Friday Five
1. What is a fond holiday tradition from your childhood? Being super-excited on Christmas morning, so I woke up early, even though I have
never been a morning person.
2. If you could start a new holiday tradition, what would it be? Waffles on Christmas morning?
3. What is your favorite Christmas song and who sings it? I love "Angels We Have Heard on High." It was the second recital song I ever played. I also like to sing "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and "We Three Kings" sung together, and Nat King Cole's version (the best one!) of "The Christmas Song."
4. Is there a certain event, food, television program, etc. that makes your Christmastime complete? It's not really Christmas time until the Jackson 5 tell me that Santa Claus is coming to town. Which, for the record, means that it's not yet. But I have little fear that my mom will break out the Motown Christmas CD any day now.
5. Does is traditionally snow where you live at Christmastime? If not, do you wish that it did? I don't think so. It snows, but we don't get the heavy stuff until January, as far as I can remember.
Finals are over. I just posted my last assignment on WebCT, which means that I am officially finished with this semester.
Whoa.
It's been a long week. I slept in very late Saturday and Sunday, so my body clock was completely off Monday morning. I was running late on the way to my 8 a.m. (!!!) psyc final, but the Hall Council left bagels in the lobby, so I got to eat as I rushed to the exam. My hands were freezing though, because I ripped it as I walked. It is so cold now, and I left my winter gear at home. Yesterday morning, I honestly thought my fingers were going to freeze off -- but I'll get to that later.
Anyway, I got to my psyc final with about five minutes to spare. The exam wasn't really hard. I blanked on a few questions, but otherwise I thought I did okay. After that, I went to read over hot chocolate at Footnotes in McKeldin. I was reading a book, not notes. I don't read notes right before tests because it's so easy to get confused. We studied the recency effect in psyc (you actually do remember things easier if they were the last ones presented you, but with a delay you lose the effect), but I still don't like it. After lunch at South Campus, I trekked back to North Campus to take my math final. It was in the Cambridge Community Center. I had no idea there were classrooms in there, like Cole Fieldhouse. I was confused over one question, but otherwise I also felt good about that one.
I didn't do much on Tuesday. I went to the Incon to buy a bunch of snacks. Even with all those snacks and a UMD logo cookie tin, I'm still going to lose about $100. Oh, well. Boo for Dining Services. I caught up on my sleep a bit.
On Wednesday, I went to check my psyc grade -- an A! Yay! Greg came by later with Gonzo (who's transferring to UMD from Georgia Tech), and we went back to the Bio-Psyc building so I could pick up my paper. I got full points on my paper, which makes me incredibly proud. I can
so do college. I showed Gonzo around the campus a bit. I made him rub Testudo's nose. We wound up in the Commons, where I played Super Smash Bros. Melee. They told me what to do, and I got four kills in the first round, which made me quite happy.
I got up before dawn on Thursday. Really. As I walked to the Union to catch my shuttle, I saw the sunrise. It was beautiful; I was a popsicle. There was
frost on the ground. Suffering through that cold, walking alone in the early-morning dark, and the bumpy bus ride made me regret volunteering for C-SAVE, but spending the morning around those cute kids made up for it. And the money isn't terrible. I went to Adelphi ES to administer MSA tests to a group of third-graders, two boys and three girls. Two of the girls spoke Spanish; the one who stayed for the experimental section seemed very pleased to be able to write her answers in Spanish if she wanted to. Only one of the kids actually used the "accomodations" (play money, Spanish-English glossaries, etc.), and that was only during the experimental section. All my kids finished early, so I sent them back to class and left. My timing was terrible, though, because I
just missed the bus back to campus and had to wait nearly an hour for the next one. There wasn't even anywhere to sit, so I had to stand around singing to myself. My feet were killing me when I got back, but I had a delicious Texas toast sandwich at the Diner, and people from my hall joined me, so it was okay. (Delicious is a rare adjective for Diner food, but that sandwich was really, really good.)
I spent the rest of Thursday preparing for today. I took an old geography final online and failed, so I got discouraged and just quit studying. It took a few hours -- much longer than I thought -- to finish my honors seminar final and revise my short story. (I may post that online; I'll let you know.) I was very pleased with the revision, though. It took so long, I had to rush to get into bed by 12:11 a.m.
I took my last exam this morning at 8 a.m. (!!!) I got there in plenty of time, after walking through the cold, eating another weird-tasting-but-nonetheless-nourishing bagel on the way. I worked very carefully, taking about seventy-five minutes to finish. I won't know what I got for a while, but I didn't feel like I failed.
After geography, I turned in my honors final and story revisions. Then I went back to the dorm with another hot chocolate, sat around for a while, and packed. I feel like I brought half my stuff home. My dad thought it seemed like more than at move-in, which is impossible. On the way back, we picked up a free pizza from Alario's that I won through a contest in
The Diamondback. It was yummy, especially because it was free.
Now I'm at home. My parents had a gas line run into our fireplace. It has a remote. There are logs and a picture of coals inside; nothing actually burns, but the heat is wonderful. My dad and I bonded watching
Roswell on SciFi. I couldn't quite remember everything, but I tried to explain it as we watched. I never realized how complex that show is. It's like when I tried explaining
ER to Jenny.
Jenny. If her grades turn out well, she's going to study abroad in Australia next semester. She was moving out her stuff when I left. She wrote me a card as her way of saying goodbye, because if she goes, I might not see her again. I'm going to miss her terribly. Living in a cinderblock dorm cell with someone for sixteen weeks fosters quite a lot of bonding.
