So... I haven't had internet for what feels like years now, and I have a test tomorrow in Italian. So I'm sitting at my living room table, studying, while my flatmate Gilli is sleeping in her room, and suddenly everything goes black. Literally. I HATE the dark, especially complete darkness... it's night and all our windows are closed so I cannot see my hand right in front of my face. I yelled at Gilli to wake up, somehow made it to the window without killing myself or breaking anything of value, opened it and get some light, found a flashlight, and tried not to freak out because there's really nowhere to go to study around here. And I NEED to study.
Gilli has a friend coming to visit us today and we were expected her to buzz our apartment so we could open the door for her any minute, so we were getting dressed to go downstairs and wait for her when there's a knock at our door. We open it, and there's Gilli's friend Ashley, who is going to study in Spain for 4 months after her week here, with all her luggage, and a wonderfully sweet young Italian guy who helped her carry around 100 lbs of luggage up 11 flights of stairs. Apparently he lives in our building with 4 other students, so we have new friends in the building.
Us three girls are sitting in our pitch black living room, talking and trying to figure out what to do when THE LIGHTS COME BACK ON. We start screaming. Then I start thinking if the whole neighborhood's power was off and then came back on, maybe it would be like the ultimate power cycle and our internet would work. So I'm literally holding my breath while turning my computer on and being ridiculously superstitious, and IT WORKS.
So not only do I have light to study, but I can communicate with the outside world. It's glorious.

Okay, I've decided I'm going to update you in three parts, because I need to go study and it will be incentive to get stuff done. The most exciting thing to immediately happen is that I have official plans for my first break! I am going with three friends, one old and two very new, to Paris for 7 days. Then we're flying to Florence and staying there for 2 days before taking the train back to Rome. We have flights and trains booked so it's officially happening. Isn't that exciting? And I get to see Meghann!
AND. She is doing me a huge favor and accepting packages for me. Apparently in Italy we're just as likely to not get packages as we are to get them, so basically don't waste your money. Letters I will get, just ask for my mailing address. But if you want to send me something via Meg, let me know and I'll give you her address.
Okay I told myself I would get off the internet at 9.30 to go study, so that's what I'm going to do. More later, including details about the Opera and photos of me with Roman Gladiators. Priceless.

Ciao!

EDIT: Get this... as I'm about to press "publish post," the power goes out AGAIN. And then our new Italian friend in the building and two of his roommates walked up the 11 flights of stairs to bring us rose-scented candles. Amore!

EDIT II: Check out the older post "adventures: old stuff with new people" for an amazing new photo.