Since I Last Wrote...

A lot has happened. Thanksgiving. Last week of classes. Half of reading week. I got my winter internship. Let's start from the beginning.

So, Thanksgiving was awesome. I got home on Tuesday afternoon, got to surprise everyone at Tae Kwon Do Tuesday evening (and it was so great to see everyone. I miss them all so much when I'm at school. I think I've written that a few times before), and spend the rest of the evening with my parents. Wednesday, I was banished from the house due to workmen, but ended up hanging out at Starbucks and Panera until I had lunch with my mom, and then we did all of the shopping for Thanksgiving dinner. On Thursday, we cooked all day and had a really nice gathering in the evening. I got to have some great conversations with cousins, eat good food, and sleep in my bed. On Friday, my brother and I spent some time with our great-grandmother, then I had my friends over as per tradition, and my mom's family came over for dinner. Saturday was a roadtrip to see my mom's other sister, which was a lovely event, and then I came back to school on Sunday.

The last week of classes was uneventful. My finals got assigned. I wrote some papers to get started and take some pressure off this week. Went to a couple plays and a couple parties. It was fun. However, in my final demography class, my professor assigned two surprise papers, and that made me genuinely angry, an emotion I rarely feel to such an extent. Otherwise a good week.

Last week's main event occurred on Tuesday. I had an interview for my winter internship with a really awesome-sounding public health initiative at the hospital, and it was my first choice. The interview went really well, and 20 minutes after I left, I got an e-mail with the offer! Everything was set by the end of the day, and I'm the most excited about what I'll be doing for the winter.

Wednesday also presented the preliminary plans for my dorm's renovations, and they look awesome. My current room is no longer on the floorplan, but it'll be fine. I'll take a different single.

This week has been really rough. Across my four classes I have: (1) a music final paper and presentation (2) a literature final paper (3) a 3-essay take-home final for sociology and (4) an essay, a problem set/paper, a study guide with 6 essays, and a sit-down final for demography. That's a total of 7 essays that are getting turned in for grades, and an additional 6 I have to prepare for my sit-down final. The final is going to be impossibly long (25 short answer, a section of tables/graphs/charts, and 5-6 essays in 2 hours), so I need to be as prepared as possible to get a good grade. I have five days until I can go home, but I literally have no time for extended fun because my finals are all so stressful. Well, really the one, but when compounded with the other work, I'm not exactly relaxed.

I'm looking forward to winter break, judging speech, holidays with the family, and doing Tae Kwon Do. The end is in sight, and I've got my second wind to sprint to that finish line. Then I won't have to do this again until the spring.

Today is awesome because I'm getting through a significant amount of finals work and seeing some music tonight.