I'm still here.

I was taken to task, last weekend, for both giving up LJ and Blogger. This is simply not the case. What happened is that I spent a good chunk of October being sick, and then I spent November entertaining houseguests and catching up on my schoolwork. And now here I am in the middle of finals, with one more "exam" to go, this afternoon, and two papers due next week. I am definitely ready to come home and have a less-structured break. I do have plans, however:

1. I am studying for the GMAT, which is a requirement for the two applications to business school that I plan to make in fall of 2009 (Darden @ UVa, and McDonough @ Georgetown).
2. I have to study and pass an exam for statistics, so I can begin econometrics next semester.
   
3. I would like to prepare for the American Foriegn Policy exam offered in January, to take that off the list of requirements to graduate.
   
4. I am going to figure out my plans for the summer, which should involve a three month stay in the Levant for language study and thesis research. Maybe I'll go to Dubai if I really can't find development to study in the Levant, but I'd prefer to speak Arabic with a Levantine accent.
   
5. Quality time with my friends and family.
6. I'm going to nanny a few days a week for Betsy and get into a bit of an exercise regime with her, which I am looking forward to. I've plateaued in terms of weight loss--mostly for lack of trying due to the stress of school--and maybe that'll kick it back up. I'm less than five pounds away from my end goal weight, though I may want to adjust my goal down a touch.
   

Wow, that's a lot of stuff going on. Plus I'm in the middle of finding housing for next semester, which is its own brand of stressful. I have picked out my classes for next semester, for the most part, and I am really looking forward to them. I have a much better philosophy about picking classes--if I get an inkling that it's going to be boring and I don't have to take it, jump ship immediately--so that should help. No more Deeb debacles for me! Luckily next semester there is a wealth of classes I can take and be happy with.

I realized recently that I've probably been a little depressed this semester, due to the big adjustment of a new city, the stress of school, making a long distance relationship work (although that hasn't been too difficult, because we're both just skilled at relationship, thankfully), etc. I'm sure that the financial crisis helped increase my anxiety as well.

I feel out of that fuzziness, however. I applied for an internship and I have interviews for a couple of positions on Friday. Getting those interviews has buoyed my confidence about my qualifications for the kinds of positions I want. The internship is with an organization that I've been eyeing since the beginning of term and would really build my resume in a specific way, so I really hope that works out. Housing may work itself out on Friday as well, which would be great. And after this afternoon's "exam", I have a relatively less-stressed go of it.

So, to sum up: School is good, though finals aren't; I'm in transition, but feeling less out of sorts about it; I'm looking forward to being home and catching up on other items on my to-do list; I have lots of things to look forward to in the new year. VIOLA.