Since my last post, I've turned in two major papers, taken all my finals, auditioned for a weather spot in the nightly student news program (broadcast all over Oklahoma), and driven a near-record time for the trip home.
Classes ended very well. As a recap, I took:
- Atmospheric Dynamics (meteorology physics)
- (Atmospheric) Thermodynamics (meteorology chemistry)
- Meteorological Measurements (also known as "Tetris", at least to me. A class about thermometers and barometers and things)
- Climate, History, and Society (meets both my climatology and my geography requirements. Upper division, taken with roomie 4--who is also in another of his classes--and also offered at a grad student level)
- Public Finance-Issues of taxation (econ)
Thermodynamics was my favorite METR class, although not necessarily the easiest. Still, the concepts made sense to me and I was reasonably confident about it. It was my first final and took place at 1:30 on Monday. We were allowed two sheets, front and back, of handwritten notes for the final. I was reasonably confident but stayed up studying until about 4:30 and woke up again at 9 to study. He had these graded by Wednesday and, although I didn't do quite as well as I had hoped on the exam, I got an "A" in the class.
Tuesday at 1:30 was my Econ exam. This is the one I was least worried about, but I studied hard for it because there was a fair amount of memorization involved. I think my studying times were comparable to those from the day before (slept roughly 4:30-9).
Wednesday was my tough day. Both of my hardest finals were then.
As soon as I got back from my Econ final, I met up with Roomie 4 and our mutual friend from New Jersey who were in Climate/History/Society (CHS) with me. That exam was to take place at 1:30 on Wednesday. I also had Dynamics (probably my hardest course, but I'll get into that in a minute) at 8 a.m. Wednesday. So the plan was to go to NJ's place. I let them go ahead of me, while I tried to come up with a plan of attack for studying. Instead I panicked and cried a little and sent roomie 6 a three-page text message freaking out. Once I got that out of my system, I headed over to NJ's place (in the same apartment complex as mine) and found him and 4 with a bottle of really really cheap wine. So we studied and had a glass and I calmed down a bit and it was an overall productive time. Even if it was interrupted with occasional breaks for important things like gelato and Mario Kart.
We finished that around 10 that night, and then I tried to prevent myself from further panic and start studying dynamics. I didn't get very far, so I finally met up with roomie 6 at the library, in a private study room.
Dynamics is tough enough that his grading scale is completely warped. An "A" (90% in most classes) was 75% in this class. Most people would consider that a C. A "B" was 65%. I wasn't doing great in the class (I considered it the hardest of the Junior Year METR sequence, i.e. the "Unholy Trinity"), but I only needed a 35% on the test in order to maintain a B in the class. Somehow, having been awake for about 24 hours at the time of the test, I managed to do this. In fact, I ended up with a final grade average of 72% for the class--much close to an "A" than I expected.
After the dynamics test, I went back to NJ's place so the three of us could finish studying for CHS. But in my car on the way there I noticed my "check engine soon" light was on. Just the stress I needed. Well, we finished studying around 11, went to lunch, and were in the classroom for the test an hour early. I was feeling confident, but he threw a few curveballs on the test and asked about random tidbits from the presentations the grad students had to give. Eek. He hates his children, though, and had the tests graded by Friday afternoon. I got an A in that class too.
Thursday I had off. So after my Wednesday finals, I tried to take care of the light on my car (unplugged and replugged the battery and never had to deal with it again), took a nap, played some Mario Kart with 4 and NJ. And then went back to bed to mess around on the internet and watch Christmas movies. By 11 pm (still on Wednesday night), 4 was already yelling at me to just go to sleep. So I did. The previous nap was all the sleep I had gotten since waking up Tuesday morning. I slept until about 11 Thursday morning (probably about 11 hours of sleep), and then thought about what had to be done to prep for my last final. Measurements. We got three pages, front and back, of typed notes for this exam. The previous tests in the class had allowed one and two pages, respectively. So I went back through my notes from the first test, made sure what I had written down was complete, unstapled the notes from the second exam from the back of that test, and added a few things from the last few weeks of class (after the second exam) to the empty spaces in the first exam's notes sheet, and called it a night around 4 a.m. Yeah, I played a lot of Mario Kart and otherwise wasted a lot of time on Thursday. But y'know, the break felt nice.
My final was at 8 a.m. Friday. Finals are scheduled to take 2 hours, but I had it turned in 40 minutes early and 20 minutes later I got a text message from facebook. It was a private message from my professor (who I'm not facebook friends with), telling me I had gotten a 90% on the exam and, thus, an "A" in the class. Creepy, but joyful nonetheless.
