The end of fall semester

Wow. I cannot believe that I am only a five page paper and a Latin final away from being done with my final fall semester here at UW. In a little less than two weeks, Beth will be moving away to Chicago and Katie E might be moving in sooner than the date we had initially planned (January 15th). Caitlyn is also back from studying abroad and will be moving back in soon, which also means that Allison, perhaps the best subletter ever, will be leaving us. It is crazy to think that Beth is moving on to the real world in less than a month - I am really happy for her since it sounds like she got a job she wanted and will have her housing situation worked out soon!

As for me, I'm going home for break on Saturday and will return on January 3rd so that I can begin work as Sales and Marketing Manager for Mirabel and Muir Heights Apartments! I will have two full weeks of work before school starts, which will definitely help pay the bills :)

Only one semester left!

Finals Week: not as bad as I make it out to be

I only have two finals so I shouldn't complain about being stressed. But I am. Right now. I've had so much due this week that I am almost numb. I wrote two huge papers and gave a presentation on X-Ray Fluorescence and how I used it at the Chazen to analyze the composition of Roman coins. If I were a Roman history expert, this paper would have been a breeze. Alas, I am not, and I spent the last few days this week learning about Constantine I, Gratian, Constantius II, Arcadius, Honorius, Valentinian, etc. Also, because it seems to happen to me whenever I go to Memorial Library and visit the secret 4th floor study area that requires a key, it rained.

Ronnie made me feel really good today and yesterday. It was nice to have him offer to help me any way that he could with my huge paper on coins, and also have him appologize for not putting my checks in the bank and offer to do it tomorrow. Warmness and fuzziness burgeon within me when he is so sweet.

I am getting extremely excited to go to Greece. In about two weeks I'll be in Athens! Woot!!

We had our Classics Reception on Thursday where I was formally awarded my scholarship (the Gertrude E. Slaughter Fellowship for Study Abroad). There will be pictures to follow!

This is also breaking news: I got an iPod Touch! I've been saving up all of the Target gift cards I've gotten all year at work and used them to buy the 16g model. How much did it cost me out of pocket? $1.49. Amazing.

I cleaned my room, finished A Thousand Splendid Suns (which I found less interesting than the Kite Runner though I like the character development), and am planning to leave the living room in general disarray by means of library books everywhere. It's been a pretty good day. Cait's dad stopped by. It was nice seeing him again - he is hilarious and reminds me a lot of my own dad.

Exams, impending Spring Break, and a romance novel

That is what my life this week consists of. I am trying very hard to stop compulsively check my email and facebook in hopes that something new has changed, though the thought of this looming research paper is weighing down on me. I secretly enjoy writing papers, and always have, which is why I think I ended up on the humanities rather than the science side of college. I have a hard time beginning a lengthy paper because once it is started, I know that it won't be long (relatively) until it is over and I am without another paper ahead of me. On the other hand, for my cultural anthropology class I am required to study a cultural scene and write a huge paper for it, and I'm really excited to write that one. I chose to go to a Games Workshop type of place, but the one here in Madison has a variety of hobbies to pick up - I will primarily be studying those who play Dungeons and Dragons in the store. I will have to go back a couple of times, which is fine since I do have a car here. It's also nice not having to go to a random person's home to observe (some people in the course are studying people in situations that are just as intimate). My professor told me that I should consider picking up the hobby or at least learning the rules so that I can better observe. I told him that I would, tongue in cheek.

Here's the answer to the question most often heard on campus this week: Nothing. I am doing nothing for spring break. I am actually coming back to Madison early in order that I may work Thursday and possibly Friday for Jenny, who is the assistant property manager. At the least I will work one eight hour day, which will be nice. Though actually doing something for break, for once, would be nicer.

Sometimes I feel like the Latin I have learned has caused me to be even more critical of my own grammar, and sometimes leads to uncommon, though grammatically correct, sentences. I appologize if at any point my blog becomes unitelligable and causes major headaches. I cannot recall the last time I said "I forgot" as a response. Rather, I catch myself explaining that "it escaped me." O tempus fugit!

I have been reading before bed nearly every night, which is a nice return to the days when I was not so overwhelmed with schoolwork. I finished The Ghost (Danielle Steel) a while back and was hoping to pick up another historical fiction. I browsed and browsed and picked up and put down dozens of books until I finally found The Mistress Diaries (Julianne MacLean). I have read a fair amount of Danielle Steel - Wings, Lone Eagle, The House and most recently, The Ghost, but was very disappointed that the last two listed were very alike (same main character name, age, and appeal). I've read everything of John Grisham's work but for The Street Lawyer, The Appeal, and The Associate, though I tire of his works too. That's why I picked out a book and judged it by its cover, and picked an author with whom I am unfamiliar. So far this book is amazing, and I may consider reading more of her books.