Ah finals!

I've realized that I'm not a procrastinator at all, but when I am, I'm super efficient. I'll do everything EXCEPT what I have to do.. oh well! Wanted to randomly write on this anywho.

This week is dead week and it is getting SO sad! I had two of my last classes today... its so weird how fast it all went. I knew it would go fast in the beginning though so I'm glad Ive been living it up- I just have to write 2 papers and study for finals.. but I know what I'm gonna write about.. and I'm gonna try to get one done tonight.. but eh not feeling it yet.

I cant get over how much I love life here! Maru is freaking AWESOME. I seriously got the best home stay situation ever... I love that shes not just someone I live with or anything- we talk all the time (if anything, a lil too much.. to the point where sometimes its hard to get work done but in the end I'm still practicing spanish so its all good) and ah she is just the bomb. Diego wasn't here for dinner (Diego= 30 yr old Argentinian guy living here for 5 months, getting his Ph D in... ecological biology? He plays with mushrooms... hes explained it... its boring. He came about a month ago. He likes to TALK. I guess its an argentinian stereotype? but boy he likes to talk. and over other people. and loud. because somehow he thinks I'll understand it better. but it just makes him look stupid. Hes nice.) and the house was soo quiet and calm haha me and Maru just made jokes the whole time about how he likes to talk a bunch.. we talked about how much we like living together and just how well we get along... we pretty much talk about that every day. If saying goodbye to my teachers and classes is as sad as it seems so far, I cant even imagine saying goodbye to Maru! ahh its gonna be horrible.

This semester was probably the best school semester ever.... maybe the school is pretty lax cause they know we're here to experience and travel.. and the classes are all in spanish but not everyone is at exactly the same level... but I think this has been the best academic quarter ever. Maybe I'll switch to social sciences/Lit. like seriously. but not really. But dude. LOVING it. and ppl complain about the amount of work we do, but its seriously not much at all compared to what school would be like back at SB and I really like doing the work cause I learn so much every day. And Maru proofreads it so hey, havent had that since... well never! wooot

But I really really really love my classes. Lengua, POlitica y sociedad, Espanol coloquial, literature espanola, literature hispanoamericana... im still working a lot but a whole lot less that i would .. and its just refreshing. I think this was the perfect semester to study abroad cause maybe I was starting to get a lil burnt out, and now I just feel like I've used a different side of my brain or something-- Im excited to go back and get back into the science mode and I think Ill be all excited for that stuff again too cause its been so long without it!

Lost my phone. Definitely had it in the airport when we got back from Switzerland... and now its gone. Im thinking it may have gotten jacked on the Metro? Its so horrible but whenever I lose something, Ive realized that I always think it was jacked. And then it usually turns up somewhere random. BUt now I'm thinking about just not getting a new one.. cause those few days in Italy when I'm alone would be so much more exciting if I didnt have a phone too. Hm. well see!

Maru is gonna go out to La Fabrica bar with me and all my friends tomorrow night! Wren's mom and sister are in town too so that'll be fun. I'll try to take a pic of Maru and me and I think Im gonna make her a picture frame as a goodbye gift... got her some swiss chocolate too... not sure what else to give her?

I realized that when I get back to SD (on Dec 29th, around 11 PM) I'll only have like... 5 days or so til I move back up to SB! how short! but then again I usually get bored after a day or so at home. Maybe I'll finally catch up on sleep then~

ooh! I decided 2 major things in the last couple of days (Wren is also in on it)
1) we wanna start taking another language. Either french or german. or portuguese. I think French sounds awesome.. but I havent been to france yet so not sure if I really wanna learn it that badly. I guess I'll see when I go to paris this weekend and in december. I really like german though and I had SUCH an awesome time at oktoberfest... I just really like germany in general. And it goes well with my last name. so I'm considering learning that now. But they only offer german 1 in the fall, so I'd have to wait and thats not fun.

And if we dont become fluent, at least learnign another language is just fun in general..

2) We want to live in Spain after graduation. Maybe the summer after graduation. I'm 95% sure I'm taking a year off after college before med-ness, and thatd be perfect to go! I am just so down to live somewhere else. I've met lotsa americans in countries all over who casually mention "oh yeah, im from __boston or wherever__, lived in germany for 5 years and now I'm just traveling around a bit" 5 years?! crazy! but okay I wanna be one of those people.

so we'll see. I'm hoping I dont forget this. so thats why Im writing it down.

And now I'm super procrastinating on my paper. Ahh I got so used to everything here and all is so good! But I just gotta kick butt on finals, then travel without any stress or worries for a couple weeks.. and then Im back in CA! and back to carla making me run every day... uugghh :)

so excited for december! I think Derek and I will have Soooo much fun-- we both dont want to sleep at all and to see everything- and we're meeting up with allison and ppls in italy, and theyre super chill and relaxed and really like to absorb the atmosphere so it'll be a super relaxing time-- hopefully I'll get to meet up with my oktoberfest buddies in berlin... ah! cant wait. and then christmas with nick and everyone will be awesome!

and then I'll come home and have another christmas on the 29/30th. yayy

ah! okay paper writing time. go team. woot.

---

---