Finals

I have to say one of my least favorite things about NZ has been their finals system... I've made several references to finals over the past few weeks, mainly highlighting the fact that I only have 3 over a two week period, with a one week study break beforehand.  First of all, this is just a recipe for me to feel like a terrible student.  It's completely unnecessary for me to study that much for the classes I'm taking.  Just give me a couple of days and I'll be fine.  And I can defend my point because I had two finals this past week and they went quite fine- I even took quiz night study breaks. (By the way, we won quiz night one night.  HOORAH!)

In addition to feeling like I should be studying constantly for three weeks, the actual administration of the exams seems a little over the top.  It's like taking the SATs or something:  they check our IDs, allow us to only bring in pens and water, and the professor isn't actually there, instead there's about three random people walking around keeping people in check.  Some people even have exams on Saturday, yuck!  Moreover, the exam period is three hours long, and it's taken me at least two and a half for both of the ones i've taken thus far.  After writing three philosophy essays in three hours, my brain was completely fried.  Not cool.  But in spite of everything, I guess I shouldn't complain, as these are the only exams I've had to take all semester...

I have one final left, Sports History, this Thursday, and then I'm done!  CRAZY!  How long have i been here now?  5 months?  Pretty unbelievable.  It's one of those things where I feel like I just got here, but at the same time like I've been here forever... It's pretty weird too, because a lot of my new friends are going back within the next week or so, and I'll still be hanging out.  I'm going to miss them heaps, hopefully this won't be the last time I see them.

I'm starting to miss home a little more- don't get me wrong, I still love it here, but I could really go for some solid home cooked meals, or even just a real hot dog.  Mmm... hot dogs [drools].  And I definitely would like to see family and friends, and (attempt to) cuddle with my cats.  But, I'm sure these next two months will go by just as fast as the rest of my time here and before I know it, it'll be time to head home.  Hopefully I'll make the most of my time here and go on some killer adventures.  Safe adventures, of course.

My birthday is coming up, and I'm pretty excited about celebrating it in NZ just for the sake of being in another country.  But alas, as usual, it's going to be difficult to round people up for the celebration, as people are traveling/going home during the semester break.  I'm sure it'll be just fine though.  Hm... 22... interesting...

Random note:  my use of "y'all" has become a rare occurrence, and I'm wondering whether two months of living with a kiwi (with a fairly strong accent I may add) with further diminish that.