One down, one to go

My final this morning went very well. It was in my core class on classical art and music. I wasn't really concerned about it, which actually probably helped. I think that I could have gotten 70% on it and still gotten an A in the class. But I did still study, so I was prepared and I think I did well. I got through it in 45 minutes and came home and went back to bed until 11:00.

Daniel and I went to the post office and turned in my passport paperwork. One step closer to Europe! And Mexico in a month! While Daniel did mail, Hope and I figured out our plans for tonight and tomorrow. We are going to have dinner in the dining hall at 5 and then go shoe shopping. Then we'll go to the mall for the movie at 6:40pm. Hopefully I'll be home by 9 so I can get some sleep before work tomorrow at 3am. Yuck. I'll go back to sleep until my final at noon. Then I have to help out with NATS from 2-4pm. I'll probably celebrate and then sleep from 4-7. All the girls are going to meet downstairs at 7 and we have reservations at Buca di Beppo at 7:30 and the Melting Pot at 9. P.F. Chang's didn't work out because it was too far away from The Melting Pot. But Buca di Beppo is still really yummy! And it's better for big groups. We have eight girls going now, but more might join us. When I made the reservations they asked if we were celebrating something special like a birthday or anniversary. I told them we're celebrating the end of finals! We're all glad to be done. Every study room has been occupied all weekend and nobody is going out or anything. It's kind of strange actually to see a residence hall this quiet.

Last night I was reading up on Europe some more and I discovered that there is a whole series of guidebooks specifically for college students. It's written by Harvard students. They're called "Let's Go". I was looking on Amazon to see if I could get one for pretty cheap. A bunch of them said "ex-library books". Then I thought, maybe I should actually check the library and see if they have one. Our school library does have guidebooks. From 1978. Like that's really going to help. Our phoenix library has some from 2000, but I still feel like that's too long ago. I mean if it's before 9/11, then it's definitely out of date. So I bought some for pretty cheap on Amazon. I'm excited to see if they have more information on hostels. The Frommer's book we have considers $150 a night a "value" hotel. Yeah, right. And Daniel and I have saved almost $1000 towards the trip. That's just in about a month. So I think we're doing really well.

We have our first 2 1/2 weeks basically planned. We haven't found any hostels or bought our plane ticket, train ticket, international student ID card, or any of that yet. Right now we're just planning what we want to do. I'm most excited for Barcelona and Paris right now. I still don't know anything about Italy. I haven't gotten to that chapter yet. I am also excited for the train rides through Switzerland. I think it's going to be beautiful. I'm a little concerned about packing though. Everything I've read says you need to pack really light. Like one carry-on size bag. I don't think I have ever traveled without checking a bag. Let alone to the other side of the world for a month. But it's all part of the experience I guess. It will be an exercise in pushing myself out of my comfort zone and learning how to get past my anxiety. And I'm prepared now more than ever to do that. Besides, once we get married and have kids, we won't be able to do this. So it's now or never!