07 February 2010

Life here on the river is as crazy as ever and much has happened since my last real update on --er--the first day of school. In my defense, I've been quite busy. Really!

A bit of good news to start off this entry: I've completely finished my graduate school applications. I submitted to St. Andrews and my two Oxford programs during the second week of January. I will find out from Oxford sometime in March. I doubt I will get in and perhaps it is for the best considering that I just paid my deposit to King's College, London. (I had asked them for an extension on deciding to accept my offer, but they refused since it is such a popular course.) That said, I do have a teeny bit of hope that I will get in to Oxford's IR program, in which case I am going to have to figure out what to do. Dad seems to think that I possess the ability to turn down the TOP IR program in the UK in favor of King's. I do not have this ability and it would be asking too much of me to turn down my dream school. As a result, I have picked up a few editing jobs on campus to help me raise money to pay back my deposit. This has to be done anyway, but should be completed sooner rather than later, especially in the (admittedly unlikely) event that I am accepted to Oxford. Either way, I am working through the rest of the year with the expectation that I will be headed off to King's this September and am quite excited.

This semester has proven me something of a liar to the freshman. One of the most frequently asked questions during first semester was, "Does it ever snow in St. Mary'?" to which I responded, "Snow? Hah! Perhaps an inch, but never more than that." Well, I bite my words now. Last weekend, in a storm that was quite unexpected by me, we received about 8 inches of snow. It shocked the hell out of me. At 7AM on Saturday, I looked out my window to see a gray sky but no snow. "The weatherman was wrong again," I thought somewhat smugly, and laid back down with plans to go running on the trails in a few hours time. At 10AM, I woke up again only to find that 3 inches of snow had fallen and completely covered the ground. I was in shock. The snow continued throughout the day and into the night, ultimately cancelling classes on Monday.

This snow event, however, was a tiny thing compared to what occurred yesterday. The entire DC region received somewhere between 15-30 inches. The power went out at home and several trees fell down. It was absolutely miserable here. I left the suite twice: once to go to brunch early in the morning (at which time it was not so bad, just cold) and once to go to the gym in the afternoon (a journey during which I completely accepted the possibility that I would very likely die on the way). The wind was terrible and sent snow like minute razors into the eyes. The snow levels were over a foot at this time and worked their way into snow boots, immediately soaking the socks and forcing the feet to numb. Absolutely miserable. It stopped at night and, as I write this, the sun has come up, but is doing little to melt the snow. I have a sneaking suspicion that classes will be cancelled tomorrow, although this does not really apply to me as I have already decided to do my lab work from home so as to avoid having to walk (or drive) over to Rosecroft.

Another event that has taken place in the past few days was the '100 Days' celebration. There are now less than 100 days until graduation. We celebrated by going to the Green Door, the local bar, which had special deals on drinks, but was much too crowded for my tastes. I left early and passed out in bed only to receive a very special visitor. :) It seems a bit surreal that we are now into the double digits countdown until graduation. On one hand, I am more than ready to graduate. Get me out of here! On the other...for the first time, I am content to live in the here and now. I've been given a reason to live in the present and not to constantly look forward to the future, to what is coming next. It makes for a nice change, but I know that the pain is going to be tremendous when the future finally gets here. One can only postpone the inevitable for so long.

Classes are going well. I am only taking one real one as I wouldn't have time for another since I spend 20 hours a week interning at the Archaeology lab at Historic St. Mary's City. But more on this later as I am off to work. Yes, despite the 10 feet of snow that lay on the ground and the warnings of the government for everyone to stay inside, I am trudging to the campus store to open for those individuals who might find a pressing need for...notebooks or pencils.