Halfway already???

WHAT THE HECK Y'ALL! My midterm is on Thursday. Mom was like "wow, that's early" and I realized that it's not actually - this is a sixteen week program and we're entering week eight. I'll be on a flight to Germany in just over 8 weeks. I can't even start to think that far ahead though. This midterm is killing me slowly, plus I have a draft of my 30-40 page research paper due on the 26th, and oh hey, I haven't started writing. But I do have a pretty detailed outline and I've done pretty much all my research. I'll just hole myself up with my laptop and Mark Knopfler and write that mess out. It's just a first draft, so it doesn't have to be perfect. After that, November will be GLORY. Just two short papers for my seminar (4-5 pages each) and a reflection paper for my internship class.

In other news, the Dalai Lama spoke at AU yesterday but tickets sold out in about two seconds. Plus I was studying all day anyhow. It would have been amazing to see him speak, or even be in the same room, but for now I'll have to settle for same town.

There's a Scripps event soon! I just found out that the new President is touring the country meeting alums and she'll be in DC on Tuesday. Now, that's an internship day for me, but I mapped out the place and it's about 6 blocks from my office. I am SO there.

I was in New York last weekend, which is weird, because that seems like ages ago already. I took one picture. Sorry sorry! I'll be back in two weeks and I promise more pictures then. I'll spend Thursday the 22nd wandering Wall Street with my class - we get to go on the FLOOR of the NYSE (stock exchange) and tour the New York Fed too. That will be an adventure for sure. After we split, I'll take the subway or a cab or something to Bob and Linda's again.

Anyhow, my trip to New York was awesome. I got in pretty late on Friday night (thanks, Baltimore traffic!) but spent Saturday afternoon trawling Macy's for sales. I got a coat for over $100 less than it was priced (sales+coupons+Macy's card = glory), a cute metallic wristlet, and a great black cinching belt for my sweater dress. Linda is the best shopping buddy. I also bought a pair of boots that I fell in love with online. They should be here tomorrow or Tuesday. WANT!

I've fallen into a pretty nice routine here. I'm glad about that, because I was worried about having class at a different time every day. I need routine in order to stay sane. I work Mondays and Tuesdays, I work out Wednesday and Friday mornings, and I have class Wed-Fri. It's a nice set-up and it works for me.

Back to work! I seriously cannot believe I'm basically halfway through my semester here. I haven't done enough exploring yet!