Well, another term has come and gone. I finally finished my second week of finals today. It seems like an eternity has passed since I took my first final two weeks ago. This semester seems like it went really quickly and really slowly at the same time. I am exhausted, but still haven't come off the the rush from finals. These tests are pretty "do-or-die" so I've never been as stressed taking tests as I am down here. If you fail finals, there's a chance you're going home for good, and the problem is, now you're stuck in debt with nothing gained from it and if you fail out of school, you can't get federal loans anymore to go back to school. Luckily that isn't the road I will be taking. I study every day down here, some more than others, but finals is an intense time. I get headaches often from focusing so hard and my eyes get worse from looking closely at all my notes and computer screen. I find my jaw muscles become exhausted from clenching and my back kills me from sitting so much. My sleeping and eating schedule get thrown off and my life just gets put on hold until my tests are done. Today was my hardest test and my stomach still feels upset from all the stress I had this morning. All of that, plus I can't even think about my student loan debt. And to think, I'm doing all of this to myself voluntarily! But it will definitely be worth it in the end. I've learned a lot and have made some good friends who are in it with me, and it's nice to have peers working with you towards the same goal. Today while we sat waiting for our test to begin, Mike and I sang "Final Countdown" by Europe and it has been stuck in my head all day long, but it's really how I felt taking my test. It was just an epic battle to finish strong!
After our finals were done we came straight home, changed, and headed to the beach. That seemed to be every one's plan because the beach was packed, but it was really fun. We had a couple drinks and hung out on the sand and in the water. We people watched (of course!) and talked about what we're going to eat when we get home. On a side note, since the food down here really isn't very good, it has become a past time of ours to fantasize about American food. It sounds lame, but after living in the land of nutmeg everything and bland everything else, it makes anything sound delicious. Anyway, I've been wanting to wakeboard down here since last term and I knew that there had to be a place to do it, but had never seen anyone with a board. There are several boats who harass the beach to tow you on the inflatable tubes and a couple times I've seen people water ski. But I've asked all of those boats and none of them have ever had a wakeboard. Today I was standing there and saw some little tourist boy putting on a wakeboard and I ran over to find the guy with the boat. We haggled prices (He originally wanted to charge me for five tries to get up. I told him I only needed one try and I would pay less!) and I finally got him to agree to also let my friend Crystal sit on the boat and take pictures. The boat is so old (possibly made of wood?) and is painted black on the outside and bright purple/pink on the inside. The wakeboard was new, but not a nice one, but I was thrilled to even be able to go down here. I got to go around the bay and then my ride was over. It was so much fun, but I've never boarded on the ocean before and the water was pretty choppy! Definitely not ideal conditions, but so worth it and so much fun! I can cross "Wakeboard in the Caribbean Sea" off my bucket list now. When I got back the driver was like, "Baby, you are very good. Was that your first time?" Yep, you caught me.
We came back and ate and then we went to Owl's, the bar down the hill from us. We sat on the beach and enjoyed the night and the fact that we don't have to study anything for an entire month! It was down to 75 degrees tonight and for us, we felt a chill in the air. I'm really going to freeze when I get home! It was weird today sitting on the beach and being in the water knowing that Christmas is going to be here in about a week and I'm in my bikini. It's nice, but I'm definitely ready to go home. I want to wear jeans and sweaters and boots and actually be cold and not sweat. I already have a busy break ahead of me and it's going to be a blast. I'm going to drive home from Texas with Nick because he's finally getting out of the army! We're going to rescue a dog, do some wedding stuff, go snowboarding, be with family. It's going to be a good month break. I have to do laundry tomorrow and begin to pack, Sunday I'm moving stuff out of my apartment, and then Monday I get to go home! If everything goes as planned I'm going to have about 15 hours of travel time with layovers in Barbados and Miami. I'm not looking forward to it, but at least it will be getting me one step close to home! I can't wait!
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