castiglionfiorentino/italy:may11/2006/05:16:11PM ??blackout?? up with the birds.leaving for croatia in about 3 hours and am determined to get entry up before i leave.will sleep on the train.not much time to write,but lordy has a lot happened in the last four weeks.three weeks ago,one of the resident coordinators (my same position) gets real drunk,trips,breaks wrist,kneecap,shoulder,ear.last week of semester,very drunk student passes out on side of road at 3 in the afternoon after wine-tasting gone awary,then pukes in carabinieri's (italian military police) car as they bring her back to the school.sufice to say,amount of alcohol sold to students this summer will be limited.went to see niki de saint phalle's tarot garden>><<,an immense sculpture park near Capalbio that's a pseudo-response to Gaudi's work in Barcelona.beautiful,incredible.she lived in one of the gigantic mosaic-covered sculptures for years finishing it.spring semester students left last week,hence the coming week off.they left behind unbelievable amounts of stuff.short laundry list of things scavanged:flatbed scanner,10 rolls color film,spinning coca-cola lamp,entire set of acrylic paints and brushes,drawing charcoal,antacids,pain killers,band-aids,blank CDs and DVDs.strange noises coming from down the hall.think pigeon stuck in one of the rooms. dispatch ends.