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

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Daddy sent me this email, I thought it was pretty funny.

> If the University of Georgia has lost ownership of its name to the UGA
> Foundation (see today’s AJC), and can no longer call itself by that
> name, could we change the name to Herschel Walker University?

6 2 04
Roland,
I just returned from Athens last night with the latest intelligence on
the situation there.
You should not mistake “The University of Georgia” for its name. That
is “the fallacy of misplaced concreteness” defined and described first by
Aristotle in his “Principia Logia.” Abraham Lincoln illustrated the
fallacy by posing the question, “If you call a tail a leg, how many legs
does a dog have?” Answer: “Four, because calling a tail a leg does not make
it a leg.”
The pile of bricks owned by the Regents in Clarke County do not
constitute The University. That holy institution, truly a state of mind, is
made up of the alumni, the faculty, the football team, the students, the
Foundation, donors, etc. It now appears these powers-that-be will fall back
on the original search committee’s program and move The University to
Watkinsville with their $600 million in assets. Classes will begin as usual
in August temporarily housed in the new Oconee County High School nearing
completion just west of Watkinsville.
Meantime, the regents are considering whether to rename their brick heap
in Athens the University of Clarke County or Clark County Community College.
Mike Adams has not said whether he will agree to the lowered salary, now
that the Foundation will no longer supplement his salary and he and the
Regents must rely upon the good will of Georgia taxpayers, the legislature,
and Governor for his pay.
The University of Georgia Athletic Association, a separate corporation
owning its own name, reportedly has decided to move to Oconee County, too.
Mark Richt is said to be amenable to the move provided Vince Dooley will
agree to serve as Athletic Director Emeritus. And Hershel Walker has
already signed on to head the new fund-raising campaign. Coach Hartman, who
turned 89 on March 17, has agreed to be the new kicking coach.
Go Dawgs, forever!

Tiger

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I think I am going to need some affirmation about who is reading what I post, because it is encouraging, it makes me blog more, and it makes me happy (I’m far, far, from home), so if you get a chance, PLEASE post a comment, it is really easy, just click the “post a comment” link right below the entry. love you

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When I last left you, it was to go do my homework. Well, let me tell you about how that hasn’t happened yet. The night I last blogged, I went upstairs and went to sleep. Yesterday, after class (which for the the record I have a really hard time staying awake for, since it from 1 am to 4am EST. But the coffee at the hotel is great, and I try really hard to get up early enough to drink a lot of it before class, and to eat spectacular apple pie strudel things and toast (I love things for breakfast that are totally inappropriate, like apple pie, chocolate cake, lasagna, etc).

I have been able to diligently blog because there are computers in my hotel, and the internet cards are much cheaper than phones, plus, I can’t figure out how to work the damn phones. I really love my hotel, I really don’t ever need to leave. On the first floor they feed me breakfast and dinner, on the second floor we have our classrooms, the computers, an inside pool, ping pong, and an excellent little store that has everything from english paper back novels to adapters, including cokes and water and chocolate at bargain prices for a hotel. The one thing I can’t find in this joint is a phone that I can operate.

Yesterday after class a group of us went to a place called Anthony Quinn Bay, where the Guns of Navarone was filmed. It is basically two coves that back up to each other on the mediterranean side of the island (as opposed to the aegean), and they are really rocky. We climbed up a bunch of the rocks, it was really pretty, I gashed my toe open on one of them. Actually, it is a stretch to call them rocks. they were more like daggers sticking up at lots of different angles. or maybe steak knives. Good thing I came prepared with band aids. Two of the boys we were with bought masks and snorkels, and we traded off swimming. This worked really well because it was so cold, you couldn’t stay in the water for very long. and the masks sucked. But the water was so beautiful, and so salty you just kinda float. I think I got dehydrated from the salt and the wind. A couple of other kids with us climbed up some of the cliffs in the cove, and I guess they are sort of stupid, or I guess what is more likely the case since they are in law school is that they don’t get out much, but they didn’t wear their shirts while hiking around, and they weren’t on a trail, and all the plants are of the cactus type, and they were all bleeding by the end of it. That, and they couldn’t get back down off the cliffs. The goats didn’t seem to have a problem climbing down, I think they boys were being wimps. Oh yeah, did I mention that there are goats everywhere? Goats and germans. The goats are really cute, cuter than the germans, especially the men in bikinis. Two kids rented a car yesterday and hit a goat with it by accident. They claim the goat was almost as big as the car. I bet they don’t get out much either.

