Friday, Friday, gotta write a blog on Friday

Nerdfightin', nerdfightin', yeah...

Okay, now that I've gotten that out of my system, onto more important matters!

What’s one habit you can never seem to break? Oh gosh... this is a close call between biting my nails and procrastination. Procrastination would have to win though... just take a look at the time all of my posts have so far been posted to know why. I'm being good tonight though, I started working on this post at around 9:30- crazy! I have always been a chronic procrastinator. I can count on one hand the number of papers that I didn't start on the day before they were due. My procrastination keeps being rewarded with good grades, so I've never really had any reason to stop except for the extreme stress it causes the night before an assignment's due. For the past four years of college, I was convinced that the procrastination would catch up with me at some point, but it never did. Well... maybe in grad school? I surprisingly didn't procrastinate that much on my thesis though, so maybe I'm getting better about it as I get older? Only time will tell I suppose!

Now to answer my own question: what Hogwart's house am I? That would

probably be Ravenclaw. Whenever I take tests I always get either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, but if I'm being honest with myself I'm more of a Ravenclaw than a Gryffindor. If we're allowed mixtures, I'd say I'm a Gryffinclaw/Ravendor, but if we're choosing just one then I'm a Ravenclaw. (And proud of it! I don't want my ambivalent house characteristics to come off as being unenthusiastic about my house.)

If money were no object... I would spend all my time learning foreign languages and travelling to the areas where they're spoken. Once I became happy with my proficiency in one language, I would move to another country and learn a new language. It would be wonderful. After learning a good amount of languages, I would probably want to settle down again, but I don't think that would be for a while. This hypothetical life sounds so appealing to me- yes, please.

So... what's up with me? I would be hard pressed to think of a better week to have been our free week because I have some really exciting things to share! Well, first, which you guys already know, my thesis is over so I got to have a fun weekend of post-thesis/late birthday celebration with some of my best friends who came to visit and others who live here.

The first piece of exciting news (I'm saving the best for last) is that I have an official summer job now! I knew that I'd be working in my psychology lab this summer, but nothing was official and I didn't know how much I'd be working and for how much. I talked with my lab advisor today and I'm going to be working 40-hour weeks this summer.... whoa. My first full-time job. Even if it is just for a summer, I'm starting to actually feel... like an adult? Besides working in a lab doing studies that I'm really interested in, the good thing about this is that I'll be making good money. And that money will come in really handy for my second piece of exciting news...

I should actually preface this by explaining that in December I applied to be an English assistant in France. I don't think I told you guys about this yet (or maybe I did, it's one of those things that I've shared with so many people that I've lost track...) and it's pretty integral to the whole excitement portion of this story. So. I applied to help teach English in a French school. Short explanation: it's a program through the French government where they take Americans under 30 and place them in French schools to help teach English to the students. It entails helping with American pronunciation, teaching American culture, just helping cross-cultural ties in general. Okay, back to the present, I just found out on Monday... that I got in!!!!! I'm going to be living in France next year, guys!! I'll be moving in mid-September and I'll be there for 7-9 months. I'm going to be living in Lille. I took the liberty of drawing you all this lovely, explanatory picture:

That's where I'm going to be living next year! And you lucky people get to read all about my move in *counts on fingers* five month's time! Notice the proximity to Paris, England, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany- that's why I requested Lille! Strasbourg was my first choice, but Lille was my second and I'm really happy with it. I was technically placed in the Académie de Lille, which is an academic district. I don't yet know what town I'll actually be in, so I could end up being placed in the middle of the country. I'm hoping that I get placed within 45 minutes of the actually city of Lille so that I can just commute to my school. We only work 12-15 hours a week in the program, so I'll have to find ways to fill my copious free time. I'm hoping to find good German classes (which I think is very realistic, I mean look at the map!) so that I can continue learning and I don't forget all the German I learned this semester. (Oh, it would help to know that I started taking German this semester, just for fun. Und es macht viel Spaß!)

So that's what's up with me! I've been riding pretty high this week on the news about France. I'm still in the extremely-excited phase, which will probably give way to the really-terrified phase in a few months, but right now I'm happpyyyy.

I also have to go back to when I mentioned that I wasn't procrastinating on this post and had started working on it at 9:30 tonight- that was entirely true. You may be wondering, then, why this was not posted until around 11:45. That would be due to my bff who entertained me tonight with three drunk dials in the span of about 1.5 hours. The funny thing is that each time he called me back, he made absolutely no mention of that fact that he'd already talked to me. I also wanted to share with you guys this fact that makes me very proud. When my friend drunk dialed me, what did he rant about for twenty straight minutes? Doctor Who. The main message that he relayed to me over and over was that I really, really need to rewatch season 5 because it's so different once you watch it knowing what happens in the finale. It's practically a different season!

Cassie, I'll see you on Monday and Carlyn, I'm looking forward to your punishment! Mwuahaha.

(I also agree with Casey that more readers would be wonderful! I'll head over right now to your pants and bump up our thread with my new post.)