Ahhhh... the END of the semester!

Believe it or not, we are finally in the last week of classes. Can I get a "Hooray!" and maybe an "Amen!"??? Okay, so the "Amen!" may be a little out of place... but you get the idea.

Of course, since it is the last week of the semester, everything must be jam-packed into two days--when really you need the full week to get everything done that you intended to do. Although technically I am finished because I don't give a final exam in my class (apparently there are too many scheduled sections of the course I teach to actually allow everyone to schedule an exam during finals week...), there is still LOTS of grading to be done and goofy emails to respond to.

That's right... those "But I don't understand how I earned a (undesired grade)! Can't I do extra work?" emails.

Sorry kids, but the answer is "No." Let me just stop you from asking now; the semester is over, there are no other assignments and I'm not going to be unfair to the other students in my class who actually did what they were told just to give you the grade you think you actually deserve. Even for as much as I can say that it is unfair to the other students, there are actually rules in place that prevent me from doing such a thing-- and I really want to keep the job I have, thank you very much.

That being said, the other interesting phenomena that arrives at the end of the year here in Happy Valley is the presence of the "Bar Tour." Now, they can actually come at any time of the year: you turned 21, you passed a majorly hard exam, etc. However, it is only when you are officially a graduating senior (typically) that you get a t-shirt AND a bar tour out of it too. These next two weeks are going to be FILLED with people celebrating the end of school by drinking their livers into oblivion and making it a point go to to every bar in town and drinking as much as they possibly can while at each of these bars. I wish I could actually remember the number of drinking establishments in this town; but I'm pretty sure there has to be OVER 10 of them (those are the ones I can immediately think of...).

I think it's funny that people here celebrate the rite of passage known as graduating with a trip that could possibly end up removing any and all education they received at this fine institution they paid thousands of dollars to attend. Then again, I'm sure when I was their age... nah, I just pretty much went straight into graduate school. Who am I kidding?

I wish I could say that I would be spending the last couple of weeks of school in this same manner-- but there is too much grading to be done ANNNNDDDDD... my boy will be here to visit soon! I am so excited about him coming to visit! :) He's been here before, but I haven't seen him since January--so I've really been missing him quite a bit. I'm trying to plan some fun stuff for us to do, but at the same time... I think we're really excited over the possibility of just chilling out together and relaxing like we do when I'm at home (read: in Texas).

So, in the meantime... Happy End of the Semester to you!