the thin line between optimism and delusion…

I appreciate everyone who has posted to let me know that they are keeping up with my journal, I like to know what ya’ll are doing. I miss you all, and I will try to get a note out to each of you this week. Make sure that you have emailed me your address and I will send you a postcard!!

Yesterday we went to Haliki, a little island near rhodes. It was really pretty, the ferry trip was really fun, we had a good time. I actually fell asleep on the way, ships make me sleepy. The amazing thing is that the weather hasn’t been very good the last couple of days. It has just been sort of cloudy and rainy off and on, this is not to say that there hasn’t been lots of sun, but it has been broken up by rain. I thought it wasn’t going to rain the whole time I was here, this is the mediterranean for crying out loud. For some reason, yesterday everyone wanted to have intense conversations, some about heavy topics. Alex and I had a couple of intense conversations, about boys, and then literature. Kallie and Gini talked about divorce and only children. Alex, Gini and I had a long talk over heineken about the federal government and the criminal system and the insane cost of litigation. Gini went to the merchant marine academy and so we also talked about women in the military and at military academys. Then last night Michael and I discussed in depth the trends in racial issues, and how the south is so different from the rest of the country, and how San Francisco is so segregated. We also chatted at length about sex discrimination and the augusta national. I’m telling you, it was a very thought provoking day. Last night Dan and I got into a deep discussion about whether women should work or stay at home, and how he feels like too many intelligent women sell themselves short with regards to the work that they could do. We also talked about how so many people chose their careers based on what the world expects, and how he at one time wanted to be a teacher, but some stupid girl he was dating at the time told him that girls didn’t want to marry teachers, and that he was really scarred by the comment. I would pull that girl’s hair if she was around. Alex is of the opinion that it is a lot of times better for women to either have a job, or have children. Then Dan thinks that women should be able to have children and have a job, and that this is accomplished by the father being more involved in the child raising. I don’t know what I think, I think that all the people on this trip (including me) think too much. I mean, on our saturday, when we shouldn’t have to think, this is the stuff we want to talk about. I’m telling you, we’ve got to come up with a way for us to all lighten up.

Last night, almost everyone in our program sat out and had a few drinks by the pool. It was really fun, it is good to get everyone together. But I guess we were being too loud, because they made us go up to the roof bar after a while. I really had not intended to go out, but I ending up going into town with Alex, we were suppose to meet a bunch of people at a bar in old town (this is where the greeks mostly hang out, the tourists mostly hang out on bar street, which is where I have been out previously). Well, the cab driver didn’t drop us off at the right place, he dropped us off at bar street. Alex and I thought that we would be able to find old town and find the bar, but we were mistaken. We spent about an hour and a half wandering around looking for the bar. Since it was saturday night it was crowded, and there were people everywhere. It was entertaining just to wander about and look at the town. But irritating to not be able to figure out where you are going. Finally we abandoned our quest and caught a cab to bar street. We quickly found a bunch of friends and the night really began. I had a lot of fun last night, but we stayed out really late. The bars don’t ever really close, and I think we finally left around 4:45 am. The sun was coming up when I was getting into bed.

Today Kallie and I took our laundry to the laundromat in town. Because it was sunday, all the shops were closed, so we window shopped for hours while our clothes were spinning in the machines. A lot of people on our trip rented cars and drove around the island. I was really happy to walk around Rhodes. The town reminds me of Italy, and that makes me happy. After we had enough of window shopping, we sat at a cafe and drank fanta and told stories. It was a good day, nothing really exciting, but enjoyable. love you miss you