What a difference a year makes...again.

Senior is still a scary word, my thesis is cruising right along (although sort of on cruise control until graduate school applications are in the mail), and life is still going in all sorts of different directions.

The long awaited trip back to Ireland is going to happen over Christmas. Words cannot describe how unbelievably excited I am. John moved over to London in August and there is no way to really explain how hard it is being so far away from him. We get a whole month together over winter break, which sounds pretty amazing when you've been "skyping" for months. He's never been to Ireland and I cannot wait to get back. I'm excited to be able to introduce him to a place that means so much to me. The one thing I always struggled with after studying abroad was explaining the experience to other people...so I'm thrilled to be able to share it with him.

It's especially weird that John's not here tonight...if it weren't for Barack Obama I'm not sure we ever would have met. Crazy right? Sort of like Ireland, election night just seems like a really amazing dream anymore. But I will never forget that packed ballroom and crying/laughing/being deliriously tired but so proud of everything we accomplished. Congrats again to everyone from our little Iowa City Obama family, it was a wild and crazy ride but SO worth it.

After tomorrow I only have four weeks of classes left. Ah! Bring it on senior year! I can take it.

1 year...

I sort of have to pinch myself when I say it, but I've been back for a whole year now. The funny part is that I didn't actually realize it until the day after the "one year" mark. I guess it's because Ireland just feels like a really good dream now and I have to keep reminding myself that it actually happened. I still miss it all the time and I'm waiting not-so-patiently for my chance to go back, but at some point this year it started to feel more like a really crazy dream than anything else.
As of a few weeks ago I'm officially a SENIOR at the U of I which is about the most terrifying thing I've ever heard. I keep hearing this nasty rumor that in about a year they'll kick me out of here and it'll be off to the real world for me. Yup. Only two more semesters and a completed honors thesis are standing in the way of me walking across that stage. Scccaarrryyy....
So far my favorite part of being a "senior" is not having to sign up for a single class that starts before noon. Next fall I'm going to get that long awaited chance to sleep in. My least favorite part is the fact that now everyone wants to know what the "plan" is. Well, everyone's just going to have to hold on and when I know what the "plan" is I'll be sure to share it. For now I'm keeping my options open and taking a few summer classes, because really, who doesn't love a good all night study session in the middle of summer. And past that...uuhhh....