Real Life, by Ananda Ellis
Wednesday, April 25, 2007

So excited for this summer! And who can blame me?

click to view

And with the end of a semester comes a lot of extra work to do. I have my last chemistry lab due on Thursday, I have a biology homework due today, and a biology manuscript due on Thursday. The manuscript is basically writing a scientific document based on results my group and I found in our lab study. It’s very hard-core, especially with the teacher that we have, Greg Hermann. He rips everything apart in our writing, but it’s to make us better at it in the long run. In the mean time though, it just makes me want to stop working because I have other stuff to do!!! Oh well! That’s almost done.

I’m writing this blog on Wednesday morning, and I’m so excited because I have one cell bio class and one organic chemistry class left. How amazing is that? I will have finished a year of organic chemistry a week from now! That to me feels amazing. Unfortunately, in the mean time, I have to study for the final (NO easy task—and also while studying for two other finals!).

But life is good. This last weekend, my mom came into town. We hung out for most of it: swapping stories, laughing, calling each other names (in a friendly way). We even got around to painting the apartment room I’m going to be living in this summer. It’s a light yellow/orange color and looks really nice (it really brightens up the room, which was badly needed since my only window is facing north ie: no direct sunlight EVER). When we got done with my room, we even had time to work on the bathroom. We ended up painting that a celery green with an aqua blue fauxed on top. It looks really good (despite the weird image you may have in your head now. Most people look at me pretty quizzically when I tell them about the color combo. I swear, though, it looks good). My mom left early Monday morning and I’ve been trying to make up for all the time I didn’t study when she was here.

Right now, all I can say is that I have the jitters. You know them well. You always get them when school’s about to end. And that’s what’s going on. My last final is next Thursday at 8:30am (it’ll be over before noon) and then I am a free bird!

Oh!!! And I’m so excited because I have my summer all planned out now. I’ll be working in the gecko lab (as I have been for the entire year); I’ll be taking care of the geckos, but I’m also going to be doing research about 10-15 hours a week. Then I’ll also be working in the bio department an extra 6 hours a week, cleaning dishes. I’m not as excited for this job (for obvious reasons), but it will be a good time to whip out my computer and put on my “learning Swahili” tapes that I need to have memorized before I leave for my study abroad to East Africa in August. So, 6 hours a week getting paid to learn Swahili? I’ll take it. The new installment in my summer just happened last night, actually. I was offered a position to work in the Admissions office part time, so if any of you are heading up to see the campus over the summer, you have a 50% chance of getting me for your tour guide or seeing me working behind the front desk. Make sure to say hi. It’s true that we’ve never met, but that doesn’t really matter.

So it sounds like my summer is packed, as usual. I’ll be busy, but it’s doing stuff that I’m really excited about… so… I can’t wait. And it all starts the Monday after finals are done! (You really have no idea how much I just want to jump up and down for an hour or so, I’m serious that ecstatic).

Well, I guess that’s it! But I am here over the summer, so you can always email me with any questions that you have. I’ll even have more time to answer (which means I’ll be able to respond to you faster).

Alright! Guess that’s it! Good luck in picking a college. I wish you all the best.

Ananda Ellis

aellis@lclark.edu