I was just laying down for another nap (to prep myself for a day of packing and cleaning) when I got a text from former roomie 5 (who has since been replaced with, well, Eddie, who will now be known as 5.1, though 4 calls him 5. whatever), who I had been texting for the last week to set up lunch plans.
Yeah, it might have been a tiny bit... questionable, socially. I didn't tell 4 that I was planning on meeting with 5. That said, I would not lie to her if it came up. 5 is my bro, and I can't just not be friends with him. I refuse to let that be a thing.
So anyway, instead of me taking a nap, I went with 5 to get burritos and chat, and we did so for a couple hours. And then I came home and packed and cleaned, and went to a party for a little while, and then cleaned a little more and then it was 2 a.m. Saturday and I was planning on leaving at 8:30 for the trip home with a friend, BK (story behind the name coming next), who would be in the car with me as far as Des Moines because he lives in Southern Illinois and his dad was going to meet us there.
So we get in the car, surprisingly on time. Made good progress right through the Kansas Turnpike without having to make a single stop (thanks, in some part, to a Kansas State Trooper who apparently decided 5 mph over was not worth his time, thank goodness). Of those first 4.5 hours, BK slept at least 3 of them. And for another hour, he listens to music on his headphones (which he did again later). COMMON COURTESY: on a long trip, it is the responsibility of the passengers to do anything within their power to keep the driver awayke! And then we stop in Ottawa, KS. The signs at this exit said there was a Burger King here, but then I saw a McDonald's as we got off the highway, and this made me happy because McDonald's actually makes good lattes. So I turn off the main road to go to McDonald's... and BK stops me. "No, I don't like McDonald's" he says as I turn. "I want Burger King." Apparently he hasn't eaten McDonald's since he saw the movie "Food, Inc." in high school; he made a bet with his mom that he wouldn't eat McD's for a year and, even with that time long up, hasn't eaten it since. But Burger King is just fine. REALLY?!
So we pull into Burger King and I go to the bathroom (having had a can of Mountain Dew and a bottle of Vault so far), and then get in line where he's waiting. And when we get up there, without so much as looking at me, he orders his food to eat there instead of to go. It being too late, and having been made somewhat of a big deal of by the employees, I didn't bother changing it. We eat, we get back in the car, fill up with gas, hit the road again.
Three hours later, we're in Iowa. Now, if you've somehow forgotten, I hate Iowa. It's boring, it tries to kill me, and it doesn't make sense. So if I can avoid stopping more than once in Iowa, I do. Maybe an hour from Des Moines, BK has to go to the bathroom. "Well, I've done all night video game things where I can't leave, so, I mean, I can hold it for a while." But he doesn't drop it. I ask how badly he has to go. "Well... I mean... we don't have to just pull over right now or anything. But next possible stop." UGH. I'M THE GIRL ON THIS TRIP. I'M SUPPOSED TO BE THE ONE WITH THE TINY BLADDER. And he threatens to pee in a cup, so I pull over at the next rest stop. 45 minutes from where I'm dropping him off with his dad. And even though I've now had that Vault and Mountain Dew and a drink from Burger King, I don't so much as get out of the car because I don't want to prolong this at all.
When we get out of the car in Des Moines, his dad asks me if I need money for gas or anything, and, though I was hoping to avoid doing so, I had to awkwardly say "er... yeah, that'd be nice, I guess." Like, no, it's not technically any trouble, seeing as I didn't have to change my route at all (in fact, probably would have made this exact same stop here even without a passenger), but yeah, splitting the trip usually means splitting the gas cost. So far I've used about two almost-full tanks. At $2.80-ish each and 12 gallons or so, that's.... eh, close to $30, we'll say, per tank. Two people, two tanks... BK's dad looks at BK while pulling out his wallet "You got it or should I?" But BK pulls out his wallet "No, no, I got it," and gives me a $20. At this point, it's already awkward enough and I just want to be on my way so I say thanks and put it in my back pocket and decide not to care. Yes, frustrated. But just... ugh.
The rest of the trip went smoothly. I didn't have to make another stop anywhere along the route. I've since been to Caribou twice and had good times and good coffee. But I get to make two-thirds of the trip back with this kid too. Yeah... kind of not looking forward to that.
Bed time. Update on winter-break-type things someday soon, probably.
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