runja, 2010, and the end

OK so christmas break has quickly flown by and now it is back to normal. runja finally arrived in holland on christmas morning, the same day as that terrorist scare on the flight to detroit. we were probably in the airport at the same time. but runja's travel was safe to and from europe.

we did lots of fun things, including walking on the beach at scheveningen, all around rotterdam, utrecht, and amsterdam a few times. we saw the van gogh museum that is designed by rietveld on the museumplein. it is expensive and 1/3 of the permanent collection wasn't on display. why aren't museums subsidized here like in england? or at least a student discount or something. also new year's eve was a blast. every person in the city set off fireworks at midnight and we watched from a small bridge so it was a beautiful sight. we ate good food (mostly pad thai), made art, and laughed a lot. that was the most important part of the trip: our time together. photos are up now on flickr. it was a blast and now it is lonely to do things i once did with her. i miss her.

but, for better or worse, i only have 3 weeks left. this blows my mind. my semester abroad has flown by. i will be both happy and annoyed to return to the US (happy for black beans, cheap food, and hills; sad for inefficient public transit, canals, and leaving delft). regardless, it will happen and life will go on. i should probably be thinking about things like how to close my bank account and how to get a school transcript, but for now i am worried about school itself. i just finished a paper for my patrick healy course and now have 3 weeks (the review is on january 29) to pump out something for the studio course. it has, organizationally, been a nightmare. i am even worried now about getting credit for it at MIT and graduating on time. i don't want to talk about it because it only makes my headache and frustration larger. instead of complaining i want to do the best i personally can to learn and get positive experience out of it. i'm also trying to get ready for the spring 2010 term at MIT that starts only 4 days after my final review at TUD and what will happen after that. but for now, it is studio crunch time.