it's snowing. everyone around me is babbling. "snow! i can't believe it. wow." ... it's february. doesn't it always snow in february? we've been lucky it's only rained so far. snow's prettier than rain -- colder but prettier.

this weekend i'm cruising up to oslo. it's virtually like another study tour, as a DIS fullyear student arranged a special deal for those of us who're interested -- and nearly fifty signed up. luckily the boat's huge. and if you wake up at 5 a.m. and go out on deck, you can watch the sun rise over the fjords which apparently is a sight to see. (discussing in the lounge today, i said, "anyone read Hitchhiker's?" no one had. i explained that the man who designed norway's fjords was quite fond of them, even won a medal. people seemed to take that well.)

got up at 7 this morning. tomorrow will be another early morning, making, lord, nearly a week of them, as we have a field study to an open air danish prison. leaving at 8:15. i'm excited, i've never seen a prison before. everyone wears plainclothes inside: our teacher has requested that we not wear baseball caps so as to distinguish ourselves. we get a guided tour from some volunteer inmates, and if they volunteer to tell us what they're in for we can discuss it.
it seems like a pretty remarkable prison. inmates have phones in their rooms, some have televisions. they cook for themselves. there's also a maximum security facility in the area which we see on a later trip, and that apparently is more along the lines of what we americans are used to imagining, thanks to frank darabont movies. ... political science, criminology ... i wonder: should i be a lawyer?
my parents always told me not to be; no one seems to enjoy the profession; it's a pain in the ass to get in and stay in skool and i certainly didn't enjoy drudging in mel's office that summer. should all these negatives add up to a positive?
oh my lord, the sky's blue, like someone wiped it clean. there isn't a single cloudsmudge left. i wonder: is it a sign?