Almost there

Today was my last day of classes for all of my BCA classes. I still have Catalan tonight and again on Monday, but other than that classes are over... which means finals are here. Once again, we have the same final schedule, meaning three exams for me on Tuesday and two on Wednesday instead of one because of my Catalan class as well. I'm both excited and not excited about the semester ending. Most of me is excited, but the part of my that is sad is the part that doesn't want to say goodbye to some of the people that I've become friends with. I've never been good at dealing with change though I often find that I put myself in situations where change happens frequently. So when some of the students leave next Friday, it may be the last time I'll ever see them! I guess it isn't so incredibly terrible, though, with all of the modern technology we have as well as Facebook, I'll still be able to communicate with them.

On another topic completely, I had a really good conversation with my host parents today after lunch. Usually after we finish eating I just help clear the table while my host dad starts watching TV and my host mom goes to the kitchen to wash the dishes. (I've offerred to help, but she won't let me!) Lunch today was different! After we had finished eating, my host mom and dad were talking about traveling to the United States and how it is expensive, but you can find cheap tickets if you look in the right places. So I asked them if they had ever been to the US. This started an entire conversation about travel, where they had been, how often they travelled, how much it costs, the difference between the different students that had lived with them, and all sorts of stuff. We literally sat at the table for about 30 minutes after we were finished eating, just talking! They also brought up Christmas again, and I think they are excited about sharing it with me, which makes me more excited about being here. It's so strange.. in one month I'll be getting ready to start my month of travel around Europe!!! And after that, there is only one semester left before I return home..

Speaking of home, I've been worried about what I'm going to be doing this coming summer because I was hoping to do research for the same non-profit organization I interned for last summer on a project I just started before the summer ended. However, after being here for a whole year with no work, I need to get paid next summer, so I could only do the research with a grant. The Lilly grant that funded my internship this past summer ran out, so I had started to look for other research opportunities. After a few emails, I found out that Manchester has a few summer "scholarships" for students who want to do non-profit internships this summer. Yay!! I'm not sure if I will get one of the scholarships, and even if I do, I may have to find another part-time job, but now I at least have something to aim for. If the scholarship/grant thing doesn't work out and I'm not in North Manchester this summer, then I'll probably try to find something in Indianapolis so that I can live at home for the first time since I've left for college! That would be another exciting adventure all by itself...