These are my confessions

I'm going to Germany in less than a week.

Less. Than. A. Week.

Between now and then, I have a bit to get done. My final exam is on Monday at 1 (EST) and it's the same format as the miderm. Our professor sent out the questions earlier this week and we prepare for them. On the day of the final, he will roll a die and whatever number comes up is our final (each essay question has a number). I have my favourites, of course, but I plan to be well-prepared for all of them. I've outlined all but the last question.

My final research paper is also due next week. Originally it was due Monday at 9am, but my professor pushed it to Wednesday at 4, which is exactly when I'm checking out of my dorm. I pushed that out of my mind and am telling myself now that it's due Monday night. This is good because I was stressing about managing my time between studying and finishing the paper, but now I can concentrate all my efforts on this final until it's done, then work on the paper. It's only 20 pages now and needs to be 30, so we'll see how that goes.

I went to my last day of internship on Tuesday, which is insane - where did my semester go? The whole team took me out for lunch and gave me a gorgeous green notebook with silver studs. It's so me I can't even stand it. I'll miss them!

Having the family here for Thanksgiving was soo awesome. We ate ridiculously well and it was great having them able to see where I live, work, etc. We got some cute pics of the four of us too:



Neither of those is our Xmas card pic; I'm not gonna post it because many of you will be getting it in the mail anyhow. Plus, it's already on facebook.

I'm making lists of everything I have with me and whether I'm shipping it home, to Rachel at Scripps (thank you thank you!!!), or taking it with me to Germany. I'm hoping to fit everything I'm shipping in just two boxes, but it took me 4 to get here, so I'm...hesitant.

I can't believe I won't see some of these people again. Honestly, I'm a little sick of my classmates (some of them) because some of them are so thick and ask such dumb questions. Half of our class period is wasted on things like this:

Professor: So you have to write 4-5 pages by Monday and e-mail it to me.
-When's it due?
-Monday
-And it's how many pages? 3?
-4 to 5.
-So it's four to five pages on this?
-No, on that.
-And it's due when?
-Monday.
-Do we need a hard copy?
-No, just e-mail it to me.
-Okay, so should we print it?
-No.
-And how many pages is it?

I CAN'T TAKE IT!!!! I swear, if half the people in our class just shut up for five seconds and listened to him while he was explaining stuff instead of whispering (that drives me nuts and I actually yelled at two people who were whispering right in front of me) or actually READ the handouts he gives us on projects they wouldn't be so dumb.

Last night was fun because we had our end of the year class party. We were supposed to go ice skating, but apparently the rink's ice making machine was borked, so we went to ESPN zone instead and ate incredibly delicious greasy appetizers (spicy buffalo wings, tortilla chips and dip, quesadillas, etc.) then went downstairs and played arcade games for a few hours. I was playing mini-bowling with 7 guys then looked over and realized most of the girls in my class had either left or were wandering around talking to each other and getting all complainy. I wish some people could just let loose and have fun sometimes. One of the guys then told me that I was the only fun girl in the class, which was awesome. I've always thought of myself as pretty fun, especially with the guys. They're just so much more simple than girls sometimes.

So yeah, I'll miss those guys a lot, and some of my other classmates. I'm gonna miss the boys upstairs in 401 like crazy, especially considering the fact that I half live in their room. I fell asleep on their couch last night until they were like "go home and go to bed" around midnight. They adopted me as fourth roommate a while back because I am ALWAYS in there. I know I'll see them again, but probably not all three of them together, which makes me really sad. I'll also miss Alana to death - that girl has been such a good friend this semester, and I'm definitely visiting her in New York SOMETIME soon.

This is love. My class at the Newseum last month. Don't miss me - near the left side, doubled over laughing. I adore this picture.

Aaaah I'm excited to go to Germany and go home, but I'll miss these people! I don't want to think about it. Back to studying.

Everything is winding down

I have three big things left and I'm donezo. Number one is my crazy research paper, which is still only 20 pages, so I have to pull another 10 out of *somewhere*, but my advisor sent me an article he thinks will help, so hopefully with some recent developments I'll be able to add information to what I already have.

