Important things in my life (in no particular order)

[readingredhead]

It was great to be back in Berkeley, and terrible at the same time, because after five days I had to leave. I love the city, and I find out new things about it every time I visit (for example, this time I made my first visit to gourmet ice cream parlor Ici). It'll be good to leave it for a year -- but I have a feeling it'll be just as good to return.

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The seventeenth gets closer and closer each day. It's almost officially September. That's crazy...but also good. I'm starting to prepare for London in earnest. It's so weird because it's like being a freshman all over again, but with the benefit of hindsight upon the whole college freshman experience. I think I'm going to like 'freshman' year 2.0 even better than I liked the first iteration.

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Dinner tonight was definitely cinnamon pecan waffles with peanut butter and syrup and milk and bacon. Yum. Life rocks.

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I'm teaching myself Italian (conversationally, using CDs borrowed from a neighbor) and finding it pretty easy. I've always wanted to learn more languages; the whole grad school language requirement thing is just the incentive I need to start picking them up! Frankly, the real list starts with refreshing my Spanish and then learning French, followed by Italian (and then Latin if I'm not dead yet), but I figure there's no harm in learning some conversational Italian even if I can't actually spell most of the words. Apparently I remember more Spanish than I thought -- sometimes when asked how to say a basic phrase in Italian, I can only remember it in Spanish! In my defense, the languages are remarkably similar. If Italian is spoken slowly enough, I can understand two out of three words.

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While I'm studying abroad, I will be keeping up with this journal, though it's quite possible I'm (finally) going to make it friends-only. I'm also going to be keeping a public blog that will consist pretty much of condensed and edited LJ posts. I'll still post randomness and rants and hopes and fears on here...but the study abroad blog will be kept free of anything I wouldn't want to share with my distant relatives, parents, and former schoolteachers. Still, if you're itching for someone else to follow on tumblr, my journal is When In London.

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I got my first check in the mail from DemiDec today! Yes, guys, they're legit, and I'm $700 richer -- and that's only the first of four checks that I'm due. Some of them may be for even larger installments (I confess I don't know exactly). Also, aside from making requested revisions on the three projects that haven't been completed yet (which takes little to no time compared to actually producing the content to begin with), I'm no longer working. This gives me ample and abundant free time. I hadn't realized how much I missed that. I'm looking forward to getting in some beach time, some reading time, some writing time, and some general time to relax.

Comments

[transientrain.livejournal.com]

What in the world is DemiDec?

I wish I had kept up my French-- someday, you may need to reteach me the language.

How did the day with Rick go, or did it not yet occur?

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

DemiDec is a company that writes supplemental prep material for students competing in Academic Decathlon. I helped write review stuff for their literature guide -- this year's theme was romanticism, so right up my alley.

I wish I had kept up my Spanish -- now, I'll have to re-learn it! I don't know if I'll ever be good enough at French to teach you -- maybe we'll have to visit Paris together and teach each other? :)

And the meeting with Rick went well...it was maybe a week ago. It was understandably awkward at first, and it's not like we're going to become good friends, but it cleared the water for me. Overall a good thing, I think. I had meant to write about it on here, but it didn't happen.

Slightly related question: have you seen the film 500 Days of Summer?

[transientrain.livejournal.com]

I have not, but I've heard of it-- it sounds so up my ally...