It's all coming together.

This semester has gone by extremely quickly.  My mind is rather blown to realize that final exams start in about two weeks.  It still kind of feels like, in classes, we should be in that beginning state where professors are still just handing out syllabi and we haven't really started learning anything.  Yet we're wrapping stuff up now.

Since the French play's format was so different from the past three semesters in which I participated, that seemed to go by more quickly, as well.  Our two performances were on Wednesday and Thursday of this past week, and we had our cast party at the Nichols' house on Thursday night after the performance.  (This newfound tradition was started by a brilliant idea from yours truly.)  The first performance was great.  Everything was perfect, and we got tons of compliments afterward.  One of my French professors (for whom I worked as a peer tutor last semester, also) complimented me on my pronunciation and said he was very impressed.  EEEEE!!  Any compliment I get on my French sends me over the moon.  The second night of the play didn't go so well.  The sound was far too quiet so we could barely hear it, we dropped lines, Lauren's and my fight scene was off, the music didn't start right for our group song . . . I dunno.  But the audience still seemed to like it.  The cast party made up for everything, though.  We all had a blast.  I feel so fortunate that I've been able to get to know everyone in the troupe and that we've all become so close.  It just stinks knowing that we won't all be able to be together next time.

Back: Rachel, Marcelline, Dr. Lobert (our director), Mary, Ashlee
Middle: Anna, Jen, Sobira (our lovely subtitles lady), Maria, Lauren
Front: Dallin

In other news, study abroad in Québec is officially official.  Remember that huge debacle I mentioned with Truman's Study Abroad office?  Well, one of the women there has been in contact with the peeps at l'Université Laval à Québec, and we received a letter from both the university and Truman's Study Abroad office saying that we are officially accepted.  So our credits will transfer, and everything is hunky dory.  YAY!  I am so beyond excited.  In mid-June I'll fly up to Michigan to spend two weeks with my father's side of the family, and almost immediately after I return, we'll start the drive up to Québec.  WOO!  Next week is some mandatory orientation for those studying abroad this summer or next year.  Pretty snazzy.

Also in other news, I have had major difficulties in scheduling for next semester's classes.  Part of it is my own fault, and now the rest of it is pretty much just bad luck.  I'm hoping certain things will work out, but it's not, you know, certain.  Sigh.

Psyche!

There's much less of a point to the title than one might actually think.  Just thought I should get that out of the way.

Here we are, in the beginning of April, and the weather is finally starting to warm up.  Kind of.  It's supposed to be in the low seventies today (Fahrenheit), but then it's going to cool down later in the week due to thunder storms and whatnot.  Boo on that.  All I want is not to wear sweaters and jackets anymore.  I know I posted an entry in, like, October or something about wanting "sweater weather," but that was STUPID.  I want WARMTH.  Kirksville is holding out on my favorite season, and it's NOT FAIR.  I should hold a protest or something.

In other news, Kat and I went to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, NE yesterday with the Wildlife Society.  We left Kirksville at about 5:30 pm, stopped in St. Joseph at 8:00 for a late, healthy McDonald's dinner (it was either that, or something sketchy like "Taco John's" in the minuscule mall), and arrived at the equally sketchy Super 8 Hotel at around 11:00.  Kat, our two roommates, and I were all quite loopy due to fatigue, so we weren't awake for very long before passing out.  We awoke at 7:30 and partook of a breakfast that reminded me of the chapter in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone when the Dursleys stop at a cheap hotel and they have stale cornflakes for breakfast.  I didn't have cornflakes, but Kat did.  No, I just had burnt toast.  Anyway, then it was off to the zoo.

We had been promised a Behind the Scenes tour of the Aquarium, so after walking through the Aquarium on our own, we waited.  And waited, and waited, and waited for about an hour before a Zookeeper finally showed up.  She said that there had been some sort of mix-up with another group, and she felt reeeeally bad.  We got a refund, but she still took us on the tour.  The first thing we saw, ironically, were two little monkeys who were in a sort of quarantine.  I don't remember why.  We also got cool views of the sharks and sea turtles, which were swimming around beneath us.  The coolest part was when we got to touch the sting rays, who felt like wet mud.  'Twas interesting.  Then we all headed over to the Tree Top Restaurant, which overlooked the Leid Jungle and, by consequence, monkeys.  After that, Kat and I headed off on our own.

The first place we went was the Kingdoms of Night area, which is where all of the little nocturnal animals are.  Emphasis on the nocturnal, since it was nearly pitch black and very hard to see except for some dim lights.  But the very best part of the trip was getting to see so many BATS.  It was AWESOME.  I freaking love bats.  Passionately.  And now Kat likes them, too.  There were tons of fruit bats, a couple of vampire bats, and other bats in different areas.  WEEEEE!!  We also went into the Desert Dome, which was pretty awesome as well; we saw the training of a white Bengal tiger, as well as other ferocious kitties; we saw some ADORABLE lion cubs who are the cutest things in the universe; Kat and I went on the "Skyfari," which is like a chairlift over the whole zoo, which enabled us to see rhinos, cheetahs, ostriches, and giraffes.  All in all, the zoo was pretty cool, especially its indoor areas, but I think I prefer the Kansas City Zoo.  I like the fact that the Omaha Zoo has the bats, but KC Zoo has more . . . everything.  Like elephants.  It was still AWESOME, though.  Go animals.

Now, to explain the rather inexplicable title of this entry.  I am now a psychology minor.  Why?  Because I did some figuring, and if I were to just take classes I need to graduate with two B.A.s in French and English, as well as my French translation minor, I wouldn't really have enough classes each semester (at least during my senior year) to be a full-time student.  And I MUST be a full-time student if I want to keep my financial aid, live on campus, etc.  So I could either take random classes that interest me, OR I could put this extra space to good use.  I've always been interested in psychology, and the minor requires just enough classes that I have the ability to take.  I had intended, originally, to be have a minor in linguistics since it would only require two extra classes after what I'm already taking for my linguistics concentration in my English major, but I realized something: I don't like linguistics very much.  I only have a concentration in it because a professor said I should in order to be an ESL teacher.  So, y'know what?  I wanna be a psychology minor.  So there.

Speaking of French, I missed the "anniversary" of learning the lovely language.  I don't know the actual date, so I always "celebrated" it on the first of April.  I taught myself French for two years, and now I've been studying it in school for another two.  So that's four years of French.  Woooo, go me.

But what REALLY made my week was learning that I have been awarded a Study Abroad Scholarship for $1,500!!  I didn't get it originally, and I was quite bummed, but then I received an email stating that someone had given up there scholarship and I was the first alternate.  WEEEEE!!!  I am SO HAPPY!!  Or, to give more context to the title, I AM SO PSYCHED!!

Also, my legs hurt.  And I have a new fox (despite the fact that I didn't see a fox at the zoo) named Tod.  That is all.  Noodles.