Yuletide Update

None too surprisingly, the holiday season has prevented me from writing for a couple of weeks, but I assure you all is well. Here’s what’s been going down:

As predicted in my previous entry, I pulled a B from my Latin class. I’m glad it wasn’t worse, but it does confirm the fact that I must have done terribly on my final exam. Of course, I’ll have the same professor next semester, and I plan on getting the test back and seeing if my final grade makes sense with the score I got. As I said, I have my doubts in that department. As for Greek, I got an A, which is probably undeserved given that I rarely went to class and, supposedly, we were graded on participation. Still, I won’t complain. Also, I took the GRE, which is basically like the ACT to get into graduate school. All of the graduate programs I know of require official GRE scores, so I had to pay the $115 and take a four-hour test, a decent portion of which was mathematical—certainly not my idea of a good time. Regardless, I got decent enough scores that I’m not going to worry about re-taking it, which is nice since I didn’t even prepare for it. And finally in the world of academia, I have settled on a list of about one-dozen graduate programs that I’ll be applying to. Speaking purely statistically, odds are I’ll end up in Indiana. About half the programs I’m applying to are located there (three at Notre Dame alone). On the other hand, I may get rejected by everyone. This could very well be my best bet, since most of the programs I’m interested in only admit a handful of students each year. We’ll see.

As for my first Christmas as a married man, it was great. Most of the day felt like a “normal” Christmas, as my wife and I stayed at her parents’ house on Christmas Eve and then hit my parents’ home later on Christmas Day. That’s been standard for a few years now, so it seemed like good old, once-a-year business-as-usual. But it was a lot of fun to come home to our own Christmas tree, by our own couch, in our own living room, and give our gifts to each other. It was traditional fare—games, clothes, books—but each and every Christmas somehow feels like the best one ever. And so it was.

Well, I have until January 9th before I’m back in school. Melanie is back teaching on the 3rd, so I’ll be lonely for a week. I’m sure I’ll need to take breaks from my grad school applications and write a blog now and again. So, expect a slight pick-up once the new year is here. Until then, I hope everyone is basking in the festivities of the season…