Now we're getting to crunch time

Hello friends and family!

So many of you have been asking whether I actually go to classes. The answer to that is YES. We just finished our last day of classes on Friday -- which didn't really count as "class" because we did Geopolitics presentations that are worth 30% of our grade. Basically, we each got assigned a continent and we had to talk about the geopolitical issues of that continent, whether natural or man-made. I was in the group that did Australia and New Zealand, and while they aren't really a hotbed of civil war or war of any kind, really, right now, they do have a TON of natural hazards and disasters. Um, did anyone else know that New Zealand gets upwards of 20,000 earthquakes a YEAR?
Granted, most of those are less than a 3.0 on the Richter scale, but still. TWENTY THOUSAND. That's like more than 50 earthquakes A DAY.

Anyways, so now I know a bunch about natural disasters in New Zealand and Australia. Because it's not enough that all the animals in Australia want to kill people, so does NATURE.


In answer to your question, yes I do actually go to classes. Or, I did when we were still having them. The next two weeks are our exam weeks. We have two exams a week and studying for them is really doing a number on my brain. Each professor gave us a list of 10-15 essay questions; they'll pick 8 of those to put on the exam, and we get to pick any 4 of those 8 to answer in two hours.

It's not super complicated, it's just a matter of there being SO MUCH INFORMATION. So a few of us have banded together to split up the research for the questions, creating a big pool of information for two of the classes (Geopolitics and Management). These two exams will be the hardest, I think, so the studying has been under way for a while now.

Other than that, we're just wrapping stuff up here. I've been listening to Christmas music obsessively, since I didn't have Thanksgiving here (which was weird, actually). It's kind of motivating and at the same time the only thing I want to do is watch Christmas movies.

I'm done with exams and stuff on December 11th, and I'll be home the night of the 16th. So get excited, y'all -- I'm coming home!! Miss you all and can't wait to see you! (And Happy Birthday again, Aunt Jan!)