Cramming.

The first month of the year is almost over and I still haven’t written a recap of 2008. I probably won’t have the time to do one but to sum it up in one sentence: I am so happy that my husband is home! That was by far the best moment of 2008.

I am currently in the middle of finals. So far I have taken four with four more to come. Studying has been going fine until today. First of all, today’s final didn’t go as well as I expected. I studied really hard and tried to memorize everything but some of the questions seemed odd to me because all of my answers seemed to contain the same facts only the wording was different. I know that I passed but I am really ambitious and missing one fact is usually a disaster for me. Some people are happy with a B or C but my goal has always been an A. So of course, having a bad feeling about this past final is dragging me down a little. On top of that, I am having the worst cold in years. I am currently trying to recuperate by taking some time off studying. But only for a few hours because I have a lot to do for next week. Four finals in four days. Beat that!

Oh, and I thought next semester would be relaxing with only four classes but guess what: I signed the paper work for my thesis. Yay! I will be working on it for five months starting March 2. I will need to have it turned in by July 31. The funny thing is that I am officially not allowed yet to start working on my thesis because I haven’t completed my internship yet but with Collin and I moving back to the States, me being on the right track with all my classes and in good terms with the professor who will be my adviser during this process, I was able to get an exception. I am excited to start researching and getting started on my thesis.

That was a lot about school, I know. I can’t wait to have a few weeks off starting the end of next week. I can’t wait to have time to myself again, to work out, watch TV, spend more time with Collin instead of having to study and cram.

Hello October!

It is October 2008 and this will be a month that I will never forget. It will be the end of our first deployment. Yes, that’s right. Collin is coming home this month. I might only be alone for three more weekends, two of which are filled with super exciting events with my fellow Army wives.

This upcoming weekend I have my hair appointment that I have been longing for for so long. Thanks everyone for the advice on how I should get my hair done. I think I will go with the lighter brown and honey/golden highlights. Also, I will keep my length as I said before. I am just in desperate need of a good trim.

Today was my first day of school. I am doing the 7th semester right now which is packed with classes, projects, labs and presentations. I am really motivated and excited about everything though. Well, it always seems as if everyone is motivated at first but i hope that this time I will be able to keep my motivation alive throughout the next 4-5 months. Hehe. The past few weeks, I have been looking for internships for next year (preferably from August 2009 until either January 2010 or July 2010). The internship of my dreams would be at the DC Water and Sewer Authority where I could work at the wastewater treatment plant doing lots of lab work. I have also been looking into smaller places such as Environmental Consulting companies like this one. Wish me luck!

So, hello October! You may go by quickly!

10 months left.

Yes, that’s right. We have a little less than 10 months left in Germany. I heard the news today and since I am a big planner, I already came up with a rough schedule for the next ten months until we are heading to DC. My main concern is school. I need this degree so bad in order to have a foundation for the next years to come. The big question was and somewhat still is: How am I going to finish my last semester (of classes) next summer since we have to be out of here by next June when I will still be in class? Well, some of you might think that I can just stay here a few more months and then follow Collin to the States a little later. It is not as simple as you might think – not when you are in the Army. I am ‘attached’ to him and his contract. We came here through the Army and we need to leave through the Army. It would be a lot harder, more time consuming and also more money consuming if I wanted to stay in our current appartment for a few more months. We NEED to move together.

My plan as of now is to just take a maximum of 14 days off for the move. However, I would miss two weeks of school but since there is no attendance requirement in German colleges, this is not a problem. Also, I am taking as many classes as possible next semester which will add up to a total of eleven classes and thus eleven finals. This means that during my last semester of classes next summer, I will only have four more finals left to take which is not very much at all. I would fly to the States with Collin, set up our place, fly back to Germany to take my finals and then fly back to the States again to start my internship. While in Germany, I can stay at my best friend’s who lives near Nuremberg. This is my rough plan so far considering school, which, to me, sounds pretty manageable so far.

On the other hand, there won’t be a German wedding that I have dreamt of and longed for for so long. I have been planning it in my head and have been setting money aside but this money will be needed for the travelling and the extra expenses that might occur while in Germany because I won’t be able to use the convenience of having a military post near by since those are only for those currently stationed in Germany.

Austria here I come.

It’s finally over! I made it through this semester and it feels so good to be done. It was so stressful at certain times but looking back now it all seems so far away and I just can’t believe that I didn’t quit, collapse or go crazy during that time. I feel so relieved now. Today my grades were posted and I couldn’t be happier. All the studying paid off and I thought last semester went great but this one went even better (FYI: In Germany 1,0 = A and 4,0 = D).

