One member of the law program, Josh, was celebrating his birthday. He asked people to come meet him at the top of the Spanish Steps to do something for the occasion. I was about the only person that showed up. He decided he wanted to go on a pub crawl.

The pub crawls, which are organized booze fests (or so it seems), start at one pub and hit a few more before winding up in some club. Along the way you are given a shot at each place and discounts on beer. Clubs here apparently do not close until 4 a.m. I took a cab home from somewhere near Termini. I didn't wake up for my early class. This is out of the usual for me, but it seemed like he had a good birthday.

Earlier in the day I got trapped in one of these tiny elevators in the residence. It stopped about two feet below a floor, with the inner doors opening. The other doors do not open unless they are tripped by the elevator being on the floor. I pushed the emergency buttons, only to learn they don't do anything. After about five minutes in the sweat box, I jammed the outer door open by hand and crawled out.

- Jay.