What is this Rhode Island you speak of?

Hi all!

It’s the third day of classes and so far, so good! Well, mostly. Global studies is kind of a bore, not to mention really random. Today’s lecture covered Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, and the foundations of Islam. Maybe Civ has made me a snob, but NONE of those topics belong together. I think we learned about each of those in different semesters, let alone the same lecture. We also have a map quiz over the Mediterranean region tomorrow night after dinner. Who knew that within the Mediterranean Sea, there’s a whole bunch of other seas? News to me.

My biology class is actually turning out to be really fun, though. Today, in the middle of class, a girl shouted that she spotted dolphins out the window...so, as any normal biology class would do, we all immediately jumped out of our seats and spent the next fifteen minutes waiting for the occasional fin to pop out of the water so we could “oohhhh” and “aahhh” at the “magnificence of aquatic life,” as my professor called it. I didn’t really see anything so I just kinda nodded my head and made ogling noises when everyone else did, which seemed to work just fine.

While I was fake dolphin watching, I met a kid from Saudi Arabia who’s in my class. His name is Michelle but, it’s pronounced more like Meee-shell. I thought he was French or Spanish at first. But I guess not with a last name like Al-something-super-arab. After he asked where I went to school and I said Providence College in RI, I proceeded to give him a United States geography lesson and assure him that although he hadn’t learned about it, Rhode Island was, in fact, a state, and that no, it was not an island. He was pretty perplexed by this concept. Anyways, he must’ve been really taken by my geography lesson because he asked for my hand in marriage on the spot. I’ll be going back with him after the voyage. I can’t quite remember if I’ll be wife number two or three…but it should be quite a hoot!

Okay. Fine. There’s no marriage in the works. But if he had proposed, I probably would’ve said yes because he smelled really good. Do Saudi Arabians normally smell good? Maybe they use some of those oil reserves of theirs to conjure up some sort of really seductive-smelling cologne. Regardless of where he gets it, though, I now completely understand how those guys get a bajillion wives. Trust me, you would too if you smelled this kid.


Off to study a map of the Mediterranean! Spain in four days! Yay!