Well, those of you who talk to me on a fairly regular basis probably know that the past week or so hasn't exactly been the best week of my life. I spent the past weekend moping around my apartment and eating everything in sight, because I got the call that my parents had to put my dog down. Part of me knew it was coming, but I'm still having a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea of it actually having happened. This came at the same time as receiving an acceptance letter, well - email really, for the German graduate program at UW Madison. Great news, but I wasn't in the best mindset to hear it.
After a less than stellar weekend, things are starting to look up and I'm starting to remember again why I am here. The past few weeks have been fairly uneventful for me, especially because we were nearing the end of the semester at my school. That meant lots of reviewing and testing and literally no opportunities for me to really take part in the lessons. Having had enough of sitting around doing nothing, I've sat down with the head of the English department and the results are great so far.
Rather than the 12 hours per week that I had scheduled last semester (and often times it ended up being less than that), it looks like I will be able to have 18 hours this coming semester! Granted, I lose my day off, BUT I never utilized it last semester. That, and only having two class hours on Fridays makes it easy for me to request a day off in the future...especially since I haven't missed a day yet. So yeah, after I reiterated over and over again that I had waaaaaaaay too much free time, I was given more hours AAAAAAAAAND (drum role, please)
.......it looks like I'm going to have two different class hours that I'll be able to plan for and lead BY MYSELF! HA! One will be for conversation & films, the other helping students prepare for the English oral examinations (get your mind out of the gutter) they take at the end of the year. I'm SO pumped and I really think that this will give me more of a sense of "belonging" at the school. I think the English department is thrilled as well...the head of the department told me today after going over class schedules that, "Hey, if you want more work, we'll find it for you!" In celebration, I went and bought a new set of colorful pens and a pen/pencil case at the bookstore. Yay for motivation!!!
Not only am I able to look forward to a larger role at the school, but I also have a wonderful weekend to look forward to! Friday night I head off to Muenster (the university city about 20 minutes away) to see "Romeo and Juliet" with some friends. I'll spend the night at a friend's there, and then we'll both go to the "American Party" held by a good friend of mine in Warendorf. All the English TAs in our group (and one Brit) are going to get together to kick some German butt at the best drinking games America has to offer - beer pong, flip cup, kings, and the like.
ANOTHER great thought I've been dwelling on today - it's T-minus two months until Andie, Nikki and Kelsey arrive for Spring Break in Munich, Paris and Stockholm. So. Pumped.
So yeah - things are looking up. Maybe it's just January that's the month for depression....? Let's hope February will be significantly better :)
Tschuessi!
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