Finals Week

Sunday- submitted my final Writing in the Public Sphere paper to Nina via email...since my blog is already all wrapped up, THAT'S IT for that class! Just waiting for her feedback on everything and my final grades.


Monday- Media and Politics final at 10am. He had given us five essay topics during our last class session, and we had to write two of them in class. It was stressing me out to prepare for it, because I didn't know how much to research, what I needed to include, etc etc etc. It turns out that I prepared exactly how I needed to. I sat down in class to write them and completely visualized all the notes I had written out this weekend, and I breezed through writing both of them in the 90 minutes we had! I feel pretty good about them overall, I'm just nervous about his grading because he's so arbitrary with things like that. We'll see, I guess. I'm fairly sure I'll get a B in this class, but it's the only one I know I won't have an A in, so it's all good.


Tuesday- Turned my final Culture by Design paper in to Charlotte (it's due to her by 4 pm). Feeling good about that, good about that class in general! Had to go Media and Society to turn in our papers (differences between churches/faith/religion in the UK and the US and how media plays into it), and have a discussion about things we learned this semester being here. We were out of there by 10:45, and now there is absolutely nothing left that I have to do!


Aaaaannnndddd, just got an email from Nina about my final grades: A- on my exam, A on my blog, and A- in the class overall! HOORAY yayayay.


Her comments about my blog: 

 "It was such a pleasure to read your entry every week: I will really miss them! Your writing is polished, elegant, and, above, all thoughtful. I loved the way that you were able to strike such an effective balance between responding to specific questions and situating those answers within a much broader context. Keep on writing – always!"

She's awesome. And then there was this:

"Thank you for your very kind words in the final blog. This course was such a learning experience for me, and I was really anxious about how it would work in the beginning. We ended up making it up as we went along, but you made that so easy to do. You’ve impressed me over and over with your quick intelligence, thoughtfulness (this seems to be a word I keep returning to!), and curiosity. I wish you all the best. Please let me know occasionally how you are doing. And remember that you always have a room in Wimbledon! 
Enjoy the final days of your stay in London, and have a safe trip home. Nina" 

WAAAAHHH I'm going to miss that class like no other.

But, in other news, total freedom until my Saturday morning departure! What to do, what to do. I'm just ready to be back at this point. Trying to motivate myself to do things this week and stay busy, but I'm just pretty much checked out and tired. Almost done- so so crazy.

Things I'm looking forward to about the States

I've started to realize there are quite a few random things I'm really looking forward to about being back in the States. Friends and my family, you're a given.

Here they are.

1. Air conditioning.
2. Ice. Ice water. Ice all the time. Ice whenever I want ice.
3. My shower that has room for me to actually move around
4. Dishwashers. I've hand washed entirely too many dishes this summer and have really come to miss and appreciate dishwashers
5. Cell phone service, texting, iMessaging, not needing wifi to be able to talk to everyone all the time
6. Only a three hour time difference from Kyle (you mean we'll actually be in the same day most of the time?! Insane.)
7. Driving my car. I think I might have forgotten how to drive, though...
8. Listening to music on Pandora and Spotify. They don't work in the UK, and I miss having unlimited music all the time.
9. Pools. The river. Belle Isle.
10. Actual summer weather. And sunshine. And heat.
11. My whole closet full of clothes to choose from, not just the things I was able to bring with me.
12. Blinds and curtains that shut out the light when the sun rises so it doesn't wake me up at 4 am everyday.
13. My dog. Silly but so true. I miss that stinker.
14. Getting to be artsy. I miss painting and crafting and having everything I need to do so right in my room.
15. Wearing shorts. And dresses. And not lots of layers and rain jackets and rainboots everyday.
16. Family dinners.
17. Having tv, and catching up on my shows that I've been missing all summer.
18. All my usual hair/makeup/beauty products. For some reason, I didn't bring hardly anything. I'm pretty tired of the cheap, mint eucalyptus shampoo I bought here, and the funny smelling lotion that isn't even that great. And my hair products so I don't have to keep my hair all tied up everyday.
19. Actual coffee makers that are quick and easy and not French presses.
20. Being able to work out in my own house, with plenty of room and all the equipment I need, etc. It would be weird and really awkward if I did yoga in the common room here. I can't wait to work out again.
21. Ranch dressing! It doesn't exist here.

I guess not everything about leaving London is bad!