Last Week (37) - