So... today is the day before all of my hardest finals. I will be in classrooms across campus tomorrow from about 8 in the morning until about 3 in the afternoon, yes, taking finals. Why am I updating my blog then, might you ask? Well, because inevitably, I am waiting for some friends to come pick me up to go out to eat on this incredibly snowy Sunday and honestly, my giveadamn is busted. I worked really hard all semester and I have good grades because of it. All I can think about is how this is my last week on this wonderful campus, surrounded by the kids that I love and that I am going to miss it so so so much. Also, I couldn't be more thrilled to be going home for the holidays! I cannot wait to see my sister and my parents and those back home, but my heart is in St. Louis and I want to soak it in as much as I can. Which means that I will probably end up doing absolutely everything except study until late tonight, when I will freak out, realizing the the hole that I have dug myself into. Good times.

So it's about 3 weeks or so until I leave for Leiden. There aren't enough words to describe how I feel about the situation. I'm nervous, excited, sad to leave but overjoyed at my opportunity. The over-riding emotion I think is excitement. It wasn't until a couple weeks ago that I realized how much I am ready for this to happen. I had a really rough summer, and I've had a really great first semester and now I am ready for a kick-ass second semester, and I want all of you to be with me through all of it. Pictures, videos, good times, bad times, I want everyone that I care about to see the experience through my eyes and be able to see what and how I'm doing. You'll laugh, you'll cry, it'll be better than cats (dear God I hope so).The Lap top is an amazing invention. I will be able to make updates while I'm in the airport, in trains, you name it.

I look forward to writing about getting ready to leave as well. Packing is going to be probably one of the hardest things I've had to plan out. I've had to pack for hiking trips, but with hiking trips the whole point is to be "roughing it" and it's usually for a couple days. This is for 4 months and the point is to look damn good. Also, the paper work up to this point has been kind of stressful. Webster's program in general makes traveling abroad a really easy thing to do, but once you're in the program you really have to be up on your game. Also picking out classes for this next semester was difficult as well. It's hard to gage how much you're going to be able to handle in this incredibly new situation. How many classes is too many? Should I be concerned with taking classes for my major? Will there be any hot guys in my classes? If so, how many will take me out for free dinner so I can save money? So many questions left unanswered...

For those of you who aren't up to date with what is the reality of my life up to this point, I'll fill you in. I'm a sophomore at Webster University in St. Louis where my major is Video Production. My plan is to bassically unofficially minor in music and human rights since all of my electives up to this point have basically been in those areas. I am also working towards a Documentary Production Certificate. I want to go into documentary making when I graduate; that is the dream and the goal. I am a realist though and realize that I will probably be working at a production studio and/or doing freelance videography for a while and inbetween projects. My areas of focus in documentaries are human rights, human rights and the environment, and character studies focusing on interesting people and families. I really want to travel to do these documentaries, my particular areas of interest right now are Isreal-Palestine, and South Africa. I really want to move to one or both of those areas for a while and see what I can come up with.

But first-- To Leiden!