4 more weeks...

Okay, this was supposed to go up Thursday so as a result it doesn't make quite as much sense anymore... oops.

So exactly four weeks from today I will be on a plane flying home for the last time. That means time is about to speed up. Today, is Thursday, and a pretty intense work day. Next Thursday I will be taking my organic chemistry final. The Thursday following, I will be taking my Transportation exam, which also happens to be my last final. The Thursday after, I will be in Rome. The Thursday after I will be in the US.

I haven't updated in a while, I know. There hasn't been that much overly exciting going on. It's been a lot of studying and a lot of writing. Here's a quick look at my classes/finals and an update on each.

Research:
We'll start with my favorite... over the last few weeks this has become more and more obnoxious. First, because of all the reassurance I had gotten back in March that I would be done with this by early May and then just need to present it. Granted, I didn't get my paper to her until mid/late May, but that doesn't quite explain the last month and a half. The last few weeks, specifically, have been going downhill as everything I do seems to be "not up to par" with her expectations. After being told my research draft sucked (in more words than that but that was the general idea she was trying to get at) and receiving several frustrated emails and meetings, I am finally almost finished. I have a 27 page report (which she has written a good deal of) and a 20 minute powerpoint presentation. I present the powerpoint to a room of professors on Tuesday at 2:30 and then I can pick up that Schein and be DONE!

Genocide in Eastern Europe:
This class is based on a paper and an oral exam. I turned my rough draft in on the 1st and she wrote back a week later saying she loved it (which was reassuring to hear after the research rough draft bit...) and offering up a few changes. I made those and resent it in. The "oral exam" is a 15 minute conversation in her office with her this Wednesday (at 3:00 for me) where I talk about what I learned (or talk about my paper if I want...). Then I get that Schein! She's also very graciously agreed to let us change the title of the class to "Genocide and Global Perspectives" to help out with getting Non-Western credit since my dean wasn't being to friendly about giving me non-western credit for a class with "eastern Europe" in the title.

Organic Chem:
As mentioned, the exam, worth 100% of the grade, is on Thursday (6:30 pm). We've been practicing though by working through a lot of old exams. It'll be interesting though. Up until this year they had two exams, one earlier in the semester and one at the end, each worth 50% of the grade. For some reason they dropped this this time so we have one 90 exam instead of two. We also will probably not get these results/Scheins back before we leave.

German Lit:
This class required a presentation and a paper. The presentation was over the novelle each of us chose... basically, you "teach" the class for the day using your novelle. My presentation was last Wednesday and it went pretty well. I read "Die Entdeckung der Currywurst" (English title: The Invention of the Curried Sausage, I believe). Now I just need to sit down and write the paper... It's supposed to be 15 pages and it's supposed to be due October 1st (same deal as the Religion Sociology one last semester) but he's cutting us a break for not being native speakers and says to "just write until we run out of things to say"... yeah... not going to be so easy. My goal is to turn it in on the last day of class (22nd) so I can pick up a Schein from him before I leave the country, but that will require me to start it, so we'll see.

Transportation:
This is a fun one. This is the master's level civil engineering program class that's taught in English. Construction of Traffic Infrastructure is the actual name. We have absolutely no idea what's going to be on the exam. No practice exams, no old exams to look at, no book for the class... just the packets he prints out each week and the notes we take. Which is great for the weeks I've missed because he moved the class to a Tuesday and I had chem... but anyway, I'm just crossing my fingers that it will allow us to write paragraphs about concepts instead of asking specifics and details. The exam was originally in mid-August but three of us had a conflict of leaving the country so he's offering us an exam on July 23rd (Thursday) at 10:00 if we meet him out in Passing (just outside Munich) to take it... weird... I'm also not sure I'll get that Schein back in time since I think he's leaving the country at some point following that, but we'll see.

Anyway, so those are the exams. Now a little bit about what I've been up to and then what I will be up to (other than studying and writing).

After we got back from Barcelona, the next weekend was full of studying. On the 4th of July, a friend of mine from UIUC who's studying in Darmstadt at the summer program, came down to visit. We did the New Europe city tour (yes, I figured I should do it in my own city...) and I was surprised about how much I learned. (Sorry to everyone who came over here and I gave you a tour... I'll fill you in on the details I left out later!) Anyway, when that ended we walked through the English garden and then went to the self-organized 4th of July BBQ. We were barbequing out by the other main student housing complex and we had marshmallows and hot dogs. Then we noticed a group barbequing across the grassy area from us... with red, white and blue ballons. Turns out they were the LMU Americans and we were the TUM Americans. Later that night we actually ended up seeing some fireworks set off! There must have been yet another group of Americans elsewhere in the complex because we saw like 6 go up over the course of the night. In all, it was a lot of fun. And we were lucky that the rain held off because it was supposed to rain all day and it didn't!

Speaking of the weather. If you remember, we got off the train in Munich from Barcelona and it was cold and raining. Well, that's pretty much been the weather since we got back. It has, more or less, rained every day for the last several weeks. The thing is, it's also been relatively sunny... we have days of partly cloudy/partly blue sky. And then a half hour later it turns to mostly cloudy. And then a half hour later it's thunderstorming and downpouring. And then a half hour later it's partly cloudy/partly blue sky... and then repeat. Throw in the fact that ever since July rolled around I've had to pull out my long sleeves and jackets again and you get a pretty good idea... summer in Munich is actually colder than spring and more resembles fall... and summer in Munich is also monsoon season.

Anyway, so this weekend will also be filled with studying, but after Thursday the majority of my stress (Research and Chem) is out of the way so hopefully I'll be able to actually get out and do something next weekend. We're going to see Harry Potter on Friday (it actually comes out on Thursday here, a day before you guys, but unfortunately we'll be sitting in an orgo exam...). Sunday will be a going away dinner because Hans and Ashley leave early the next week (Tuesday and Monday respectively). The 25th is a huge firework display in Olympiazentrum to celebrate summer... we're not actually sure why it happens but it looks like it will be pretty awesome. It's a 45 minute show and will make up for missing the real 4th of July ones. That Sunday morning I'll head to Austria early in the morning to see my host family for the last time. Monday late night I'll come back. Tuesday TRACI IS COMING! She gets to help me pack and clean my room then... because...

WEDNESDAY WE LEAVE FOR ROME!

There are three of us going now, Traci, Kristina and I. We fly into Pisa early Wednesday morning. We'll hang out there for a few hours and then train into Rome where we'll be until Saturday morning when we take a train to Florence. We'll spend the rest of Saturday and then Sunday in Florence and then take a 4:00 am train to the Pisa airport and fly back to Munich. Total cost of transportation for flight to and from Pisa plus all the trains between the cities and 5 nights at hostels: 170 Euro.
Anyway, we get back at noon on Monday, August 3rd. That leaves a day and a half to collect any Scheins I can still collect and finish up anything I need to do in Munich (while staying in a hostel because I only get this apartment through July...) and then *Thursday* at 12:30 I board a plane for the US. And that will be the end of the story.

But for now, back to studying for orgo and writing that lit paper and running through my presentation...