A Whirlwind Wrap-Up

The last week of my first year at college--sniff!--went by far too quickly in a blur of studying and packing. (Oddly, the latter was much more stressful and time-consuming than the former). There were also last hurrahs with friends and final exams. And then, quite suddenly, everything was over.

This is my last week, recapped in short, fragmentary sentences to better reflect my state of mind at the time--jumping from one highly-focused activity to another, no frills.

MONDAY and TUESDAY: Study period, meaning no classes and no finals.

Work on the essay that we have in Contemporary American Fiction instead of a final. Begin packing up books to ship home (I brought too many "old friends," thinking I'd have time to re-re-re-re-re-read them--hah!).

Purge worn-out clothing. Begin to realize that all my stuff will still not quite fit in the three 18x18x16 boxes permitted in on-campus storage. Begin to worry slightly. Checked online for shuttle times to the airport for Saturday flight home. Realized airport shuttles did not start until Sunday. Panic. Call Mom. Stop panicking.

Contact wonderful friend who lives in Oberlin and has taken me to the airport before. Wonderful friend who lives in Oberlin has a final when I would like to be en route to the airport, but knows someone who's giving someone else a ride at the same time. Wonderful friend who lives in Oberlin also is willing to store an extra box or two of my stuff in his garage over the summer. Wonderful friend is wonderful.

Put some decent-but-don't-fit-right clothes in dorm's Swap Box. Find computer speakers in Swap Box. Swap Box is wonderful.

Do last load of laundry before going home. Amazingly, big, fluffy towel doesn't need to be put through dryer twice. Dryer is wonderful.

WEDNESDAY: Neuroscience test is at 2:00. Test is non-cumulative--just the last test of the year at a special time. Lifeguard from 6-8 a.m. Study for Neuroscience all morning. Make sure I know all steps of memory formation. Then memorize names and spellings of drugs used to treat depression.

Have lunch with a friend. Sell some books back to independent bookstore in town. Have interview with Aries, who is sort of in charge of all us bloggers. Fun interview. Good suggestions for next year. Am encouraged to blog over summer--yippee!

Neuro test. Someone is handing out Hershey's Kisses to everyone as we come in--great idea; made my day. Test isn't that bad. Didn't need to know names of anxiolytic drugs or specific depression-fighting ones, just the types (MAO-inhibitors, tricyclics, SSRIs, SNRIs). Leave into gorgeous sunshine feeling triumphant.

Play Banagrams with roommate. Go for walk. Get ice cream cone. Study for French. Pack one box. Feel fairly accomplished. Watch Stargate: SG-1 online.

THURSDAY: French final at nine in the morning! This one is cumulative. It isn't that bad either. A large part of it is writing an essay.

Return guitar to friend who lent it to me. Get serious about packing. Get interrupted by friend who wants help looking for a costume for a steampunk convention she's going to. Go to Ratsy's (vintage clothing store) with her. End up getting fun little shirt. Go to FAVA to see display of quilts as art--astounding...

Pack, pack, pack. Turn in English essay. Triumph!

Stargate just keeps getting better and better.

FRIDAY: No tests today! Spend most of day packing everything up for transport to SF Hall that evening. Storage time is 10-11 p.m.

Carry heavy box of books to post office to mail. Pain.

Study for Psychology final, which will be Saturday morning. (Yes, we have finals on Saturday. Not sure why.)

Have long, fun talk with a friend over supper. Both of us apparently were very attached to our appliances as children--I remember being VERY UPSET when we threw out one microwave, and so was he. Is this some secret, widespread phenomenon?

Study for Psychology final. Dodo's Verdict, meta-analysis, heritability of personality traits. . .

Stargate: Universe is on at nine! Very exciting. Afterwards, my fellow-viewers help me lug my three boxes to Langston/North, which I very much appreciated, because those suckers were heavy. If I had to do it all myself in three trips, I would be worn out! Even as it was, we ended up pushing them the last twenty yards or so. Luckily, North has an elevator, so we didn't have to carry them up the stairs to the storage area. Still, quite a workout. Lots of fun talking to friends on our combined endeavor.

Am very happy.

SATURDAY: Prof tells us that there have been more Honor Code violations this semester than there have been in his past twenty-six years of teaching. Sobering thought. He's understandably angry, and I am too.

Test itself takes all of half an hour.

Bundle remaining clothes/books/etc into suitcases. Bedding goes into box to be left with Wonderful Friend who Lives in Oberlin. Lose phone carrying it out to his car. Go to lunch with friends who helped me carry stuff last night. One of them has already found my phone! Friends are wonderful.

Have a very long lunch, talking about pretty much everything. Say goodbye to friends, with many promises of keeping in touch. (The Stargate: Universe finale is coming up--we will have much to discuss.)

Go to mail final small box home. Oberlin's post office is closed on Saturdays! Do not panic. Go to UPS store. Go back. Vacuum room and try to get all furniture two feet from the walls, as directed by e-mail. Get out. Lock room. Take nametag off door. Realize I can't get both suitcases downstairs with violin slung over one shoulder and laptop slung over other--it's just too much. Hear voices below. Call over railing, "Can someone help me carry one thing down quick, please?" Obliging person does so. Thank obliging person profusely. Go meet person giving me ride to airport.

Several hours later, am home. Home is wonderful. Baths are wonderful. Pie is wonderful. Really, really love family and being home.

Will abandon home in one week, however, to go visit friend at Caltech. Stand by for report from non-liberal-arts college of craziness!