Good News & Bad News

Good news: My passport came in the mail. Three weeks early to boot.

Bad news: The financial aid processors are taking their sweet old time in reviewing my paperwork.

Good news: I got a $20 anorak from Gap (marked down from $89). Fold away hood, ginormous pockets, snaps AND a zipper, quilted lining. Khaki color. Will serve as raincoat, windbreaker, and warm jacket. Extremely comfortable. Machine washable. A most practical find; it is functional, cheap, and saves me packing room by acting as a three-in-one outerwear.

Bad news: There aren't any Little Caesar's in Israel. A, it isn't Kosher. B, it's American. I suppose I can live without garlic for four months. [lip quiverring]

Good news: I got a good camera at a fair discount, and Mom found a great case for it at DI.

Bad news: I can only pack 50lbs. into the one suitcase I'm allowed to check, and I'm supposed to reserve 10lbs of that available weight for textbooks. (I also may take a 40lb. limit carry on... but it has to fin in the overhead compartments--so it can't be very big.) I need to practice packing and fitting everything in.

Good news: I found a cute, but still cheap, one-piece swimsuit. SHOCKING, but true. Momma was kind enough to alter it slightly which made it really modest. Great stuff. Oooh--AND.... it's blue. Looks good on me. Now if only I was thinner... ;)

TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD NEWS: I did some calculating. (that's bad news in itself.) Imagine two-semesters of Ancient Hebrew crammed into a term. That's the class I was signed up for Summer term. The beginning class is only taught fall semester, so as you can see, I can't take it--I'll be in Jerusalem. That means that I couldn't take Hebrew fall OR winter semesters, and I'd have to wait until next fall to take it, which would push my graduation back to 2011. BAD. Thankfully they teach the accellerated course during Summer term.

That class is torture; two hours of class in the morning, and two hours of class in the afternoon. You're given homework in the morning that's due in the afternoon, and given homework in the afternoon that's due the next morning. Egad. I'm terrified of taking it, but nontheless excited.

Herein lies the problem: The four hours of class time during the day cuts out 4 hours of possible working time. Besides that, tuition for that one class will cost me $945. I can afford to pay that, but what I can't afford is to lose that many hours of work. After calculations, I discovered that at the end of the summer:

If I took the class, I would have: $1,871 in the bank.
If instead of class, I work, I would have: $3,984 in the bank.

I can't afford to miss four hours of work during the day. With that much homework, I can't get an evening job. In order to pay for Jerusalem (I'm still going to need a few thousand in loans,) I had to drop my ancient hebrew class. THAT'S BAD, but as Mumsy Cratchit always says, "It can't be helped."

I've re-arranged planned classes so I can take the 131+132 class next summer, so I'll still take the Heb 331 class on time, which means that when ANES 363 rolls around I'll be able to take it. On schedule. (Which is good, because 363 is only taught Winter Odd years... so if I had missed it Winter of 2009, I would have had to postpone graduation to 2011.)

For those of you who are incredibly confused, I will sum up: I won't get to take an Ancient Hebrew class this summer (that would have been very advantageous for Jerusalem and for my graduation plan,) but I've thought about it, and I think I'll be okay taking it next summer.

Good news: Since I will be working more than expected this summer, I have more free time at my desk. That means I'll have more time to study and read my self-assigned prep materials. Which, now that I think of it, is a very GOOD thing.

-R.