I'm so ronrrreey

Well, the rest of my program has gone home. There are a few of us who are still hanging around waiting for our parents and various family members to come tour our "home" as we play tour guide. This last week as been a rush of final classes, final papers, final exams and final opportunities for the younger crowd to drink at bars. Most of our crew went out either every night or close to, but I just couldn't justify going out to bars until 5am with final exams at 9am. Sure, I'm a little lame, but I'm used to it. A lot of the crew is also going to be returning to the prude, overzealous alcohol laws of America where they can't drink anywhere but their dorm rooms from alcohol that has been purchased for them with cash. I am one of the few 21-year-olds here, and all of us have lost the rush to rage every night. We may not be wiser, but we're sure as hell more tired. C'est la vie. Today and tomorrow I will be writing my last paper that is due July 1. I wish that this program had been a bit more "abroad" and a little less "study", but I guess that isn't up to me. I just gotta get my paper done!

As for that so-called Thesis research that you've been hearing SO much about, it has been getting done. I spent an entire day at Terezin taking photos of everything in site (haha get it...site) and I've visited the Holocaust Memorial in Prague twice, once with official permission to take photographs. I wish I had been given a name tag or something instead of just a piece of paper to show the guard-Babushkas because the tourists gave me the dirtiest looks. My thesis has kinda morphed though. I am faced with 2 memorials here, and a museum back home that I will be comparing. I'm thinking I'm just going to cut out the museum side of USHMM and focus on it's ability to act as a memorial. I don't know. I guess that is something I'll have to discuss with my professor/advisor when I get home. I have time.

The bottom line, for this trip, is that I have decided that I belong here. I have fallen in love. I am now considering applying for a Fulbright scholarship to live/research/maybe teach in Eastern Europe. What can I say? I'm a sucker for Slavonic. I mean, how could you not love a place like this:

-
Emily