Well we have reached the midpoint of the spring semester.
Midterms ended on Friday, and I have an alright feeling about them. I didn't have a lot of work - just a 5 page paper for Shakespeare and an exam for my Cultural Studies course... but the week was very stressful with and added French test and a quiz for my Intro to Lit class.
Unfortunately I do not have a charger for my camera. I tried to buy one and have it shipped to my house in the States, and then have my parents ship it to me, but the item was backordered and the company never shipped it. I scoured the city of Lugano, looking in department stores of all kinds. Two had the product, but it needed to be pre-ordered and took one to two weeks. My next idea was to search the campus, talking to a bunch of students that I'm not even friends with! I was so desperate and talked to about ten people with Nikons, none of them had the same charger as me.
Therefore, I will be tackling this Academic Travel with my iPhone. The quality will not be incredible, but the iPhone still has a decent camera. I hope I can get some great shots to share this experience with you.
It's going to be a crazy three weeks. I fly out of Lugano at 1:30 pm today (since it's already Sunday here in Switzerland) and arrive in Hamburg in the late afternoon/early evening. We spend three days there, travel to Rostock (also in Germany) for another three days. Then we travel to Copenhagen, Denmark, where we will spend the last four days. One of those includes a day trip to Malmö, Sweden. Then we fly back to Lugano from Copenhagen.
I return on Wednesday the 21st and will try to get some updates in, internet access pending.
On Thursday the 22nd, my friends (Kaitlin, Emily, Michelle, Medina, and Lexie) and I are taking the latest train from Lugano to Milan and then taking a shuttle to the Bergamo airport. Friday morning we have an early flight to Thessaloniki, Greece. We're spending the weekend (Friday the 23rd through Monday the 26) in Greece. I'm excited because Sunday the 25th is Greek Independence Day! Should be a lot of celebrations and great fun.
OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS FOR EVERYONE.
I recently mentioned that I had some big announcement, and I'm not sure if any of you have heard, I'm sure some of you may or will not be surprised if we've talked recently!
This is going to be my last semester here at Franklin.
It's been a difficult decision that I've gone back and forth about, and there is a variety of reasons contributing to this decision.
The top of this list is the lack of a writing program here. Franklin's "Creative WRiting and Literature Major" is a major in Literature that also takes two classes in Creative Writing with a focus in Fiction of Poetry. In essence, it's a Lit major with two supplements.
On top of the lack of program, they are having difficulty even keeping it around at all. My current Lit professor, also the Department Head for Literature, told my class they are looking into starting a petition for the major, which to me suggests that if not enough interest is generated they are going to scrap the program altogether.
I'm taking advantage of every opportunity that I have while I am here, and have no regrets with my decision to come to Franklin. It was an experience I will never forget, and am glad to have and be able to share all of this with you. I will continue to travel, regardless of where I end up next (I'm currently looking at Roanoke in Virginia, and Roger Williams in Rhode Island).
I have really appreciated all of your support throughout this past year. It means a lot to me to know I have such a phenomenal family that believes in me. So thank you to all of you, and I cannot wait to see what the future has in store!
