Last Friday, I was lucky enough to attend in flesh the epic Don Quixote performance of the Bolshoy Theatre staged at the Wolf Trap Park for Performing Arts. I was literally in the woods. While my comments would be totally devoid of any musical and theatrical wisdom, I would like to note that the scene was spectacular - we were sitting on the grass (we had $18 dollar tickets), behind and well above the $80 seats in the closed area of the gigantic theatre. It was very much like the amphitheatre where I listened to the lovely Debussy tunes. Yet it was much more casual-with lots of people, including ourselves, enjoying the bright lightenings overhead, the thunders of an approaching storm, and right in front of us, the most beautiful performances of all was unfolding. We drank wine, complemented by cheese, and chatted about how our school back in Turkey were-the four of us-Irem (Marmara- Political Science-French) and Haldun (ODTU Insaat).

Today, it is going to be 100 degrees outside!

I have become an avid reader of the weekend addition of the Washington Post-turnes out Washington has lots of fascinating social activities. A recent activity I was able to attend: The open air concert of the National Symphony Orchestra in a simply beaituful amphitheatre in the middst of DC. Of course, the repertoire was completely Americanized to include Jaws and the Wizard of Oz. But there were also some magnificent presentations from Debussy. My drive for social activities is in reverse proportion with my availability, so I am simply counting calories when I venture out to meet someone or do something.

In the meantime, I have read an excellent book - The Georgetown Ladies Social Club. I have learned so much from it about Washington DC and US politics that I think such books should be included as course material. I have also completed summer school with an A (not braggin since almost everyone gets As in the US system), and now I am ready to move on.