Wishing I were catching a snitch in quidditch instead of reporting (a month and a half late) on the sitch.

Here’s the sitch:
I ended up dropping Persian after being rejected from the Critical Language Scholarship Program. I have the entire book and CDs if I plan to continue on my own. I dropped my linguistics class in French because it was basically all information I’d already learned and, worse, it was taught by the most boring professor ever. Ever. On the bright side of things, I really enjoyed both of my Masters courses in English: Language and Space and Racial Discourse in Britain. I’ve finished both essays for the latter and my take home essays/exam is planned out for the former. I’m basically done here with my ISEP academic year! Just forms to turn in, really!
In other news, I’ve been sorting out my finaly year at the University of Iowa. I’m more than pleased to inform those still reading my happy little blog that I have been selected to be a summer orientation guide for the Honors Program! I’ll get to talk to incoming honors students about all sorts of fun stuff during the orientation sessions! It’s a job I’ve been interested in since my own orientation in the summer of 2008. I’m really looking forward to it. :) Also related to academics, I’ve begun the process of applying for a Marshall Scholarship. Marshall Scholarships are awarded to about 40 students nationally every year for 2 years of graduate study in the UK at the institution of the recipient’s choice. In order to even compete nationally, I have to first apply to be a nominee for the University of Iowa. This means sorting out references, writing essays/statements of purpose, and researching UK universities to select 2 to apply to with the scholarship if I were to get it. It’s a fair amount of stressful work, trying to make myself sound as awesome as possible via papers, made more difficult by my academic nonsense and lack of involvement this year. But there you have it: consider this my asking for your thoughts, support, prayers, etc.
In the immediate academic future, I also have some plans. Inspiration has struck for an honors thesis for my French degree. Hoorah! My advisor sounds really interested/supportive as well, so I’m looking forward to working on it this summer and fall. I’ve also selected my courses for Fall 2011. They are as follows:
Intermediate Modern Standard Arabic
The Structure of English
Introduction to Islamic Civilization
The Bible and the Holocaust
Religion and Women
Ballroom Dancing (!)
I’ve decided to complete a Teaching English as a Second Language concentration for my Linguistics degree and have switched my Ancient Civilizations minor to Religious Studies. I’m pretty excited about all of it, especially ballroom dancing! I’m also working on being admitted to an online environmental science course with Reading Area Community College that I can do while being an orientation guide for Honors!

I believe that’s all for now: information overload and a tired hand.

(Oh, as an aside, I’ll be going to Edinburgh on 29/4 and returning to Lille 5/5. I’m moving out of my residence 6/5 and meeting my family in London 7/5.)

The end is near.