TGIF

And not only thank god it's Friday, thank god I'm finished with my oral presentation, and thank god for friends too! =)

So the picture is of the poster I made for my presentation. It's very old school, but at the same time, it's cute, and I'm thinking about putting it up on my wall now that I'm finished with the presentation - and my walls are still pretty bare, save the one wall with my Happy Bunny poster, and the pictures that Kyle and my mom have sent me.

But this week turned out to be a tough one. I sent my mom off on Sunday, Mother's day. Then I had to get used to being on my own, all over again. And as stressful and tiring as her being here was, I really did enjoy my time with her, and I got used to having her around, so it was a really hard adjustment to make, and I got pretty homesick. It didn't help that my presentation was today, Friday, and I hadn't done any research for it - the day we were assigned days for the presentation was the day that my mom arrived, so there was really never any time for me to start on it while she was here. So I was struggling with homesickness, having problems reverting back into German (I still have problems, but I'm working on it), and trying to get most of my work done by Wednesday, because Thursday was another holiday, and everything, including the computer labs, would be closed, so I wasn't going to be able to do any research or printing or copying that day.

Monday I don't even remember what I did. Probably tried to work on my presentation, but didn't get anywhere, because it's extremely hard to concentrate on things when you're dealing with homesick. Probably cried some, since I seemed to do that a lot this week. On Tuesday, I went looking for poster board, but didn't find anything. That was very disappointing. Felt very discouraged on Tuesday, because I also didn't get much research done either. That was the worst day. Wednesday I was determined to get things done. Mostly because I had to. I had my two classes, then I went hunting for poster board. Found that, so that made me a little happier. Went up to my apartment to drop off everything, and checked my mail. Found out that I had gotten a surprise package! That was pretty cool. So instead of going down to the university right away to work on my presentation, I decided to open my package from Stephanie (and baby). A jar of peanut butter and a card were sitting right on top of everything. After pulling the card out, and seeing the "Miss you" on the front, I just started crying. Everything she had sent me, peanut butter, candy, picture frames... was everything that I needed. I had been meaning to buy picture frames, but just hadn't found any for the right price that I like, so I sat on the floor for a while, crying and putting pictures into my picture frames. But it was a good thing, because getting a package is just so awesome, knowing someone has taken the time (and money, because it's freaking expensive to send a package!) to put together something for you, and then mail it off is worth every penny spent. And it was just the perfect thing to help me feel a little less homesick. By far the best thing that happened to me all week!

So after I managed to stop crying, I went down to the university, got my handout finished, printed and copied. Went back to my room, made some food, had a little bit to drink, and just relaxed. Thursday I hung out with friends, finished putting together my poster, wrote a little introduction for my presentation, and called it a day. Today was my presentation. It went ok. I wasn't nervous at all, until I got up in front of my class, and then I made a few mistakes, but it's hard enough to speak in front of a group of people in your native language, let alone a foreign one! But now it's over, and it's the only major project for that class that I have to do, so now I can sit back and not have to worry.

Same goes for the weekend. I have nothing pressing to do, and so there's not much on the agenda. A little sunbathing, reading, relaxing... attempting to speak lots of German. Just trying to enjoy my time here. =)

Alles Liebe,
Amanda