winding down to the end of the quarter. it is immensely sad to see everyone dragging their stuff down the elevators, and leaving behind empty rooms, devoid of posters, decorations, and the life that once dwelled there. i wish we could have a few weeks of just fun, where we had no classes and we just went and canoed and camped and saw shows and went to the movies and stuff. Alas, UW wants us out 24 hours after our last final. For me, that is 10:30 AM on Wednesday, but I doubt I'll be gone by then... I'll probably leave sometime on Thursday. There are some things I gotta wrap up before I get outta Dodge.

last night, in celebration of a fantastic first year here, our floor made the 20-minute drive to Alki Beach and played around for a few hours. I was pumped up and ready to play some tackle football in the sand, and I wasn't disappointed... we played a great game, going barefoot in the sand littered with cinders, cigarette butts and the occasional piece of glass. Needless to say, we all came away with filthy feet and sand in every nook and cranny in our clothing. Sadly, I had to stop early because my new ear piercing got tugged, lost its backing and ripped a slight bit. That should teach me to play contact sports while wearing jewelry. But it was still a fun time, because after I got back from cleaning the blood off my ear, we ate smores and listened to music around the campfire, and then attempted unsuccessfully to make a six-layer human pyramid for about half an hour. We also had fun going to other campfires down the beach and making people believe that the Tajikistani and I were German exchange students. They posed for pictures with us and asked us how we liked America... hahaha we are dorks, but it was so much fun.

I just got back from cheesecake factory with a few of the good ol' gang from oly, and now i've got to make up for lost time and hit the books. i'll be back in oly in a few days, probably thursday, and from there it's a matter of days before I touch down in Germany. At any rate... more later.