Greetings fellow captionists! Our laptops arrived this morning and it was like Christmas! We stopped short of hugging them, but you can only imagine our delight in having our equipment and stands with us. While we have done an admirable job of straight typing in Word, it will be wonderful to have our "the" and "and" display with the flick of a letter.

A word about the classes. Environment of the Adriatic is very interesting. Professor Stasha is soft-spoken but has a wealth of knowledge about the ecology and environment in this area. We are looking forward to the field trips; the first one is next friday at Mljet National Park. His lectures are informative but a wee bit scary too, when you think of how we haven't taken the best care of our planet. We need to be better stewards... it can make a difference... so reduce, reuse and recyle (ok, getting off my soapbox now).

Professor Bagoje teaches the "Dubrovnik, Venice & Mediterranean Coast" art class. It is so interesting and she had done a great deal of work on the restoration of Old Town after the war. She says she doesn't mind talking about it, but I'm sure those times were very traumatic. She has traveled all over learning and participating in restoring art; paintings, scuplture and architecture. It will be interesting to tour Old Town with her and see it through her eyes and get a flavor for the history of the buildings and structures and churches.

The students are marvelous; eight from RIT, one from Croatia (he lived in Cleveland for 13 years) and one from Sarajevo. They seem to love this place just as much as we do, and appreciate the opportunity to visit, learn and absorb a new country and culture.

Just a few items of interest from yesterday... I was officially christened at Old Town on our way to dinner. No, I didn't jump into the fountain and immerse myself. I was innocently walking along the city walls, minding my own business, when a pigeon decided to use me for target practice. I swear he was squawking in delight, in Croatian, of course.

Before we started our trek to the apartment we stopped at public restrooms. The walls were a beautiful black marble, the doors stainless steel, very clean and tidy. The "toilet" was a shallow sink in the floor, with ridged grooves to stand on while you... ummm... did your business... standing up... yeah, I know! We both feel so very European (literally, read that word slowly). It's a sad, sorry day when you don't experience something new.

Well, we'll be off to class shortly... grinning from ear to ear and just delighted to be here. Life is indeed good. Until next time, fellow captionists... keep those fingers limber!
annette