Dead People Costumes

First off, I would just like everyone to know that the comment from "Sal" waseah not actually from the real Sal. That would have been mortifying.

For Halloween I was a vampirate, which is a cross between a vampire and a pirate. I thought it was clever, but most people just thought I was confused and asked why I was wearing a cape and an eye patch. Lauren, my cousin, just thought I was a dirty pirate hooker, which in some ways, is a more hilarious costume than vampirate. Though I can't really compete with her "Dagolicious" costume--a play on the Flavor of Love contestants. Did anyone see the reunion show? New York is getting her own dating show! What a ho!

I was sitting in computer class the other day, which is what I usually do, considering it is best to operate a computer from a sitting position as opposed to a standing or dancing etc. one. Anyway, before class starts, my two professors (I have two for this class because the main one doesn't really know what he's doing) start talking about kittens. Professor #1 says "I have a friend who was trying to sell a litter of kittens. She had a guy call and say he'd buy the whole litter." Professor # 2 "Oh, did you tell her?" Professor #1 "Oh yeah. I told her, don't sell those kittens to him. He's just going to feed them to his snake. And you know what? She called him on it and that's exactly what he was going to do." WHAT?! People buy entire litters of kittens to feed to their snakes!? And that was the only thing I learned in class that day.

An Italian film about terrorism and Aldo Moro called "Buongiorno, notte" (Good morning, night) was playing on campus so some of my Italian class friends and I decided to go. It was a pretty good film. Italian cinema is all about realism, so it can be a little dry, but it is good. Anyway, we were leaving the DPAC and talking about Aldo Moro when this older guy comes up to us and says, "Yeah, I was studying abroad through the St. Mary's program when all that stuff was going on." We were all impressed and asked him to tell us more. "I lived just a few streets away from where they found his body in the trunk of a car. It was crazy." We were amazed with the historically significant experience this man had, until he said the nex thing. "And it was awesome because I went to a dead-people themed costume party and won best costume because I dressed up like Aldo Moro. I just put a bunch of bullet holes in myself and climbed in the back of a trunk. It was awesome!" When we all just stared at him, he sauntered away, leaving us a tad creeped out.

Speaking of Italian things, I forgot to mention this in my blog, but a few weeks ago, my friend Heather and I got an e-mail from my Italian professor saying that our incessant talking was disturbing class and we are not allowed to sit next to each other. Here's the email. Keep in mind that the professor had never said anything to either of us indicating that we were disturbing class and that we really weren't talking very much at all. The email had the subject heading of "basta!" which means "enough!"
Care studentesse:

Ever since the beginning of the semester, you two have made a point to sit close
to one another (in the back row), and have seized many opportunities to whisper
and giggle amongst yourselves, almost every time I take my eyes off of you for
a few seconds.

I struggle to believe that you really consider this to be appropriate behavior.
If you have something to say that is relevant to our class, raise your hand and
do so out loud. If not, follow your classmates' example by paying attention and
not speaking (at any volume) when others are saying something.

As much as I want you to get a good grade in our class, if these kinds of
behaviors don't stop immediately and permanently, I guarantee you that you will
not.

You can start by not sitting next to or close to each other, and by refraining
from any action that could be considered distracting, disruptive, and generally
inappropriate for the classroom.

If you feel that I'm being unfair, I encourage you to take it up with the
Italian program director: Prof. Colleen Ryan-Scheutz, by e-mailing her at
ryan.104@nd.edu

If you see my point, show it with your actions and behavior.


Crazy, right? The professor sent this email to us the morning before he left town for a week, so we couldn't even say anything to him. We did end up talking to him and apologizing, though stating that we did not know we were causing a problem. He confessed that this email was a bad way to go about handling things, but another student in the class had emailed him saying that other students were distracting him/her and he/she couldn't focus. Now it's just a matter of who that student is so we can give him/her mean looks. It's only a class of 12 students. My bets are on the kid who responds to every question by running his hands through his hair and grunting "Ho dimenticato" (I forget).