My Christmas Adventure

Merry Christmas everyone!
Frohe Weihnachten!

8:45 - Woken up by mom (Yes "woken" is an English word)
9:00 - Begin opening presents. (My loot: books, coffee maker, compass)
10:15 - Get relish tray ready
11:20 - My aunt A and uncle T go to the neighbors house rather than ours. Ok...so the houses do look similar, but we've also lived here for almost 15 years now. This is the same uncle who's cooking the turkey in a huge vat of hot oil. This could be an interesting day.
11:34 - Turkey goes into to cooker.
12:30 - Rest of relatives arrive.
13:24 - Remembrance of grandparents/parents/siblings/uncles no longer with us
13:30 - Time to eat! (Mahlzeit!)
14:10 - Everyone stuffed. Two bottles of wine gone.
14:15 - Play with little second cousins.
15:53 - More presents
16:12 - Dessert
16:30 - More playing with little second cousins.
17:15 - Everyone leaves.
17:47 - Visit Aunt and Cousin that weren't able to come.
19:05 - Watch movie. ("Cars", very cute)
Now - Very sleepy.

Here's a photo of my sisters and I in our new t-shirts:



Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night!

In Iowa

Guten Abend meine Damen und Herren.
So I'm back in Iowa. Made it back into Des Moines last night.
We had an eventful trip across New York and the Midwest. It was either dark or foggy the whole way.
Just checked my grades. I got the lowest GPA that I've ever had in my life. Grad school's hard. It's becoming a humbling experience. I think I may have to realize that cliche phrase "work better not harder". The trick is now to figure out how to work better instead of just harder.
That's all I got tonight.

Finally done

Hallo all!
So I've now survived my first semester of grad school, celebrated, and recovered from the celebration.
Thursday night I took what was by far the hardest exam of my life and did by far the worst that I've ever done on an exam in my life. But I still managed to pass the class and am now officially done with Jackson.
Friday was the celebratory potluck and partying. It was a good time. And let's just say I'm glad it's now Sunday.
Now I'm just enjoying the abundance of free time and unbelievably warm weather. (It's in the mid-50's today. 57 in the middle of December?! So what's everyone's beef with global warming? (Just joking) )
Next Wednesday I'm leaving for Iowa and if all goes well, will be arriving in Des Moines late on Thursday. Everybody think thoughts of good weather on Wednesday and Thursday, so I don't get stranded somewhere on the Indiana turnpike.
Safe travels everyone!

Getting closer!

Today I turned in my last Jackson homework and had my last class.
The semester really, really is almost over! Yaaaaaaaaaaahh!