Heat wave

This summer is apparently a mild one here in Urbino. This week, it's been getting to about 100 degrees (F) every day, and even around 11pm it's still about 90. That, apparently, is what the entire 6 weeks of the Rutgers summer program has been in some summers. Fortunately for us, we will only get a week of this. 

To explain what the effects of this extreme heat are, I'll just use bullet points. I'm sure everyone has a good enough imagination to fill in the rest: 

- These little coffins they call dorm rooms never cool down. You always wake up in a sweat, go to bed in a sweat, etc. I have considered taking a shower before bed and immediately upon waking up, but decided that would be useless, since after the walk to the Caffè degli amici and class in the morning, I'd be just as sweaty. 

- Walking into town to get giant bottles of water becomes a bit tedious. It's a 25 minute walk, up a very large hill once you get inside the gate. The walk to the gate consists of strange little back roads with cars whizzing past at any given moment. Yesterday, I walked to the supermarket on top of the hill, bought a giant bottle of pear juice, and it was all gone by the end of the walk back. 

- Strangely enough, drinking your weight in water every day doesn't make you go to the bathroom ten times as often. I'm guessing this is because I am that dehydrated—I either sweat all the water out, or it is going somewhere that really needs it. And I'm not the only student who has been noticing this: everyone seems to find it strange. But, since our toilet paper is essentially rationed (we can get two rolls on Monday and Thursday), it's a good thing we're not using it twice as often. 

- Laziness sets in when it's this hot. I have written a few times that I don't see how Italians get anything done, and I'll say it again. When it's this hot, you don't feel like eating, reading, writing, and are physically unable to nap. I've been sitting around and talking with the Italians who are left, the other students, or going to the Caffè to chat with Davide and Luca. Luckily for me, the conversation practice is what I would consider work (it's at least helpful to me), but additionally it's the only thing you can really do in this heat. 

But after all of this, a group of us have decided that, in an hour and a half, we're going to take a nice walk to where the bricks of Urbino were all made. We'll bring two or three large bottles of water with us (each) in our attempt to combat the heat-induced laziness. We can be lazy in America when we get home!