Today started off amazing. I woke up at 8:30 and felt tons better than last night. I was beat last night and desperately needed sleep. So since I felt good, I decided to put on my not nearly used enough running shoes and go for a walk around Florence to figure out exactly how long it would take me to get to my language school. Well, it only takes me around 8 minutes so I decided to wander. I ended up in Piazza Santa Maria Novella where a Nike sponsored race/walk was about to begin. So I started as a bystander and then figured I would just follow them as some of them were walking. It was the best thing I've done here yet. Not only did I get (another) good workout in but I also got to really walk around Florence. Since I was in the safety of a group, I felt more comfortable walking around. Now I know that everything really is as close as my books say. Firenze is only 39.8 square miles, so not very big at all. After about 5K the walkers reached the piazza again and I headed off on my own back to my apartment. On the way I met up with a few guys from South Carolina and Tennesse who were in Florence for the weekend while studying at a school north of Venezia (Venice). After walking with them for a while and exchanging pointers, I went back to my place, grabbed some money and headed to the grocery store to finally get some food. After that I took another nap. Jet lag really kills you, huh? The afternoon was going good. I talked to my parents on skype (8 am their time) and said we'd talk later. Then something that I am really not happy about happened.
I noticed that I had never shut my computer off, so I opened it to shut it down. The screen froze. So I restarted it and...nothing. Blank screen with a flashing folder with a question mark. I knew that symbol. The same thing happened to me last February, shortly after getting to school. It means that my hard drive crashed. Maybe it was from all the traveling, or maybe it was from all the use (yes Mom, I know I'm on it a lot). Panic hit me. Again for the second time in two days. Yesterday was when my converter went caput. Both times my mind went to my computer. I know my parents think that I am way too attached to it, but it really is a big part of my life. Silly I know but it has so much of ME on it. All of my work, music and photos. I have most of it backed up on my external hard drive but that's not the point. Oh and right now I'm using my housemates old desktop that he keeps for any students who come to stay with him. My first thought was buy a new computer. Way too expensive here. Second thought was to buy a cheap netbook. Also still out of my price range. So now I am going to go buy a converter (I still need to charge some things) and second I am going to buy a few more memory cards for my camera. It holds over 3,000 pictures but still. If I can't upload those at all until I get back, I'm going to have to keep them on disks. Delete unnecessary ones as I go but sheesh, 3 months in Italy with only 3,000 pictures? Not going to be possible. And when I get back in August, I can use my parents computer until I get a new one. I had planned to buy a new one anyways and I'll just have to buy one sooner than later and use the payment plan. And I have come up with this plan as fast as I wrote it.
So it comes to this. This summer will be a true test of my independence. Partial independence. On my own without my family, a real phone (i have a simple international phone with an italian sim card) and no computer of my own. We'll see how this goes. Any advice on the computer situation is appreciated. Thanks!
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