Every time I start to write a blog entry, I am shocked at how fast time flies by! I’m in my last semester of undergrad? For real?
The beginning of Christmas break was amazing. Finishing finals and getting ready for a month without due dates (well, kind of) was a present in and of itself! The only sad part was that we had to bid both our friends and our Christmas tree goodbye 
One of our farewell dinners!At the beginning of break, I went home to see my family and old friends for a couple of weeks. All of my sisters plus my niece were able to come for Christmas and we had a delicious turkey dinner before opening our PRESENTS! I got a lot of great surprises this year! Grey’s Anatomy Season 3 soundtrack, pretty jewelry from Macy’s, and a new winter coat were some of my favorites.
And the fun didn’t stop there… the day after Christmas I took off to Germany to visit Stefan and his family for three weeks! We spent many long nights playing rummy with his parents, and I ate a million baked goods throughout the trip. For New Year’s Eve, we were in Berlin with Stefan’s brother Oli. People were shooting off fireworks everywhere! I didn’t think that was allowed in cities, but I guess it is there! There was a huge celebration at Brandenburger Tor, right down the street (the biggest New Year’s Eve celebration in the world, I believe – more than a million people!). We walked through the area earlier in the evening but had already decided to forego the crowds and have our own party. That turned out to be a good decision since I got to meet a lot of really nice people at the party!
After we had to leave Berlin, we traveled to Karlsruhe, where we stayed for two weeks. I was going to take two weeks of language classes that I enrolled myself in over two months ago… but when I arrived at the school, the secretary casually said “Oh, we cancelled that class… there weren’t enough participants!” Unable to express my anger in German, I had to act like the passive person that I am not. I ended up switching to a different class that started during my second week, and was a level higher than appropriate for me. Boo! But I have to admit, in the end it turned out better because the course hours were nice, the class was challenging, and I saved money by only doing one week of language school.
Regarding my graduate school plans, I have a new list of things to do now that I’ve submitted my first scholarship application! I have another scholarship application that is due on April 1 (right after I hear back from this first one!). Meanwhile, I have to start preparing my application for the German university I want to attend. The hardest part will be a language proficiency exam that I have to take in June. The exam is supposed to ensure that my German is good enough to understand what is going on in the University! :/
Being back at school is great so far. Although I missed the first week of the semester, catching up wasn’t as hard as I envisioned! And yesterday morning I had a great surprise as I woke up (at 6 AM… jet lag!). We have SNOW! I anxiously fired up my computer and basically stared at my e-mail for an hour and a half, hoping for a SNOW DAY e-mail… with no luck! It wasn’t so bad, since I only had two classes, and Jordan, Stef and I celebrated the snow day in my apartment with a hot cinnamon roll party! Mmmm!
Have a great weekend!
My name is Britney Grayson. I am a Tulsa native (graduate of Booker T. Washington High School and the International Baccalaureate Program) and alumna of The University of Tulsa, class of 2004. I am delighted that many of you reading are considering TU for college. I’d love to share a little bit of my story with you including why I am so thankful that I chose TU for my undergraduate education.
