Hectic week

Well, anyone who's been receiving my e-mails about this week knows that it's had some ups and downs. The major down is that two boys got suspended from the program and sent home for drinking. It was a difficult decision; the director needed to be severe in his punishment, since this is the first time anyone has been caught, yet it's also so frustrating because so many other students drink or do drugs that it's unfair that these are the boys who ended up getting caught. I could name names, and a lot of my classmates could name names, but no one wants to get anyone else in trouble after this. It was pretty rough.

And hey, did you guess it? I got sick again! That makes four times not since I've been here, guys, but since January. Four times in three months. I don't even know what the hell this one was - I think it was a bug that got a lot worse when placed in the stressful context of this week. It only lasted Wednesday through Friday, but it basically meant that I couldn't hold down anything I ate, so when suddenly Friday afternoon I had an appetite again, I was ravenous. I'm still starving, and I've been stuffing myself with food for the last 18 hours (minus the 8 I was asleep, of course, but I actually had a dream about food, which I think counts for something). I'm sort of glad I got sick, because it has made me appreciate food all over again. And in the land of food, that's always a blessing.

Of course, those are the lower points of the week. The higher?....... I have a date! I haven't even tried to be humble about this. I've been in Italy 7 months (as of yesterday!!), and I think it's about time I have myself an Italian. So there.