Number two is my SWOT Analysis. For you non-business savvies, that's Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of a company. My group is doing Bank of America, and I am focusing on the weaknesses. With some recent developments in my research (i.e. an interview with an insider!!! very hush hush) I think it's gonna be a good paper, at least on my part.

Number three is my final exam on December 7th, but we're so not there yet.

My family will be here in one week!! I'm planning an epic itinerary for the weekend of sightseeing and touristy stuff, following by delicious (real! non-cafeteria!) food. Food that is not sandwiches. I seriously cannot wait. I don't think any of you understand - I've been literally LIVING OFF SANDWICHES. I AM NOT EXAGGERATING. I EAT ONE ALMOST EVERY DAY.

Anyhow, it'll be fun with Shawna staying in the dorm with me. I honestly think I might die of excitement when I see my family.

Three weeks from today, I will be in Germany! Five weeks from Saturday I will be in Sea Ranch!

It's still not sinking in that I might not see these people for...ever? My good friend from class who lives in Germany got an internship for next year, January through April, in...SHANGHAI! That's just so crazy to me.

Back to Thanksgiving, (sorry my thoughts tend to drift around) I was a little bummed that I might not get traditional fare. I actually had a nightmare a few nights ago that it was Thanksgiving and all I had on my plate was cranberry sauce and some mashed potatoes and I woke up crying because there was no stuffing to be found. ANYWAY, last night the cafe served a delicious T-giving feast! The green beans were oddly seasoned and pretty gross, but everything else (the mashed potatoes? gravy? STUFFING???) was delicious! Even the turkey was good! My friend Erin and I did a "dark meat" dance when we were serving ourselves. The caf was also showing a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, which was awesome. Childhood!

I applied for two summer internships so far, and I'm researching more. I figure I need to do this now, because if I don't, time from the end of the semester until like the end of March is absolutely nuts. December is obviously packed (Germany until the 21st, then Xmas, then Sea Ranch 26th-January 2nd). In January, I have a bunch of stuff to get done (dentist, haircut, surgery???) then I'm back in Claremont on the 17th. I'll have to settle into my new classes and everything, then before I know it it'll be parents weekend and my 21st birthday! After that is midterm season, then spring break (aka VEGAS!) then suddenly it's the end of March and I'll only have a month and a half until summer. TOO LATE TO APPLY THEN. Ergo, I am doing so now.

Finalmente, I am a genius. Instead of shipping all my stuff home, then packing it in my tiny car and driving to Claremont, I'm going to ship one box of stuff (bedding, summer clothes, etc.) to Rachel and have her hang on to it at Scripps until I get back. This way, I have one less huge box to put in my car, which will already be packed with my trombone, fridge, and far too many clothes. We all know me and packing light - it doesn't happen.

No pictures this time, kids, sorry! Nothing notable has been going on. Actually, nothing at all has really been going on, honestly. But I'll post some after Thanksgiving! Get excited!!!

One thing that even study abroad can't change

This happens every semester you guys. Sometime between the end of midterms and the beginning of finals, usually about a month before the semester ends (aka now) I start burning out. I get completely unmotivated, don't want to do anything, don't want to really talk to anyone, and especially don't want to do work or study. It's probably a good thing that my professor assigned a group project for the end of the semester because we'd all feel way guiltier if we slacked off because we'd be screwing the grades of three other people. I had a meeting with my group this afternoon and we've all started already - and this paper isn't due until the 30th. Thing is, I started, and now I've lost all momentum and don't want to do any more. I have some research, but I don't even have an outline yet and I need this paper done before Thanksgiving because I do NOT want this hanging over my head when the fam-bam is here.

So, yes. Basically, even though I'm in a new exciting place with new exciting people and studying abroad and amazing opportunities blah blah blah, I'm bored. I'm done. I want to go home now.

