(USC) Life According to Elizabeth

In less than 32 hours...I will be seated, probably rather uncomfortably, on an aisle seat of most likely an Airbus 380. I won't have a single thought in my head about school, midterms, research, work, medical school, water polo, community service, committee obligations etc. I'm guessing that's because I'll be asleep as soon as my bag is securely under the seat in front of me, but if not, it's because I'm going to be so stoked about my European adventure springbreak, that I won't even bother to worry about all that stuff. I am so amped just thinking about it!

Now I just have to get there. Because in approximately 24 hours I will be seated, definitely very uncomfortably, in a seat in SGM 123 most likely tanking my Bio exam. I'm so angry of it is standing in my way of my tour of Madrid, Salzburg and Munich. But alas, it is. My final obstacle to spring break. And it's HUGE. I mean like seriously, I would rather take any other test than this one. I like the stuff as I'm reading it (cell communication and respiration, photosynthesis, mitosis, meiosis, and metabolism), but it's just so much. And it's on a Friday afternoon! The Friday afternoon before spring break. Rude. Hahaha. Totally would have been ok with it last Friday. But since it's tomorrow, it is now a personal affront to my springbreak plans. So I'm going to kick its butt. Hopefully. That would require actually studying. So I guess I should get to that. 

I want to know why there is not an In 'N Out within walking distance of campus...that may sound like a really stupid thing to worry about, but I'm totally serious. We have absolutely every other fast food chain within like a 7 minute walk. But nowhere can I get a really great cheeseburger unless I hitch a ride. It's driving me crazy. I'm totally craving a half chocolate-half strawberry milkshake, bland fries and a Double-Double with grilled onions and no tomatoes, but it's nowhere to be found. I don't get it. There's a McDonalds, Burger King, Jack-In-the-Box, and two Carl's Juniors right around here. You'd think they could make room for one more. Probably worried about the competition...I guess it's a good thing. I'd weigh like 15 pounds more if I could go to In 'N Out anytime I wanted. But it would make these stressful midterm study days so much more bearable.  There is nothing like a big huge cheeseburger for comfort food.

On that note, I have two midterms this week. One tomorrow, and I haven't started studying yet! Oy vey.  And for my exam on Friday I'm still like 2 chapters behind in the reading. This is so not my week. I don't know what happened, it all just hit me out of nowhere. Oh well. Three day weekend coming up! I just have to make it through until Friday. Thank God. I'm so looking forward to a weekend to just be around here and do nothing.

I made a study schedule yesterday... and I'm already off-track. The next 13 days until I go home are crazy. Yesterday I had two tests, tomorrow I have a paper due, and Friday I have a bio midterm (that's right, a "midterm" on the last day of class). So I thought I could sort everything out, write it down and feel a little crazy if I had a plan. No. I've discovered that the only thing plans are good for is deviating from them. I just can't stick to schedules. Today I was supposed to be back to my apartment by 3 and done with my paper by 8, then studying bio until 11. I got home at 3, then watched an episode of X-Files, then fell asleep. I started working on my paper at 6, but really was doing other silly managerial tasks, then watched another episode of X-Files. By the time I made dinner it was 8:30. I pumped out most of my paper by 10, but then watched the Victoria Secret Fashion show. Seriously, apparently I will do anything not to write about the manufacturing process of screwdrivers. Ah well, I'll just make a new schedule tomorrow.

On a better note, I had my last ever math class today! And I met with my bio professor about SCUBA diving opportunities at the USC Wrigley Environmental Institute on Catalina Island. I have my advanced certification already, but he said I could get my science diving certification out there. It sounds awesome. I think I might pick up an environmental studies minor...

This week has not been good for me...and it's only Wednesday. It started out really promising, I rocked my Diff. Eq. exam on Monday. Which is the irony of ironies considering my track record with college-level math. Then yesterday I had my chem exam, which I figured was going to be tough. But I've been going to the weekly review sessions, and could do the homework in my sleep, so it shouldn't have been as brutal as it was. First off, it's never a good sign when you can't do the first problem on the test. It didn't get much better from there, and to top it all off I just forgot (I'm being serious. It sounds ridiculous but it's the honest to God truth) to do the last page. Wonderful. The average was a 54 and only 3 people got above an 80 (no As); I got a 44 (not too bad considering I left off 1/5 of the test). Then this morning I had my Statics exam. I was pretty positive it couldn't go worse than my chem exam. Wrong. This time, out of 4 questions I really only answered 1.5. And I didn't even forget any; I just didn't know how to do them. Again, I don't know why it was so bad. I thought I was fairly well prepared. So needless to say, I really wish this week would just end. But alas, I have two major material science homework assignments (which I haven't started because of all the studying, and I hear they are really hard), a bio quiz, and a chem lab write-up due tomorrow, my boss picks this week to start picking up the pace in the lab, and I have a community service program to start from scratch, and water polo practice. Jealous?

But about 10 minutes ago (and 30 minutes after I had already lost it), I got some pretty excellent news. My chem teacher, realizing the horrificness (I'm pretty sure that's not a word) of his exam, has decided that we can drop our lowest score of 4 midterms. Thank God. So things are starting to look up. Plus, I'm going to Panda Express tonight, so it's not all bad.