10 weeks of the quarter

Hey readers,

I know, I know – it has been way too long! And it’s too bad I haven’t written because this has been a really fascinating quarter. It all ends tomorrow though. Thank goodness!!

My classes this time around were Cultural Competency in Public Healthcare (absolutely amazing, phenomenal, the best!), Economics of International Development (interesting…economics, what more needs to be said?), and another International Development Seminar (with a couple super fascinating classes).

It has been a very difficult quarter in school and out of school. After all the things piling up, I started thinking of it as “the 10 weeks of this quarter,” though I’m just not creative enough to actually write good witty lyrics. And besides, I have to talk about the good things that happened to keep it all in perspective. So, without further adieu…

For the first two weeks of my quarter: I went to class a day early, and was otherwise late for class, way early for class, or went to the wrong room, for every class!
On the good side, I enjoyed celebrating New Year’s with my boyfriend finally in town.

For the third week of my quarter: my 26-year-old sister had a heart attack/seizures/brain damage, etc, etc. I spent half of this week in Portland with my family and things were very difficult and uncertain there for awhile.
On the good side, my friends O&J had their baby boy safe and sound and he’s a real cutie!

For the fourth week of my quarter: I came back from Portland in time for a group presentation with people I’d never met before; I worked hard all week on an annotated bibliography assignment then found out it wasn’t due till the following week; then I went down to be with my family again.
On the good side, uh… I think I did some yoga this week, which was good.

For the fifth week of my quarter: I turned in a book report and was expecting to do a presentation, only to be bumped to the next week; I finished the bibliography project but in class came to the conclusion that I had done it completely wrong and there was no time to fix it. I was a bit devastated.
On the good side, I took my little brother to dinner for his birthday and also had a lovely dinner with some friends

For the sixth week of my quarter: Prepared for the book report presentation and it is pushed off again; I was in the throes of preparing for a huge group presentation the following week; and I had yet another school committee meeting where no one showed up but me and the other co-leader.
On the good side, I went to a fun Super Bowl party, did my taxes, had another nice dinner with some friends, had a great chat with one of my professors, then found out I aced my bibliography assignment!

For the seventh week of my quarter: I think I might have finally given that book report; finally had that giant group presentation that we’ve been working on for…12 weeks or so; and then getting the run-around with registration but finally managing to get most classes I wanted.
On the good side, had a great chat with a Quaker on the east coast, our presentation went well, and I had a wonderful Valentine’s Day.

For the eighth week of my quarter: I began work on a huge assignment due for one class which sucked up a ton of time and energy; this same week, after weeks of trying, I realized that I had ended up without a group in another class and would now have to do the humongous group project and presentation by myself – joy; and then my computer died (fan isn’t working, so it gets too hot and shuts down).
On the good side, I prayed for my computer and it revived! It’s still hanging in there till I get it into the shop, but it managed to make the last three weeks of the quarter without being too ornery. I got to go see the Shins, go to a baby shower for a good friend of mine, and had an amazing class session with a Quileute Indian elder. It was amazing.

For the ninth week of my quarter: I finally had a chance to begin work on the huge “group” project; then I got a letter from the landlords saying that the time has come and we all have to move out. I’m not joking.
On the good side… had a great iworld meeting learning about public libraries in India; went to FWCC which was good and while there got to have dinner and talk with my family (of course the best of al is that my sister seems to be doing great!).

For the tenth week of my quarter: I got the “group” project done in time and presented it and all went well! I got the final assignment for my other class done and just turned it in! My computer is still working! There was a great multi-Quaker/YAF dinner with plans to visit each other’s meetings! I think that’s all good.

If you’re tired reading through all that, just imagine how tired and overwhelmed I feel! One day left…what could possibly happen??