It. Is. Finished. The semester, anyway. It is such an incredible relief, I can't begin to tell you. I turned in my research paper Wednesday night (the one the prof. never bothered to get back with me about) and then I was free. I am absolutely beside myself.

Now, instead of being in a school-induced frenzy I am in a house-cleaning, getting-ready-for-Christmas frenzy. It feels good. Christmas is almost here, and even though I'm not ready, I still have time to enjoy the season for a little while.

Semester recap:

British Empire - Interesting class, but it is hard to sit still and stay focused for three hours on a Monday night. Nonetheless, I believe I now have a good overview of the British Empire (first and second) and though the professor was not an exciting speaker, he was interesting, consistent, and always provided feedback on essays. I would like to take him again if there is ever opportunity.

Latin American Civilization - My favorite class with the most interesting and enthusiastic professor. Unfortunately, we only covered two-thirds of the material on the syllabus because he was always gone. In addition, I am not happy that, though the syllabus required him to return our final research paper to us with suggestions for improvement, he never bothered to do so. Great teacher, interesting class, but gone too much and frequently too busy for his students. Unfortunate. I was hoping to take him for my senior seminar, but now I'm not so sure.

Spanish Proficiency Skills - Well, I'm not sure how proficient I am, but I survived the class. There was method to his madness and, aside from the first few weeks when I thought he was the devil incarnate, he turned out to be a decent young man who sincerely wanted his students to learn and was willing to go to great lengths to make it happen. Even though he knew of my aversion to public speaking, he still chose me as one of the students to give a short presentation, during the last class session before finals, over two Spanish videos that we had to watch outside of class. I wasn't sure why he picked me, but I managed to make my presentation, whereas several classmates failed to show up for class to give theirs and one young lady said she couldn't (and wouldn't) do the presentation. (I didn't know you could say such things to a teacher?!?). This assignment enabled me to make an "A" on the final. Enough said.

Introduction to Ethics - A philosophy class is a requirement for a BA and I took this class online at the community college. I knew what to expect from this teacher so there were no surprises. I learned a little about several philosophers, but what sticks in my mind the most is Jeremy Bentham, stuffed and on display in a box somewhere in England. You can't make this stuff up.

So that's it. Another semester conquered and another coming up. Many thanks to my on-line friends for their support. Now we can relax and enjoy the holidays!