Signs you've been in Europe too long:
- You say 'flat' instead of 'apartment'...
- and 'lift' instead of 'elevator'
- 'Bloody' is a regular part of your vocabulary...
- as is 'proper'...
- and 'oy'.
- You spell using s's instead of z's...
- and c's instead of s's...
- add random u's...
- use single quotes (' ') instead of double (" ")...
- and swap your r's and e's.
- Basically, you spell like a weirdo.
- Celsius actually has a physical association (no, not water freezing or boiling, but more of a 'room temperature is 20C' thing)...
- so do centimetres.
- Your default engineering units are now metric.
The units thing is gonna be a problem. I've lost my mojo on that bit. Of course, I've spent the past 2 years trying to force myself to actually use and think in SI, so... well, I'm gonna call myself fancy and pretend that counts.
The list of languages in the geo-department that people can say 'good' in is missing at least 3 languages.
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I've been polishing up my thesis based on comments from my green light meeting and the journal article that is supposed to be submitted tomorrow. Somehow, I even managed an 'aha!' moment about a couple relationships that I wasn't expecting and don't make that much sense. I updated my pretty pretty figures and tables. And I started my defence presentation.
I have a couple fancy shmancy animations explaining ice lens development. Talk about a pain in the ass to create, but I think they make my point. And, ya know, it's kind of a critical part for understanding my research.
The end is in sight.
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Grand travel plans with my parents post-graduation are mostly made. Plane tickets are purchased, Airbnb rented, and car reserved. Rachael is taking her med school boards, then meeting us in Italy for a week, which is so freaking awesome. The rock climbing guidebook for Croatia is en route. I suppose at some point, I should get us housing there so we don't end up camping. Ev and I only have a 2 person tent over here, and somehow shoving 4 people into it seems like a really bad time.
The end is in sight.
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The job hunt has started. Kinda. The economy in Alaska is crap right now, but I'm hoping my previous work experience and masters degree will make me appealing. The compulsive, rigid part of me wants a job before we go home so I don't have to worry about it. The smart, more chill part of me doesn't want to jump in to something that won't make me happy. The compromise with myself involves Skype dates with a couple geotech firms.
I suppose that means it's almost time to re-enter the real world.
Did I mention that the end is in sight?
About bloody time.
