Started a few days ago, so I'll post it in December:

When I got back to school after Thanksgiving break, there was a week or so of looming awareness of finals and then the crystallization of our fears in the form of two sleepless weeks (grin - I wish I was completely kidding). Once exams started, I fell into a pattern of binge studying at the library, winding among study nooks and laptops propped on couches, back and forth between the cafe (open until 2:00 AM, dispensing white chocolate and eggnog lattes) and my little armchair by the window. I wore my scarf always and draped my coat over my legs as a blanket, and slouched into my textbooks; I listened to Belle and Sebastian on loop whenever there was ambient noise (it was the only music that didn't distract me, except for "Le Pastie," which I played several times in a row to energize me).


Meanwhile, there were inevitable breaks to play in the flat-screen computer lab, which is where I applied to be a beat reporter for The Daily Pennsylvanian and completed my RAP-Line exit letter. I'm now the Health Systems/Medical School beat reporter (with another person, I hope) and a full member of RAP-Line, a student-run peer hotline, for which I did 40 hours of training this semester. I also did sketchy recreational things like purchasing Italian subs from the automated order-taker at Wawa at 4:00 AM, and tramping around in the snow in my damp dress boots (I didn't have any others), concertedly thinking about gene cloning or whatever, because the pastoral blanketing of Locust Walk fueled my inclination to study.


School was so beautiful during and after the first snowfall, especially at night. The campus was a random dispersion of Gothic buildings and snowdrifts, with white globe lamps hanging in the air and a lit path of holiday lights curving along Locust Walk. I'm susceptible to using snow as a vehicle for renewed faith and optimism in the worthwhileness of (most) things; also it was fun to walk with Reem (from California), because it was her first time seeing snow. After the campus got slushy and gritty, I had to carry on in the absence of novelty, finding motivation where I could (like at the library - I love that place for its hushed and determined productivity). I binged on sleep as well as studying, collapsing for fourteen hours at a time after an exam or a paper. Finally, I certainly goofed off, watching such movies as Donnie Darko and Kill Bill with Nick and others.