Classes Winding Down

Today I had my very last EU-US Relations class. And in most of my other classes I only have a few sessions left. So classes are slowly winding down. I only have one more paper to write, and it's time to start thinking about finals. Yikes. This semester has flown by.

This week hasn't been too eventful. Mostly just lots of homework to get done. And Model EU starts tonight. It's basically this event where we pretend to be heads of state holding a summit (as the European Council would do). We start tonight with two hours of initial welcoming and tour de table, which is basically just each country outlining its basic positions and current status. Then tomorrow and Saturday we have about 8 hours each day of floor debate and voting on proposals. So most of my weekend is eaten up by this. And we have to wear business formal the entire time. Awesome, right? All the professors keep talking it up as a great learning opportunity, but I'm not sure they understand that after a miserable week of classes, we just want to be left alone rather than sit through 18 hours of political speak. Yeah. And I'm the head of state of Slovakia, so it definitely will not be very exciting for me.

So just over two weeks until I come home. I'm pretty excited to come home honestly. I mean, I will probably miss Freiburg and everyone over here, but I don't think that will hit me until a few weeks after I get back. And I'm excited to see everyone and for this busy semester to be over so I can relax for a little while. Winter break will be great. The only thing I'm kind of worried about going home is "reverse culture shock," for lack of a better term. Not really sure what the technical definition for that is. But I feel like I've missed out on four months of everyone's lives back home, so I will be behind or out of the loop in some sense. And I've had experiences over the last four months that no one at home will really be able to relate to. I mean, I can tell people about them, but it's just not the same. Plus people probably won't really care that much. I feel like it's going to get to the point where it's like "all right here's another Europe story from Lucas." And I think I've definitely changed while over here, though it will be easier to tell once I'm home. It's hard to explain, but it's like I've been through something that has changed me personally but is really hard for anyone else to understand unless they've also been through it. Hmm maybe I'm over-thinking this. We'll find out, I guess.

I found out earlier this week that I got the internship with STLF that I applied for. So this summer, I will be a High School Programming Intern. Woot! So that is pretty exciting. I think it will definitely give me good experience, especially considering that I want to be able to effectively interact with high schoolers as a teacher. That was definitely my good news for the week.

All right, well I'm off to defend the national interests of Slovakia and work toward a more unified Europe. Send me good luck vibes!