One Term Down & I've Survived

I figured I should update this while I still have a calm moment. Granted, I should be cleaning...but I've got a bit of time for that.

Instead, I'm sitting in the common room, two candles burning in front of my €2 tinsel tree, with a cup of tea cooling at my side. It's all very Christmasy -- in it's way.
There's a certain magical quality contained in candle light, of which I've always been fond. (And I didn't end that sentence with a preposition -- I win.)

So, what have I been up to lately?
- Finding out when my one & only test will be. (Late January; which leaves plenty of time for me to actually read the book it's over.)
- Finally watching Casablanca all the way through.
- Participating in the history postgrad "Twelve Pubs of Christmas" pub crawl down Barrack Street (we made it to just over half that number, which is a decent feat considering how much time we chatted at each one).
- Farewell dinner for two of the American students I met here at a yummy Thai restaurant, followed by a pint at a pub close to home.
- Last Coffee Morning at Iona, with some sad goodbyes.
- Seeing Nienke off to the Netherlands.
- Shopping for Christmas dinner.
- Oh, and dealing with an ear infection which is pretty much gone now (yay!).

And now, the longer, ramblier version of the above (with exciting details! -- or something like that).

The semester ended on Friday. And life at Deans Hall has become eerily quite as a result. Nearly everyone is back home. It was sad saying goodbye to friends I'd made who were here for one semester, but I'm trying to console myself with the idea that I now have excuses to go visit the Continent -- specifically, German, Switzerland and France. All I need is the money to do so.

The quiet of Deans Hall does not last through the night, though. Every night this past week has seen yelling matches taking place outside my window. The curses of living so near the street, I suppose; and it is amusing...or it would be much more so if it didn't happen after 2am each night.

I prefer the quiet, though -- it's so very nice -- but it made going into town yesterday all the more shocking. I could hardly walk down the streets downtown -- it was insane! I hadn't gone towards the shops on a Saturday in a very long time, so heading in that direction on a Saturday before Christmas was probably not the wisest choice, but I hadn't thought that far ahead when I realised that I needed groceries.

I may as well get used to such massive, scary crowds -- I'm going to be in Dublin in a few days after all. That town is always extremely crowded & I can only imagine how bad it'll be the week before Christmas. But, as I'm meeting my family there, I think I survive the evils of the crowds.

I'm ridiculously excited about my family's arrival on Wednesday. I seriously feel a bit giddy about it. I think part of it is that I haven't had any visitors -- and, of course, I haven't seen anyone from home since I left.

On an unrelated note, I think I have an unhealthy preoccupation with wax and watching candles melt. I blame this for the reason why it's taken me forever to type this entry.
Excuses are fun.

But enough talk of candles (for awhile, anyhow). I should actually get something done tonight -- even if it's writing out a list of things to do tomorrow. ;)
Procrastinate? Me? Nooo.