I am sorry that I haven’t posted in awhile…SO much has been going on. Oh the life of the busy college student. Since I last posted we have had Thanksgiving break, two weeks of class, and we are now entering final’s week. The week that we have been working towards all semester. It’s interesting because you can start to see people changing as finals get closer and closer. At any given point you can find someone studying somewhere. The library becomes packed with people, including those hoping to find a quiet place to study to those who are trying to finish up end of the semester papers. Every-once-in-awhile you come across the rare student who has embraced the chaos and feels completely calm about the things that are to come. Those are the ones that you want to be around because they bring you a sense of peace and help you to put things in perspective. All in all the semester will end with midnight screams (the Messiah ritual where any student who wants to, pokes their head out the window at midnight during finals week and screams at the top of their lungs to relieve stress), finals, and of course the end of the semester goodbyes that are bittersweet. Going home to family for Christmas, but leaving behind beloved friends for a couple of weeks. Last Sunday we had our annual HDFS Christmas party at Dr. Hamon’s house. It was really nice to get off campus and enjoy time with my fellow department members. We had yummy subs, chips, and tantalizing desserts. We were able to meet and have fun with our professor’s children and to interact with our professors themselves in an informal setting. We then had our white-elephant gift exchange, where mugs were the desired item of the year, and all headed back to campus to our warm rooms thinking about the fact that exams were around the corner and our own homes were waiting for us in a week-and-a-half. I would highly encourage you to attend!