This weekend I will be heading to Austria with my parents and my sister. We are going to do lots of hiking there which I am looking forward to so much. I love hiking and exploring the mountains and my sister is actually a really good buddy when it comes to hiking. She loves it as well. Hehe, at least one thing we have in common.

Finals are approaching.

I shouldn’t be blogging right now, I should rather be studying… but I just need a short break from it. It’s been really really stressful these past few weeks. Fortunately most projects and papers are turned it. They took up so much time to finish – especially editing everything takes forever. But we made it. Tomorrow I am turning in our 100-page biotechnology paper and then I can focus on studying only. I am done with two finals already: Spanish I and some elective called Bio Fuels. The first major final is this Friday starting with Biotechnology, next week I am taking my Environmental Law and Heat-/Mass Transfer finals and after that Chemical Engineering, Organic Chemistry and Measurement Engineering. It’s going to be a busy time during the next two/three weeks… I can’t wait for August when everything will be over with.

Ten months down.

It’s been 10 months since Collin left. On one hand I can’t believe that it has been this long already, yet on the other hand I am so done with it and it is hard to think that we still have 5 months ahead of us. There are so many things that I miss and I can’t wait to have them all back. We are looking forward to going back to the States and to hanging out with our friends and family there. We are talking about it all the time on the phone and it is so much fun to discuss what we want to do and what we are looking forward to the most. It will be over two years that Collin won’t have seen his parents.

Other than that, school is crazy these days. There are so many projects that I need to work on and finish by the end of the month. There is a 100+ paper we need to turn in, an AutoCAD project, two presentations and on top of everything else there will be finals (nine of them!!!) in July. I can’t wait for this semester to end. Next semester I will be with the Senior class. It will be interesting. While all my fellow students will be having their internship semester, I will be taking classes again because I am allowed to do my internship later (most likely when we are back in the States next year – HOPEFULLY! – We are so ready to live back in the States again.).

Next week I will be turning 24 years old. I feel so old. I got my birthday present from Collin already. It is a blue Mountain Hardwear jacket that I have been wanting for so long. I am wearing it right now. Yes, I am loving it that much. I don’t know yet what I am going to do for my birthday. I was thinking of having a BBQ with friends and since the European Championships in Soccer start this week and will be lasting until the end of June, I was thinking of turning it into a Birthday/Soccer-Party. We’ll see though.

 

Time is standing still.

It’s been a while since my last post. The past four weeks have been really tough for both of us. I can’t believe it has only been four weeks since he left… it feels like it has been four months. Time has been going by really slowly. I feel like these next six and the half months are going to be the longest time of my life. Thinking about all the things we will be doing after he gets back doesn’t help. I want summer to be here as soon as possible. I want my birthday to be over and Collin’s birthday to be over. Then it will be October and I will be able to start the big countdown. Gosh, it seems so long until then.

We both have been really busy with school. Collin started taking online classes at the Central Texas College. They have a campus on the military post here in Germany and Collin is able to take classes online at his own pace while he is in Iraq. He just completed his American History class with an A and is looking forward towards his next classes. He is thinking about English and American Government but he will have to wait a term or a couple terms to start because of the current lack of internet where he is at right now. I am really proud of him. This will look really good when he goes to the boards to get a promotion.

As for me, I quit my part-time job that I had always worked on Fridays. I have a really busy schedule this semester and on top of tutoring Math again this semester, I am also the tutor for a class called control engineering. It is fun but takes up a lot of time. But at least it will pay for my tuition for the next semester.

On another note: We only have about 16 months left in Germany. Crazy. We started out with 36 months. I can’t wait to be back in the States again. I really miss our life there. I miss it so much!

I passed them all.

What a day it has been! I was so nervous to go online to my school’s website and check out my grades that were posted this morning. Surprisingly I didn’t have to be nervous at all because I passed them all. I don’t know how I did it but I am very very happy. Honestly I thought this semester was one of the worst so far. But I guess I was wrong.

Let me explain you: In Germany the best grade you can get is a 1,0 which equals an A and the worst grade to pass is a 4,0 which equals an F. If you got a 5,0, you failed. Now you will understand the picture a little better! By the way, I took Anorganic Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, Fluid Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Process Control Engineering and a few labs here and there last semester. Now I can’t wait for the forth semester to start. I am such a nerd….