Reflection

There’s something to be said about living simply. Right now I’m in my flat, sitting in bed, back against the wall. The windows are open and I’m in my boxers, drinking a glass of peach juice from the fridge, but I’m still hot. Very hot. That’s what no AC in June on the top floor gets you. I got up at about noon today (which I don’t regret, since last week was killer), made a cup of coffee, and wrote for about two and a half hours. Somewhere in there, I took a break for lunch – pasta and tomato sauce with bits of ham chopped up and thrown in. Cheuk and I went to the grocery store with the Amandas to buy stuff for dinner tonight. We’re starting to have to be careful about what we buy – we’ll be gone a week from today, so we need to make sure we’ve eaten everything by then. Stuff there’s no way we’ll finish, like our bottle of olive oil and our massive box of salt, we’ll probably give to the new neighbors that moved in yesterday.

The plan is to spend most of tonight reading and writing. One paper down, one to go, but I also have my twenty-minute presentation on Wednesday afternoon that I’ve only started researching for. Luckily, I’m basing my second paper on my presentation, so I really only have to learn about one topic and then apply my newly acquired information twice. I’m doing digital archeology, the process of recreating buildings, fora, and even the entire city using CG programs. I was inspired by a segment I saw on CNN while I was sitting in the terminal at JFK waiting for my flight. A group of archeologists from the University of Virginia is digitally reconstructing the entire city of Rome as it looked on June 21st, 320 AD, the supposed height of the empire. When it’s finished, they’re going to put it up on the Internet and let people explore it via an avatar, a lot like World of Warcraft (which I’ve never played, I swear). It sounds pretty interesting.

I’m doing as much as I can tonight because we’re taking the train out to the beach tomorrow. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen the ocean, not counting what I saw out the window on my transcontinental flight over here. It’s been a good four or five years, probably. I’ll probably have to stay up late (late meaning my normal bedtime back home) tonight and tomorrow night to compensate for it, but it’s totally worth it. I’m excited. You think if I start doing sit-ups now, there’ll be a noticeable difference in my abs fourteen hours from now?

Anyway, that’s my life right now – lots of reading, lots of writing, lots of exploring, whether by foot, bus, or subway. Lots of cappuccinos and espressos. Lots of gelato. Lots of cooking. Lots of time around the same people, or, if you choose, lots of time by yourself. To each his own, I guess. Lots of confusion and misunderstandings. The language barrier’s tricky like that. Lots of information, some handed to us, some self-taught, some missed completely, I’m sure. Lots of laughter, like when Magown proposed that we sack Rome because it hasn’t happened for almost a century and a half. Lots of photos, and with them, lots of premature sentimentality. Lots of fun. Lots of experience. Lots of memories. Lots of friendship.

When I talk about living simply, of course we’re still living comfortably. Right now, I’m typing on my thousand-dollar laptop, listening to my (albeit outdated) three-hundred-dollar iPod, and when I’m done, I’m going to upload the photos from my hundred-dollar digital camera onto my aforementioned laptop. None of us have shed our multimedia addictions completely, I don’t think. It’s the little stuff, stuff most college students never think about, that gets to you. If I want to use the Internet, I have to put pants on and go to the café across the street. If I want cold water, I have to put a glass of tap water in the fridge. If I’m hot, I have to (*gasp*) open the window. If I want to go somewhere, I have to either walk there or attempt to navigate the bus system. It’s kind of nice, this increased self-reliance and lack of over-convenience – I have to make a conscious decision to do anything, because nothing’s right in front of me anymore. Don’t know if any of that makes sense.

But yeah, beach tomorrow, class Tuesday through Thursday, finals on Friday, chilling on Saturday, and then flying home on Sunday, back to Texas for the rest of the summer. Better enjoy this week while I can, because I’m going to spend the next month and a half working to try to make back what I spent in my first two weeks or so here. No complaints, no regrets, but…yeah. Hope life in the States is treating everyone okay. Catch you in a week.

P.S. 21st birthday countdown: 6 days, 9 hours, 42 minutes. Booyakasha.