Alternate Blog Title: The Geriatric Adventures of an Always Sleepy and Usually Sleeping Traveler

First, shout out to Ingrid- my only follower or friend or whatever this website calls it. (Too bad infants are more tech-savvy than I am.) It's kind of fun this way, Ingy, because now I can check how many times you're viewing my posts by seeing how many total views I have. It's like I'm watching you watch me. Thanks for being my sole follower. Thanks for following my soouulll.

I'm kind of exhausted again, so this is going to be brief.

Yesterday afternoon, I didn't nap; I went for a walk to look for a camera shop and ended up hitting the Vatican. I like that that sort of thing casually happens now. lolol was walkin straight but the Vatican got in my wayz.

I'm kind of jealous of where some of the other students are living, i.e. close to the Colosseum, but living in Prati is fantastic. We are in a really nice area near Via Cola di Rienzo, a shopping district (heyyy). It would be cool to be close to the Colosseum like once when I want to go this week, but I'll be the one laughing at Easter, when it will be awesome to be near the Vatican. And Easter is after this week, ergo, my laugh will be the best one. Plus my apartment is only a 15 minute walk from my classes at the student center in Piazza Navona.

Last night, all of the students in this apartment building hung out in some of the guys' room that is significantly and unacceptably better decorated than ours. Then, everyone except for me and Kelly (roommate) went out. I went to sleep because traveling to The Eternal City has not reversed my elderly state. Additionally, I am jet lagged, so that's a legitimate excuse. It was only the first night; I have time to stay out late.

I'm jet lagged for potentially the first time in my life. (If it's any indication of how out of it I am, I typed "leg jagged" first.) No one report this to my father because he and I have a running disagreement about what he refers to as "body time." That sounds like what a gross person would call cuddling. Anyway, he thinks that everyone is on their own body time, that may run disconnected from actual time. So basically just jet lag. However, I have always asserted that your body catches up as you travel, rendering The Body Clock Theory bogus.

But yeah dad, if you ever read this, you were right. Me be tietie. I'm drinking coffee instead of sleeping though, so Body Clock will win the day, but not the week.

We woke up early this morning to go to the student center for endless orientation about policies, procedures, etc. The good thing about it was that everyone on the program was there, so I met a bunch of cool people. It felt like Oxford again, or the first week of college- everyone being from a different place and acting nice because they're outside of their comfort zones. Also, everyone seemed genuinely nice. I'm looking forward to getting to know people better. Classes will help with that, but they don't start until next Monday. My friends at home will be taking midterms by the time I start class.

We're now back at home (should I call this funny little mismatched apartment home now?) doing not much of anything. I was going to do something productive but nah.

I don't feel guilty about being lazy at this point because a) the aforementioned jet lag must be defeated before I do anything that requires energy, otherwise I'll get sick, and b) the weather is rather crummy. It's been raining and cold. I got used to Minnesota cold when I was home. While the temperature isn't particularly bothering me, it'll be nice to get some sunshine. Better for exploring, my number one favorite hobby (besides snacking and giving my dog compliments).

We're leaving now to go to Trastevere for dinner. I'll try to do some cooking while I'm here, but I'll probably still go broke in 15 minutes from eating out. I went to the grocery store so that I wouldn't be buying a panino every hour. I ate literally an entire giant bag of almonds while writing this though, so we'll see how long having snacks on hand lasts.

For now, dinner time!

Your increasingly obese pal,

Lauren

... signing off is unnecessary, isn't it? You (you being Ingrid, obviously) know it's me. I'll only do that every once in a while now to remind you.