DC Chillin', PG Chillin'

Soooo, I'm at Panera in Glen Dirty preparing to study for my last final of my UNC online classes for the summer, but as usual, I'm detoxing from work via facebook stalking. YAYYY. People are failing on the excitement channel, that's all I can say. I thought the summer was meant to be the time when people experience summer romances (summers of loveeee) and vacation extravaganzas and the time for wild and crAzy adventures, but no. This summer, it appears that everyone is holed up and keeping to themselves. Whatever, be a loner... as of tonight at 8 pm, I only have to worry about work!!!! It's going to be amazing to have a month off from class-- I'm just super pumped about it.

Things to look forward to: Coldplay concert, Aug. 7-- I have a CWS day that Friday, so I'm making a trip up to the Thrill for the night and partake in another of the adventures listed on my bucket list. I'll let you know how that goes.

If I was still in Europe, I'd add a trip to Santorini, Prague, or Istanbul in there for good measure. It's a hard pill to swallow, let me tell you.

Life has been exciting to say the least. Kate, Alex and I enjoyed a visit from our good buddy, J-Men over happy hour last week... good times. Then, K.Burr came to town and texted me 24/7, but never came to visit. Loser. This weekend, Xandra and I are going to go see, The Ugly Truth, naturally. Perhaps in Alexandria, perhaps in G-Town, who knows. I'd like to get back to the beach at some point, but who knows when that will happen. Work has been a lot of fun. I'm enjoying it, or maybe I just love hearing about Alex and Kate's workday drama, and I am a fan of the work I'm doing this summer again... I don't feel like an intern anymore because Alex and I chill with all the full-timers now, so I guess you could say, I am comfortable in good ol' Suitland now. Also, I think that the culture shock has finally subsided. However, I had to call my boss who is currently in London and an Englishman and then an English woman answered the phone/re-directed my call and it all came back. I got a little choked up. It was lovely to hear the English accent again, especially since the Southern English accent is so much more sophisticated than the Northern English accent... I miss it.

In other news, as of last night, I completed my first short story... Pretty sure I wrote that my final project for my Fiction Writing course was completing a short story in an earlier post, so I am officially done with that course. I have no idea what my grade will be as my professor never put a letter grade on any of my assignments, but he sent me a private email saying that he hoped I signed up for the next level Fiction Writing course, so perhaps that is a good sign. You never know with UNC though... you think you're doing so well, but then you get an exam or paper back and you realize you're just average. It's a stellar way to maintain the optimism. No, I think I have done pretty well in my online classes. They were quite tedious at times and it was sometimes difficult to stay motivated and on task without a formal meeting time, but all in all, I think that they went well and will hopefully be GPA boosters. And, I passed all of my Sheffield courses, so that is good too... I'm not going to lie, if I had taken those classes in America I would have busted my butt a little bit more, but since I only had to pass with a 50 or above, I slacked a little. Anyway, if you would like to read my short story, let me know, and I'll email it to you. I considered posting it on my blog, but it's a little too private for the internet. Mindy, my mum, told me it made her cry. ;) She's such a lover.

Special thanks to: Alexandra Pauls, Lindsay Saladino, Genevieve Salmon, Monique Hernandez, Chelsea Murphy, Kohan McNab, Caitlin Walsh, Luc Dallaire--Cait's boyfriend (whom I've never met, but still wrote about... is that weird?), Julia Amato, Jim Goodliffe, and others for being my inspiration this semester. Though only Dino, G-Salm, Julz, and Jim were characters in my final project, the rest of you were utilized throughout the semester in various papers and projects. I plan to continue writing short stories for the time being... I did not realize how huge of an impact people (not just those listed above) make on you until you attempt to describe their entire persona in 500 words or less. Again, weird? I know I'm weird, but I love you all.

That's all for now... it's seriously time for me to study as my exam is at 5 p.m., which is in 2 hours. Payce. And for old time's sake, cheers...