10 "and on a more personal note..."

Well, I knew the day would come when I was so bogged down in grad school stuff that my blog post would have to be a little less academic. So here comes a personal update post, if you're interested :)

Who knew that my brain could fit this much information in such a short amount of time? Every day when I walk into my Environmental Politics class, the first thing that my professor says is that what we are learning in one class what usually takes a whole semester to learn and fully understand. But why hold fast to norms?! We're grad students! We're paying ungodly amounts of money to learn, so by gosh we shall learn!

Not saying that I'm not enjoying myself, because I sure am. I feel immensely more intelligent and can have a true debate in some of my classes, even if I end up playing Devil's Advocate. My scientific mind still can't grasp the lovey-dovey, mushy, utopianism that many of my fellow students believe so whole-heartedly in (nothing wrong with it, just not my style). Isn't it my job to share my experiences and knowledge so that others can learn as much as possible? I'm not going to sit by while she-who-shall-not-be-named (no, not Voldemort's wife) goes on about how terrible the Green Revolution was for our world and how hybrids cause soil erosion. Because that's just flat out wrong. But enough of my ranting, which is obviously aimed toward one individual in this case. I find myself meshing beautifully with the majority of my classmates and especially with my program-mates who are South-of-the-border bound with me. Which brings me to my next point.

This semester is such a tease. It's the beginning of October (aka three more months until January can start) and I'm already knee-deep in finding housing in Costa Rica, a one-way plane ticket, and registering for my first class ("Hunger, famine, and food security," perfect, I know). But every single day I have to think about the mounds of reading that's due in less than one week, in the policy brief that I haven't started, in the grant proposal that's not really real but it is at the same time. I can't focus on Costa Rica like I wish I could without losing focus on the things that I need to focus on. It's completely unfair and it's getting me down.

However, my luck is looking up. My mom and brother are coming to visit in one week, and we have tours of the Pentagon and the White House arranged. On top of them coming into town, the Park class of 2013 has their Learning Lab II trip as well. I get to do Marrakesh Part Deux, which won't disappoint I'm sure. And then on top of all of that, I'm 99% sure that my mom and I are going to Portugal for a week in November. So maybe even if I have to kill myself this semester, there are things that keep me going. Especially the thought of a year in Costa Rica. I can taste the chicharron and Imperial now...