Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Back to running... no, writing

Writing a blog is, in a way, very similar to jogging or swimming in that you need daily discipline. You can cover easily a long distance if you do it every single day as a routine and even skip a day or two without consequences, but if you stop for a prolonged period than, unless you are one of those people with an iron will, it can be quite hard to get back to it.

That's precisely why it has been, besides the little message that makes the previous entry, two whole weeks now since I've last written. Yes, I've been down with a surgery and the consequences of it (and, let me tell you, the extraction of the tampons from my nostrils has been the second most painful and physically shocking experience of my life). Yet, it has been days now that I've been fine enough (if for "fine" you mean feeling like having been punched hard squarely on the nose and having a heavy nasal cold at the same time) to write.

And is not even that there are not any news, because in fact there are some news that are of, relatively of course, great proportion, but it was the simple will of sitting down and concentrating enough to put down thoughts in a written form that was lacking. But I know that the more I keep myself from returning to the daily exercise, the harder it will be to do that and so, here I am.

So, where to start, I wonder. From where I left, I suppose, and that was the tuesday of the ethnic dinner. Wednesday was a calm day as the movie evening at the cinema that had been planned was called off. Thursday, on the other hand, was interesting as, after almost a year, I took part once again in the Arcadia's tandem program. The Arcadia is one of the american universities which have opened a campus in Rome over the last 5 years and they try to pair up their students with some "locals", meaning romans, in order for them to practice italian and learn a bit of the local culture.

The first time I took part in this exchange it was a total disaster, as the person i was paired of and myself turned out to be totally incompatible. Since then, apparently the program changed and is now based more than on pairings, in groups around a table with some good wine in front of us (funnily enough, several of the students around the table would be forbidden to drink back home). It was a pleasant evening, all in all.

Friday (the 26th) was also a relaxed day, marking my last day working for the department I have been part of for exactly 3 years. There was an odd atmosphere and I spent my time sorting out papers, some of which had to stay with me, some had to be passed to the colleagues, but thmost part was shredded as useless. There I realized how much time and energies I've wasted over the last three years, since I started working where I work (1st febraury 2004). Yes, that did allowed me to have a bit of money and (thanks to the italian way of life of staying with my family) even to save a bit, it did allow me to travel and see my girlfriend, but on a purely professional level, I feel like three totally wasted years which are pretty much symbolized by my closet, which after the cleaning up was for two third empty.

And the week-end came, but that will get its own post (later today or tomorrow) as it was spent away from Rome with a somewhat odd bunch of people, known as Nova Romans...

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