DON'T GET MAD AT ME I KNOW I'M SUPER LUCKY TO BE HERE AND EVERYTHING but I'm also super HOMESICK, y'all! This is the longest I've been away from home by FAR and I still have another month+ til I'm back in California and DC weather sucks. Probably why I don't want to leave my room, so thank goodness most of my friends live on my floor or upstairs.

I need to push through this. I need to do some research and start writing. Goal for the weekend: get a SOLID outline done plus all sources read and cited. LET'S MAKE THIS HAPPEN. I can crash in a few weeks when everyone gets here. I really cannot wait for Thanksgiving. I'm just worried that when they leave on the 29th I'm gonna get super depressio, but luckily after that I have literally one week of classes left and my final. Ten days after the family leaves, I'll be on a plane to Germany. I'm starting to realize that this semester is ending, but somehow I still don't care, even though I know I may not see some of these people again.

Okay, confession: I've already started packing. Mom and Dad are taking a suitcase or two of my stuff home so I don't have to ship a million boxes back at the end of the semester, which is nice, but packing away my sundresses made me really sad because I HATE THE WEATHER HERE. One of my friends was like "Oh, California's not that warm anyway, it's been 60-65, I've had to wear jeans and a jacket." I responded "yeah, the high in DC is 45. I'M FREEZING." No wonder I keep getting sick.

ANYWAY sorry for all the boo-hoo talk. Seriously. Sorry. I'm homesick - so sue me. I'm gonna try to do something on Sunday, like go to Arlington, because it's gonna be nice-ish out (68 degrees! glory!) and because I've been holed up in my room since Halloween. Okay? Bye.

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!

Packing

I've started a list of what needs to be packed and where it's going. There are three choices: Carry-on (purse or laptop bag), Suitcase (two checked bags in the plane which'll run me $15 apiece. I miss Southwest already), or Ship (who knows how many boxes of mostly clothes I'll send to myself). So far almost everything I've listed is a toiletry, from toothbrush (suitcase) to q-tips (suitcase) to hairbrushes (main in purse, barrel brush will be shipped) to makeup (definitely in my purse - I'll need to freshen up after that stupid red-eye). I'm trying to decide which clothes I want to have with me on the plane (carry-on/wearing or suitcase) and which I'll ship. I'm hoping the boxes will get there before I do - AU takes them as early as Monday - but worst case, I need to be prepared to wait it out. Therefore, all my bedding is going in a suitcase. I'm not wasting space packing a sleeping bag I might use for three nights. Forget that.

Random tangent: I can label my posts? Well, be prepared for EVERY POST IN THIS BLOG to have a "sarcasm" tag. Or not. That might get old.

Another slightly random tangent. I'm still hunting for good boots. I want black ones, preferably leather, than zip up over my jeans to just under my knee. I found some gorgeous Cole Haans with mom, but they were riding boots. Oops. They were quite comfy though. I'll also eventually need a good warm coat, which Shawna tells me I will not find here. Too true.

I can't concentrate anymore. I'll finish this list tomorrow - I'd better, because tomorrow I need to pack, hardcore, and take stuff to the post office. Though that will more than likely be postponed until Friday. Typical.

And so we begin

This shall be my "semester 'abroad' " blog. I say "abroad" in quotes because everyone can be so anal about how DC is TECHNICALLY not abroad from Menlo Park. Whatever, fools! It's a completely different culture and it's not California, so I count it as abroad. Besides, I've done the whole live-in-Spain thing. I wanted something different. Anyway, I was gonna just update my xanga, but that has way too much baggage (aka ninth-grade angst) and I figured I should make a fresh start. Aaaand not send the link to my xanga to family and friends. Awkward town!

I need to pack. Desperately. This is not a surprise. I have two weeks until I leave, but last night I had a terrifying dream where I was getting on a plane to DC but I hadn't packed anything except my wallet and phone and gold nail polish. It was really scary. Scary enough to make me go dig through the basement for old boxes from the move. I also realized that my passport expires in October. Probably something I should look into, no?

Anyhow, look back to this thing come the 19th or so for photos and musings and stories of the East Coast. Enjoy!

L