Notre Père, qui est au cieux, que ton nom soit sanctifié...

Yes, it's that time of the year.  Prayer time.  All I'm asking for is to make it home 12 days from now all in one piece (and by that I mean not having a complete and total breakdown- plus just making it home safely).  Luckily for me, I have one final down, four to go, and my next one isn't until Saturday afternoon.  After I got out of my exam yesterday, I gave myself the rest of the evening off, writing (and decorating!) all of my Christmas cards, which most of you who are reading this can expect to receive sometime soon- I just sent them today!  And of course, I had to catch up on the latest episode of Gossip Girl, which was probably the best single episode of the series!   I have been getting a lot done and have spent a good deal of time studying, but I still feel as though I have so much to do.  The next order of business: memorizing dates of French colonialism and francophone literature (including every literary prize a francophone author has ever won-- great).  The flashcards are done, so now all I have to do is motivate myself to sit down and actually learn the dates. 

While I'm doing that, I sort of need to multitask, because I also have my History of Religion exam on Monday and my History of Alsace exam on Tuesday, the latter of which is pretty much scaring me to death.  Once I'm done with that 3-hour exam, I will essentially be done, because on Wednesday I just have to hand in a paper that I've already finished, and on Thursday I have an exam for which the information is a lot more conceptual, and to which I can bring at least some outside knowledge.  I have imagined the moment that I get out of my last exam on Thursday, and I'm anticipating a huge release of energy, stress, and nerves (which probably means that, when combined with sleep deprivation and lots of traveling, I'll get sick the second I get home).  I plan on going down to the Christmas Market and just enjoying it, not thinking about the millions of other things I need to be doing.  

I don't really have anything of note to add- I guess I just wanted you all to know that I'm still alive (although an IV of caffeine would be really nice right now).  I am leaving Strasbourg in 10 days, and, after my brief stopovers in Frankfurt and Dublin, will be home on the 22nd.  That will probably be the happiest moment of my life so far.

Anyway, for those of you who are taking finals in the coming weeks, good luck!!!! You can do it!!!!  And for those of you who are not, consider yourselves lucky!!!

Sending you my love,

Kristen