Last night we went to Karoke at the bar on the roof of the hotel, which was really boring. Then we went to bar street and went to the Colorado Bar, which is like 6 different bars all in one, and was really cool, but once again rather cancunish. They had a cover band that played mostly 80s, but half the people in the band looked like widespread, and the other half looked like ace of base. The lead singer had a key on the zipper of his pants and kept asking who wanted the key to heaven. I think that is going to be my last trip to bar street for a while, I want to explore old town. When we got home, Kallie and I talked about boys till we both passed out around 4. Needless to say, I didn’t feel so great this morning.

I think admiralty law is really cool, I’m enjoying how it seems to bring everything together, like contracts and civil procedure especially, but a lot of property and torts, plus it is really heavy in the risk management and insurance forum, so I’m not totally lost. And our classes aren’t that big, so we have the opportunity to talk, which you know I love.

Kallie and I decided that some of the boys on this trip aren’t very nice. Most of them are awesome, but some of them talk down to us like we are stupid and we don’t really appreciate that. Alex is my other new best friend. She is super awesome. Alex, Kallie and I can sit around and start talking, and never stop. Really, I think we could talk for years. YEARS! it is awesome. This kid from las vegas (little dweeby) went to lunch with us today and told us that we sounded like a live, female seinfeld episode. We were flattered, but once again, I am going to assume that he doesn’t get out much more than the other law kids.

Kallie and I are planning an elaborate island hopping excursion. It is going to be awesome, and we are going to go to Ephesas, which I am very pumped about. We have an exceptional travel agent. We can see the mountains of Turkey from our balcony, and today was the clearest day so far, and we can see the detail of the mountains. It is really, really, really, pretty.

Well, I want you to all know that I am eating a paprika pringle in honor of each of you, tomorrow I might eat a paprika ruffles chip for each of you, as I think I like those better. We are going on a trip to another island with the group. Okay, the mosqitoes are biting, I am going to go get ready for dinner. I love and miss you all as I love and miss Zaxbys!! (which is a lot)(even though I got to eat at Alex’s fast and tasty today for lunch!!!!).

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I keep forgetting to do this, and it makes me sad when I don’t, so here it is…..

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Okay, here is what is going on. Everyone here thinks I am scandinavian and young looking, to the point that we were invited on a scandinavian pub crawl, and ended up being the only people in the group that weren’t from Sweden, except two kids from Finland. Also, they didn’t seem to want our law school friends to come, it was kinda weird (they came anyway). Swedish people are very attractive and all look the same. I mean, really, all look like they are related. And I think that most of the kids on the pub crawl were in high school. think cancun, senior trip, and this is what we were in the middle of last night. body shots, alcohol games involving people taking their clothes off and dancing on the bar, etc. We told them that we weren’t going to participate because we were american, and americans didn’t act like that (ha). But Swedish people follow the rules, all left bar when they were suppose to and followed the group. Americans are less good at following the rules. So, other than the swedish high school graduation party that we went to, we have been meeting all the tulane kids. It is really fun, I like the people.

I like my classes, I’m only taking 3, I was going to take 4, but I dropped one because it was late and I thought it was boring. I am in love with one of my professors. he is australian. I think I really like admiralty law, it is really interesting and different, it is nice to take a class on something that you really don’t have a clue about.

Kallie is my roommate, and current new best friend. I love her, we have so much in common, she was a theta, and we really think the same. We bought blow up floats to lay on out on our balcony because the beach is super windy and the sand blows on you, plus you have to pay for the chair, and you have to pay for the chair at the pool, and it is crowded. But our balcony is really beautiful, and our room is enormous. My adapter hasn’t blown up any of my electronic devices so far.

Lets talk a bit about the food.
1. I am going to gain a great deal of weight if I continue on my present course, because I can’t stop eating.
2. I LOVE gyros. we have discovered this little take out place, called Alex’s fast ‘n tasty, and it is so good, i’m planning on eating there on a very regular basis. They put french fries in the gyros, I am so full right now, but my mouth waters just thinking about it, I can’t wait for lunch tomorrow.
3. I LOVE greek salads, and we eat them at every meal. basically lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers (everything has cucumbers in it), feta, and olive oil.
4. Because we are in a tourist area, all the little stores have lots of snacks, lots of cookies, candy, etc. to chose from.
5. Our hotel has excellent meals, for what we are paying, this is unbelievable. great food, great salad, great breakfast, great dessert, including awesome ice cream. Plus, our waiter, George, is our new best friend. He looks out for us and gives up tips. he speaks 6 languages. We are his favorite.

On another note, we are planning a trip to turkey. It is going to be awesome. I think we are going to have a fairly large group going with us so I’m excited.

Okay, I need to go do my homework (sigh, sniff, tear). Then I need to get some sleep, I didn’t pay any attention in school today, and I don’t want to get lost. I miss you all and I love you and I hope to hear from you all soon!!!

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