Is it Easter Break yet...

No. It isn't. And yes, in Ireland it is called Easter break. They aren't politically correct. Well, they don't have to be because their break falls over Easter. Not the first week in March. Everyone here thinks it's really dumb that American students have "Spring" break at the end of February. Makes no sense to them.

So, I haven't updated in awhile, well, because nothing is happening. This was to be a lazy weekend, and that it was. However, it was a lazy end of the week too.

Thursday. I had my dreaded midterm in Europe Government and Society on Thursday. We had no idea what to expect. I looked over my notes once Wednesday night, but that was about it. So I went to tutorial for the class at 10 and our teacher told us it wasn't going to be too bad. But as foreign students, we don't know what "too bad" means. If it's just general knowledge, it isn't necessarily going to be easy for us American students. Our general knowledge all relates to the US. If the test was on how the government in the US was set up, I'd ace it. That's common knowledge. You're supposed to know that. However, if you asked me how the government of the EU was set up, simple bare bones, I couldn't tell ya. I'd fail. But all the kids here know it because that's what they grew up with. It's expected. So I'm lost most of the time.

So I had a specially scheduled music tutorial at 11, right after my Europe Government tutorial. I should have just said I couldn't make it and studied, but I figured what the hell, why not. So I went, banged on the drum and headed to my test. I didn't eat breakfast before my test, had nothing to eat or drink all morning, and it was now noon. I was becoming restless. But I figured I did this all the time back at home and I got a 4.0 last semester so screw it. We were distributed the tests by our tutorial teachers. The prof doesn't show up on test day. Everything off the desks, use your own notebook paper, you have 40 minutes. The test was 5 short answer questions and 3 long answer questions. You had to answer all 5 of the short answers but only 2 of the 3 long answers. When I looked through the first 5, I thought to myself, "These could all be answered in one word." The first five questions went something like this...

1. What was the term coined by Erich Ludendorff?
2. When did the Bolsheviks take over power in Russia?
3. Who was the fascist leader who came to power in Italy after WWI?
4. What is the gold standard and why was it used?
5. How did the depression of the mid 1920's shape international relations?

As soon as I saw the first 5 questions, I knew I'd get no lower than an A on this test. I remember looking over all of these points when I did my one scan the night before. I'm becoming real good at anticipating test questions. I immediately just started writing. I had to elaborate because honestly, for the first 3 you could write down 1 word and be done with it. So I had to bullshit.

Erich Ludendorff, 1935, coined the term "Total War" blah blah, this meant the complete mobilization of a nations resources militarily and economically.

Czar kicked out in Russia 1917, Bolsheviks take over in 1918, don't seize full power until 1922, blah blah blah.

Mussolini was the fascist who took over Italy, blah blah.

The Gold Standard was introduced by London, blah blah.

And the Depression put everyone into isolationism, tensions rise, blah blah.

Simple, straightforward, way too easy.

The backside then had 3 long quotes. We were to read the quote, look at who said it, talk about the context in which it was used, and comment on the quote. So I chose one from Woodrow Wilson to Lloyd George about Germany not paying reparations and I chose one from some German politician about how the porn industry was ruining the country's moral values. Piece of cake.

So Thursday night, I just chilled out. I went to the gym at 10 that night. Don't know why, I just did.

Yesterday I didn't get to sleep in because I had to go turn my paper in at my teachers office. First I had to print it out. You have to put money on your ID card in order to print, and I didn't have enough on mine, so I had to go to another building and have them print it out for me. But I got it bound and it had a nice glossy finish, so it was all good. Paid 4 Euros for it though.

So after that I went to the gym, and then just spent last night chilling and watching movies. Nothings really happening here. I will say this though, it has been gorgeous the last 3 days. Thursday and Friday I was walking around in jeans and a t-shirt. Probably around 60 degrees. This week again it's supposed to get up to 60! I'm excited! The weather is definitely getting better here. It's starting to feel like Spring. I have noticed the grass getting greener over the past couple weeks. Pretty soon everything will be blooming and budding. Hell there have been flowers blooming for about two weeks now all over campus. I hope the cold, cold days are over. Crossing my fingers.

Today... was nice. I slept in until 1. Ahhh finally. I got up, had a pb&j sandwich and then went to the gym. Came back from the gym, downloaded music and just lounged all day and night. Got a pizza from Spar, it sucked terribly, but I got to watch Wedding Crashers on TV here while making it and eating it so that was cool.

Now I'm just writing this and getting ready for bed. I have to get up early tomorrow because my friends will be arriving mad early! But I'm excited for their arrival, should be a fun time! I still have to do laundry though at some point this week. I'm running out of clothing. I guess I'm just thinking out loud at this point.

Also, I hate the freaking girls who live next door to me. Quiet alllll day until right now. Why do they always do this. I hate them! I've never met them, but they are the most annoying girls in the world. They can't be Irish because all the Irish kids go home on the weekends. I've often thought about just going over on nights when they aren't noisy at like 2 am and ringing their doorbell and running back over here. Or throwing eggs in the window they constantly leave open in the front of the house. I just want them to shut up. And you can't tell them to because they'll just get louder. Oh well.

Alright, that's it for now. I'm going to bed.

Goodnight everyone.