January 12: A Quiet, Rainy Day

            Today was a very quiet day. I didn’t sleep at all well last night, so I tried sleeping in, but that didn’t work, so I gave up about 9. I spent the morning showering and bumming about the flat making eggs for breakfast. It was very wet and rainy and hot outside, and boring and loud with construction noises inside (the floor underneath us is being renovated, and I’m pretty sure they chose the loudest, most obnoxious men they could find for workers). I was really excited when my travel journal class finally started at 2. It’s taught by the same professor that teaches the museums class, so I’ll be doing another blog, and I figure I may as well just do a third for myself and publish these journal entries, since they’re already typed. Anyway, the class sounds fun. We’re going to be getting some blank books and traveling about the city and making journals about our experiences. The professor says we can use doodles and sketches and pictures and collages to supplement our stream-of-consciousness-type narrative writings. I’m not quite sure what it all means yet, but it sounds fun. We watched a documentary about Garrison Keillor, who created “A Prairie Home Companion,” and it was nice to hear American accents for a change. The film made me a bit nostalgic, as it kept featuring Midwesterners singing patriotic songs, and Keillor saying things like, “I truly love this land” and “This is the best country imaginable,” which made me miss home a little, since I’m not in “this” country he kept speaking so highly of. My favorite Keillor quote was something about how English majors are very good at impersonating authority. Apparently Garrison Keillor was and English major, too.

            I decided to try to make tacos tonight, so I found some ground hamburger (on half-price, since it expired tomorrow) and taco seasonings, and cooked that up with onions. I chopped some lettuce, and had even managed to find salsa and, as they say here, some “soured cream.” It was a wonderful dinner and I kind of love making my flat-mates jealous. I’ll have lunch and dinner for tomorrow, as well. I’ve spent the evening skyping home and creating my 3 blogs and drinking mild, boring peppermint tea. I am really disappointed with this tea. Bed time now.