I FINALLY FOUND THE PERIOD

ive been in this internet cafe for over an hour figuring out how things work. the first guy sitting next to me was listening to akon and forwarding email scams asking europeans for money. the current guy is blasting hillary duff and talking to his internet girlfriend.

okay, so where am i really?

England: it snowed in brighton the day i left. toms roommates made sure i had a good last night and took me out dancing. it was fantastic. at three a.m. we were buying way too many snacks at the petrol station and nerdily quoting anchorman way too loud. they want me to send them red plastic cups like the ones they use in american pie - they dont exist here! college kids are forced to wash their own glasses! - some lucky charms and fruit loops. theyd also like an american address so they can shop ralphlauren.com with dollars instead of pounds

Morroco: my airport gate was the one full of african women wrapped in white fabrics with black tattoos on the soles of their feet. they prayed pressing their foreheads to the linoleum.

and there was a zara store!

i had a lot of turbulence on my flight but i liked it. its the way a baby feels when you rock it to sleep in a bassinet.

Senegal: the airport was chaotic. i landed at 3 a.m.

when i met who was waiting for me outside i said 'look mariane, we have the same nailpolish!'

she gave me a hug and said 'yay, we're sisters!'

went back to the airport at 6 am when everyone else arrived. i love them all. everyones really smart and nice and funny and i feel like i need to read more nietsche and deconstructivism to keep up. porters loaded our bags on the roof of a van and barefoot children begged us for change.

L.O. really will be my best friend! shes my closest neighbor and we brought the same hemingway book with us and since shes from hawaii, shes going to surf here.

Snowboard is brilliant, but at orientation he asked our advisors what the marijuana policy is and if officials and policemen are easily bribed.

J.G. is my favorite! he was the first to suggest we look for cheap spa treqtments, and it was his idea to start drinking the water if we start getting fat. oh, and that we should buy stolen cell phones since theyll just get stolen anyway. i like his marc jacobs tee shirt with the t rex in the phone booth.

at noon we had lunch on a white roof sipping hibiscus juice under a canopy. we sat on straw mats and shared huge dishes of rice and fish and eggplant and avocado and sweet potato and squash and plantains with our bare hands. at nighttime for dinner we had chicken and potatoes and something else i dont know that we were grabbing fistfuls of in the dark. there are stars here. its nice.

theres always music playing somewhere and i cant ever tell where its from.

i live on the most beautiful house on my street. looks like those adobe california houses covered with pink bougainvilles. i live with large women and s,all children who hang around my door and write me letters -

'Chanel -

J'aime ma grande soeur. Tu es vraiment si belle qu'une rose.

Ta petite soeur, Kenny'

(chanel - i love my big sister. you are really as beautiful as a rose. your little sister, Kenny)

thats enough internet for now.

next week - downtown, goree island, registering for classes, pink lake, national parks. tell you all about it.

xoxox