to do. this time it's an international relations MA (this doesn't change that often) with johns hopkins. they have a center in bologna, and i absolutely love bologna, and if i study a lot for the GRE i might be able to get in. my GPA is high enough for sure but my economics experience is weak. i totally want to live in bologna for a year. i don't really like italian education and this program is american-style. yes! the problem is that johns hopkins is one of the best IR schools in the world and getting in would be tough, but i have promises from two professors for the kind of recommendation letters that would get me into a school like that.

tonight if i can get a ride from my argintine family or if i can take the bus i am going to milan for a fireside and games with the church kids. we'll see. if not it appears i will be staying here with the drunk boys. ooooooh fun...

the garbage renegades and the essence of liberty

here in crema we have what's called "raccolta differenzata" which means compulsory recycling and sorting of rubbish. here are the categories:

friday morning pickup
umido: organic stuff. food.
plastica: bottles, saran wrap, etc.

tuesday morning pickup
carta/cartona: paper and cardboard
secco: everything else that can't be recycled.

i have been here a month and i think we've already forgotten to take the trash out at least 3 times. it has to be out by 7 a.m. the real tragedy is forgetting to take out umido because then you've got a stinky green bucket of slimy spinach and moldy tomatoes waiting for a week in your kitchen. but i came up with a strategy--which we will never use--to get our umido to the whereever they take it. and that is haul our umido in its biodegradeable bag to the other collection zone of the city on a different day. in effect, commandeer someone else's garbage day. assuming that it's a day or two later. i can just see us stealing through the city by night wearing capes and masks... gotta get rid of the umido.

i'm going to firenze / florence in a few hours. except first i have to teach shawna's class because that little fiend called me and begged me to teach geography for her. it's fine because i've already taught this lesson three times but not fine because i thought i was done for the day and now i have to work until 5:20, finish up business at school, pack, and get a 6:28 train. BUT what i get out of it is a free train ride to florence, a 32.87 value.

mauro asked me a question yesterday that really made me think. i told him that i love the book 1984, and so does he, and so does shawna. a few hours later he asked me to explain how i can love that book, for it's not in accordance with my life. for all you uneducateds who haven't read it, the book is the one that the idea of "big brother" came from... oh yeah and doublespeak and lots of other worthwhile things. it's about an ultracomformist, controlled society where nobody has choices. the lesson of the book is that liberty is absolutely essential to humanity. and according to mauro, i live a life devoid of liberty; i am robbed by my religious beliefs of my choices. he sees me going home on saturday night so i can leave for milan at 7:30 am and not having their kind of fun, and he sees those as restrictions placed on me by a i suppose tyrannical power like the one in the book. i tried to explain to him in my awkward italian that instead i believe that i have complete freedom, that i am ultimately free because i choose the consequences i want and then the actions, that i am free from dependence... after going home i studied the idea a little more and found that the idea i tried to explain to him of liberty is pretty much exactly the definition that is found in the dictionary at the end of the book of mormon, or at least the italian version. free to choose either "eternal life" or "captivity because of sin" or something. i have to go teach silly shawna's class now but as this is a critical question i would like to explore it later. critical for every person to understand the source of their liberty.

ciao from crema and in several hours from florence!

savanna

not the best entry ever but we've gotta publish.

there's a certain kind of pain that can numb you
there's a type of freedom that can tie you down
sometimes the unexplained can define you
sometimes silence is the only sound
(nickel creek)

i waited until february 14, 2006 to check the grade i got in my poli sci capstone class. i was scared. i wanted an A-, expected a B+, wouldn't have been surprised over a B, and feared something lower. well let's just say that i got what i wanted. yay.

i don't think i have bought anything that has made me happier than my iPod. music just does something. i'm listening to nickel creek right now. hence above lyrics. i didn't write those this time. i want to sing along but that means more people staring at the american.

i want to go to russia. italy's that much closer, right?

feeling unfocused. does that mean i'm hungry?

i'm going to carnevale next week in venezia. i've never seen venice. i'm going with a friend from BYU. we took italian 101 and 102 together. will be fun to see him. except i need a costume.

new favorite quote from shawna: "i'm not mocking you. i love you."

i got my first "stipendio" or paycheck yesterday. paying rent and phone is not fun. € 500 and about a fourth of it left.

i'm bored. more later.

sav

to get me through this semi-charmed kinda life

i'm going to catania today. that's in sicily. this trip will be much nicer than vienna i think because i am staying with a family and it's not twelve degrees below zero. i am nervous and excited... nervous because it's the family of a friend and i want to be charming, and because i love meeting new people and seeing how these foreigners live. plus i get to see a volcano!!!!!!!!

i might be kidnapped by the mafia. let them know that i don't have a rich daddy so asking for ransom will be useless. inutile.

in geography i have been teaching about underdevelopment. first i show statistics, measures of development and their implications. then the dialogue goes like this:
me: do you think this is fair (that GDP is low, literacy is low, infant mortality is high, life expectancy is low, people are hungry)
them: no!!!
me: what would you do about it as the leader of one of these countries?
them: give more money to, for example, education
me: where do you get the money?
them: from taxes
me: but your people are poor. they can't pay more taxes.
them: uhhhh
me: where do you get the money?
them: from other countries.
and then the idea of development aid and corruption comes out. i love geography.

i gotta go.

running around trying everything new, but nothing impressed me at all...i never expected it to

i am an an internet cafe... how classy. ick.

i took my ipod out of the house for the first time today. i just had to listen to jacob's BFF anthem CD.

i have been sick for the past several days and staying in the house every day all day makes me crazy!!!! i went out last night and i'm going out tonight whereas i know i shouldn't.

so guess what, i transferred my photos from vienna to my computer and every single file was there but every file was empty. i would love to cry over my lost photos but i didn't do that much in vienna anyway because it was 12 degrees below zero. which sounds a lot scarier in degrees celsius so i won't provide a conversion. :)

tomorrow my argentina family isn't going to church because there is a block in milano, which means no cars are allowed to go into the city. so i have to find my own way there. i don't want to stay home all day again with nothing to do.

i hate paying for internet.

forget it, i'm going to buy new shoes.

I just decided that I'm going to return to BYU one last time. Summer term 2006. Why? If the GPA cutoff was the same as last year, I'll have a full scholarship; I don't want to return to Longmont with nothing to do (and strangely enough I don't want to stay in Europe); I need a cushion to find a real job; I want to take Italian 321 and Poli Sci 359R, "Parties and Elections in Post-Communist Eastern Europe" (how could I resist!?); I need to go out there for graduation anyway. Plus there are one or two additional reasons I won't publicize :)

Summer term is painless. I'm excited. And because I'm not going right into graduate school I don't have to worry about not having a break between my undergrad and my graduate work which at one time was a reason to not return.

Please don't take this as for sure but this is what I'm thinkin!

Write me.

(PS I love paying off my American Express bills)