To the beach all day in Ostia. About an hour outside of Rome. We took the metro first, then the train, and then the bus. Finally on the sand tired and hung over by 1pm. Went with the always bubbly and chatty Nicki from London and Montsie from Barcelona. I love going to these schools every year. You meet so many wonderful people who most of the time are always very smart and knowledgeable and nice. and you just immediately become friends because you are all attending the same school by choice so you know you have a lot in common. It is always so much fun and many of the friends I have made at language schools in foreign lands are still my friends to this day through emails and phone and seeing each other whenever we can. 

Today I was talking to someone when the train stopped and the doors started to close and take me with it. Nicki reached in to grab me and the doors slammed on her arm and bruised it pretty bad. Despite our laughter, it seemed like a pretty serious situation as the train started rolling forward. But we managed to yank her arm out before it got too fast. We are all pretty wiped out from last night.

The sun of course was scalding as always. Europe is experiencing a record heat wave this year that the whole world seems to know about except us. sitting in the sand today half drunk half awake. I wondered how I will make the transition back to American life. it is so easy and mellow and peaceful here in Italy. A man comes by carrying a whole bag full of counterfeit cds he sells for five dollars a piece. Very common here. they are blank cds that they burn and then they copy the artwork from the original CD. No jewel case. Unbelievable. No one here is ever going to stop them from doing this. the cops walk around on the beach barefoot for God sakes. Its just a different world. I booked my ticket to return tomorrow. I am looking for any reason to stay another week.

I think about Giovanna all day. she will come to see me tonight. For one last night if anything we can fit in the long night before I fly out. 

Always having problems transferring money etc. get to the hotel and the guy at the desk and I talk. He is from the Philippines. What made you decide to live here I ask. He says he likes the Italian lifestyle. He says you are unafraid when you are in the street at night. it is true. You can walk around at all hours of the night unafraid here. and its fucking Rome for God sakes. The oldest city in the world. He tells me how the people in Italy have such a peaceful life compared to the Philippines and other cities he has been to. He likes it very much here. It makes me reflect on life here. I understand why I like it so much here. it is much slower and more I will miss it so much. Stopped at a local bar (this is what they are called but they are not bars like in the states---they are more like outside/inside cafes) and had an espresso. you just drink it standing there and pay your fifty cents or eighty cents. [I think I remember that in the sates an espresso costs what? Like two bucks or more? the bastards! We are all such money grubbing bastards in the states sompared to other countries...] And then you leave. God I wish we had that in the states. Good and bad. Good and bad. Everywhere. will I ever be able to take these sandals off...