if i don't write one of these, my mother will continue asking me why i haven't

i apologize for the fact that it's been over two months since i've updated my blog. i've been, well, busy. this semester has been, by far, the busiest for me of any semester of mine at gw. arduous course load notwithstanding, a lot has been going on in my non-academic life as well. that being said, let me try to give you the most comprehensive update on my life that i can.

robbie and i broke up. for those of you who don't know, robbie is a boy from home who i started seeing over thanksgiving break and became extremely fond of fast. well, by the time christmas rolled around, he was my boyfriend and everything seemed perfect between us. it's certainly not usual for me to jump into relationships like i did with robbie, but the connection seemed apparent and i thought, "why wait?"

after christmas break ended, i went back to dc and he went back to state college (he attends penn state). the problems started then. unlike between thanksgiving and christmas breaks, our phone calls and conversations became less frequent. as i said, i was busy, and he was too. that being said, toward the end of january, he invited me up to nyc for the weekend to be his guest as part of a weekend-long excursion that penn state's theatre department was doing. so, i went up.

things were definitely different between robbie and i in nyc. it was awkward. we were more strangers than boyfriends. frankly, i was upset for a lot of the weekend, but i tried to maintain a positive attitude because of the situation (after all, it was a school excursion). also, there was the fact that we had to share a hotel room with one of robbie's schoolmates (as opposed to having our own, as we thought we would).

despite all this, i had a lot of fun meeting and hanging out with robbie's friends, and we caught some broadway shows together. the first one we saw was in the heights, which was probably my favorite. i can see why it won the tony in 2008. next, we saw pal joey. robbie's and my seats were absolutely amazing, and stockard channing (of west wing fame) is definitely the sexiest sexagenarian around town. the male lead had a disappointingly weak singing voice, though. we also saw phantom of the opera and were both instantaneously disappointed by it. the technical issues were hard to get through; you'd think a show that's been around for longer than i've been alive would have gotten its kinks out by now! the show is also pretty dated: both the music and lighting were done in an entirely antediluvian style. truthfully, robbie and i would have walked out at intermission had the coat check been open.

robbie's and my communication came to a crawl after i returned to dc. then, shortly before valentine's day (coincidence? you decide), he called me up, and after a lengthy conversation, we decided to break up. it was not the best choice according to my opinion at the time, and for a while after i was extremely lonesome for him. however, i am happy to report that i am doing much better now. :)

shortly before then, however, was the inaguration of president obama. truthfully, i'm pretty unenthusiastic about his performance so far as our commander-in-chief, but i'm nonetheless grateful that i got the chance to go to the inauguration. well, go to an area as close to the inauguration ceremony as was feasible: over 2 million people turned out for the event, which made trying to travese the lawn of the national mall — especially with all of the barricades in place — an impossible task. i went with my friend steve, and despite it being 22º, it was still a fun experience (although most of that is derived from commiserating with strangers over the crowdedness and the cold).

a few days prior, i randomly ran onto william on the mall during the equally crowded event, the inaugural concert. that wasn't as much fun. i only went to hear beyoncé, who was by and large disappointing. however, i did buy a really awesome shirt off of a vendor there that has the constitution on it. you know you're a political science major when... ;)

my job in bethesda turned out to be a complete bust. now, i don't want to use this blog as a slam book, but it was pretty terrible. if nothing else, the commute killed me: a 30+ minute commute, only to work for 3 hours at a time, is a waste. also, my supervisor went back on the salary and the schedule that had been promised to me, and my coworkers were downright rude to me. i lasted about 3 weeks.

instead, i now work at a dsw (shoe store) in arlington. the difference between the 2 jobs is night and day. the pay is great, the commute is short, the schedule is flexible, and i love my coworkers. being in retail is a bit of a drag (especially considering it won't help my career), but it's a great gig that i'm happy with for at least until the end of the semester. :) (in fact, i'm working today at 6 p.m., so you should come visit me at work!)

around the time i started at dsw (shortly after valentine's day, or less than 2 weeks after my break-up with robbie), my dad came to visit me. it actually turned out to be a great visit; we had a lot of fun together. i showed him around arlington and eastern market, and i hosted a (mostly) successful dinner party with him and some of my closest friends. (i say "mostly" because of my having burned the rice-a-roni.) however, he was definitely not used to how cold it gets here on the east coast! :(

all this time, i've been extremely busy with classes. as i've stated, this has been, by far, the most difficult semester so far. however, i enjoy my course load a lot more than i have in past semesters. this semester, i am taking:

• forensic anthropology. this is probably the best class i've ever taken at gw. the monday component of this class (that is, the lab) is conducted at the smithsonian's museum of natural history. it truly is amazing to be able to explore the restricted section of such a monumental museum. the class requires a lot of my time, but it definitely is rewarding. the instructor is amazing, and i've made a few good friends in that class, too.
• introduction to american politics. this is one of those large-lecture survey courses that i shouldn't have to take (considering i was born in america and wasn't born yesterday at that). but, since it's a prerequisite for my major and my high school didn't have a corresponding adv. placement course which would have let me test out of it, i'm stuck in it with a bunch of whiny freshmen, international students, and amanda nordby (♥!!!). the professor hasn't taught me one thing i didn't already know all semester. (it would be a guaranteed a for me if my ta wasn't so clueless.)
• state and society in developing nations. for being the least popular course in the political science dept., i actually love this course. i really like the no-nonsense style of teaching by the professor; it's a refreshing change from instructors who forego actually teaching for the sake of trying to entertain us. also, the unpopularity of the course keeps the roster at a cool 19, and the actual average attendence around 9; professor bowie doesn't receive the recognition he deserves. (i imagine he'd be more popular at another university whose students take their studies a bit more seriously.)
• freedom and equality. this is to satisfy the political philosophy requirement for my major. in contrast to state and society, this course is the most popular one in the department, and yet i find it totally uninteresting. the professor likes to entertain rather than teach, and i can't pay attention in lecture for the life of me. (i blame the drab and stuffy nature of funger hall: home of the bats!) the discussion section is complely online, which i find difficult to contend with.
• professional communication. i enrolled in this course partly to become more professional and partly as a crip. the former hasn't really come to fruition, but the latter has. having a 3-hour class on tuesday night is tricky, but at least the professor is another red sox fan from southern california. :)

i've submitted my application to study abroad in cape town, as well as applications for alternate programs in dublin and london. i also did my app for perc and now need to get started on my one for ihs. the content of my summer will be highly dependent on my acceptence into each of these programs. speaking of applications, i applied to ΠΣA, the national honors fraternity for political science majors; i don't think my gpa is high enough for that one, though. (there's a reason why it's an honors fraternity.)

i've also gotten back into watching big love on a regular basis. great show.

however, the most interesting of the recent developments in my life is my recent trip to europe. leading up to this trip, i had a lot of anxieties. i had never left the country, and a flight over the entire atlantic ocean seemed truly daunting to me; nonetheless, i decided to spend a week traveling with joe to both london and copenhagen.

i'm so glad i did: it was so much fun and an amazing experience! i'll chronicle the entire trip in my next post; however, this one has been going on for way too long, and i need to get on with my day. in my next post, however, i promise i'll write about all the details of my amazing european adventure. :) stay tuned!