Letters to a Mysterious Stranger [ONGOING]

Going Places

(Sent on June 8th, Saturday, 5:17 pm, Caernarvon Street)

To: prisoner24601@mpu.edu.ph

From: jerusha.abad@gmail.com

Dear Zorro,

Thy Naiad airs have brought me home

To the glory that was Greece

And the grandeur that was Rome.

I'm very sorry that I couldn't write the past week, but I do hope that the pictures I sent were sufficient. Our self-made tour was so busy and we barely had time to stop. At the end of each day, Jimmie, Sally and Gerry simply crashed on our beds.

This time I have time to write though, as I am just lounging in Lea and Brian's flat with some of our other friends waiting for the Britain's Got Talent finale. It is our civic duty to cheer for Arisxandra Libantino. Even though I don't care much for talent shows, this is an exception.

I caught up with Sally, George, Gerry and Jimmie in Athens. They were very much surprised when I suddenly dropped by their hostel. Thankfully, the hostel still had an extra bed. They already ticked off most of their Greek itineraries, and we only had a day to visit the Acropolis before dropping Sally off to Piraeus.

I miss her. She's spending three months on sea with only an emergency satellite phone, and she won't be able to contact us unless her ship docks. It's a good possibility that she'll find a boyfriend at the end of all of this, since she is the only girl in a ship full of lusty men. Oh, the things ethnographers do just to get data. I sincerely hope that she doesn't find her significant other this way.

In any case, Gerry, Jimmie and I flew to Italy the day after. Venice is charming, but is slightly overrated. But then again, I had gotten too accustomed to wading through flooded Intramuros, so water and old buildings just don't mix for me. Everything was simply expensive, and it was so easy to get lost in its nameless streets. The comfort was that there were so many Filipinos everywhere to point us back to the right direction. Free Tagalog service pa. We countless hours in Florence queuing to get into museums, and trying to remember certain people and areas alluded to in the Inferno. We never made it to Naples and Pisa because there was a train strike. Transportation in Italy is simply chaotic. Rome was simply grand and sublime, and I would love to visit it again someday.

Really, Zorro. I could write volumes about how the ancient world has touched me. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the grand European tour was considered a rite of passage for rich young British men. It is all part of a Western education. Even as a Filipino, it is hard to not define one's self away from it.

Now, it is back to the real world. I am settling in again before I get back to my studies. I will be meeting with Monica first thing next week.

Hopefully, the ancients have inspired me enough for me to write my dissertation.

Yours,

Judy

PS. I'll also be moving out of Howell Hall next week. The disadvantage of living in dorms is that one has to find another place in the summer. Steph has asked me to move in with her and Ada, but the rent to their place is a bit on the expensive side. The house that George shares with Kuya Ariel and Frank has two empty rooms so I'll be moving there. Hopefully, I won't miss Steph and Ada too much. We still go to the same church.

(Sent on June 13th, Thursday, 9:23 pm, Llanishen Street)

To: prisoner24601@mpu.edu.ph

From: jerusha.abad@gmail.com

Dear Zorro,