Midterms....sigh!

I have been here for over a month now and time is still flying away.  It's hard to believe that I'm already halfway through the semester and getting ready for my midterm exams.  Urgh, the dreadful late night study sessions are here! But to tell you the truth, living on my own and going to school in a foreign country has really helped me manage my [school] stress better.  In my opinion, I think because I don't have a cell phone and/or cable TV, I'm not wasting so much time texting and watching TV.  Not to mention that we get HORRIBLE internet access here, which is both a good and a bad thing.  Good thing being that I don't waste huge amounts of time on Facebook seeing what everyone is doing back home and chatting with friends or looking up random topics on Google that have absolutely nothing to do with Europe or any of my classes.  But the bad thing about having such a sucky internet connection here is that I can't use it to look up pertinant information for my classes or read/write emails, which is my key use of communitcation over here.  Anyways, one significant change I have noticed over here is that I have improved on managing my time (especially when taking 16 credits) and that'll be REALLY helpful for when I return to UP next year. 

Also, I have finally decided that after this semester is over, I'm going to declare English as a second major.  So I will officically become a double English and German major and Music minor at the University of Portland.  I know it's going to be hard, and quite a huge load, but I have figured out how I'm going to do it all and graduate by Spring 2013, which is my intended graduation year.  That means that for the next 4 semesters at UP, I'm going to have to take 16-18 credits per semester, plus 2 classes for three summer sessions at UP.  Well, this isn't quite official yet.  I still need to talk to my advisor back at UP and make sure I'm on the right track and everything.  But, I've got to say: I have completely fallen in love with literature and writing. Yeah, I know....sounds kind of cheesy, but the skills attained by an English major builds a very solid foundation to any kind of career path.  No matter which career path you choose, whether it's engineering or nursing, business or education, or waitressing or the preist/deaconhood, you will always need to read and write.  I also think it is really important to know the basic understanding and big picture of life through literature and by writing down our thoughts and ideas.  I have also gained liking to writing and analyzing poetry.  The other day when I was bored in Ethics class, I wrote a poem.   As I learned last year from my English 112 proffesor, Dr. Asarnow, he quoted the poet Chase Twitchell who said, "Poetry isn't window cleaning, it breaks the glass."  It's funny because last year I didn't quite understand the meaning of that quote.  But after stumbling upon it this summer and reading it over and over again with my feet up (two of Dr. Asarnow's "tips to reading a poem") I GOT IT!  Metaphorically speaking, you need to look at all the shattered pieces of glass from the broken window in order to discover the meaning of poetry- basically every aspect of life if you know what I'm talking about.  And, must I mention, having this knowledge will really help me in my music studies as it is crucial to understand the meaning of your song- especailly when you are a singer!  

Anyways enough rambling and back to my adventures.  This weekend, I'm just staying in Salzburg, as you can see, to rest and prepare for my midterms, since I do have my Ethics midterm on Monday.  But a lot of other Sazlburgers (UP study abroad students in Salzburers that is) are staying in too.  I'm hoping to go to Prague next weekend after midterms are over and then the week after that is our week long tour of France and Germany!   Last weekend, I went to Innsbruck for the day with a few other Salzburgers.  The weather was beautiful and the mountains and scenary there were magnificently gorgeous!  We walked up 148 stairs of the Stadt (city) Tower downtown and saw where the 1964 Winter Olympics were held in Innsbruck.  That was my first time to ever go visit any Olympic site- but to tell you the truth, it wasn't too exciting.  Maybe if I was actually there in 1964 to see the actual game.  Aber, alles gut!  

So my German class has been emailing some high school aged girls who are studying English here in Salzburg.  This way we can practice communicating in German and they can practice communicating in English. Well, embarassingly enough, our German isn't all that great yet, but the girls were very sweet and patient with us.  My German is coming along and I feel like I'm improving everyday, now that I can hear it everywhere around me.  When I went to the post office a few weeks ago to buy stamps, I was able to to communicate to the postman all auf Deutsch und mit kein Englisch.  I felt so proud of myself! 

Anyways, all here is still good, but it'll be even better once midterms are over and once I can start traveling again!  Well, I do have 7 months left here, so I shouldn't be complaing that much.  Well, back to studying Ethics!