Expectations Meet Reality

Things one would expect to happen at the end of the Fall 2009 semester:

1. Lots of studying for finals
2. Flies/mosquitoes die
3. Anticipation for going home for Christmas

Things that are actually happening at the end of the Fall 2009 semester:

1. This has been the easiest finals week of my life. That's not saying that the whole semester has been easy, but I haven't really needed to study much for my tests, which is nice. As a result, I played basketball two days ago, tennis yesterday, and soccer is on the agenda for today! It's pretty nice. But it's especially weird that I can be outside in shorts and a t-shirt...in the middle of December (that's only to play sports, otherwise I usually have to wear pants and a long-sleeve shirt).
2. Mosquitoes and flies here are sooooo annoying. I thought they would die since the weather has gotten colder, but they haven't. And it seems like the flies here are more persistent and annoying than the ones in Ohio. Almost every night I wake up to mosquito bites and something buzzing near my ear. Good thing I'm on the east side of the Nile and not on the west side (allusion to West Nile Virus for those of you who didn't catch on!)...I have, however, gotten gained a new skill--killing flies. The trick is to kill them when they're in the sun. I think their eyesight might not be so good then.
3. While I'm definitely sad that I'm not going home for Christmas, it was my decision to stay here during Christmas break when I first applied to study here. So, as many of you know, Corey is coming to visit me from December 27 - January 9. Then on January 10, I'm going to be going to Turkey for 2 weeks. I'll be visiting places like Istanbul, Ephesus, Troy, and Cappadocia. Here's a link to a map of all the places I'll be visiting, starting in Istanbul and moving counter-clockwise around the western half of the country. When I get back, it'll be just about time to start school again.

Christmas is coming...

Happy Thursday!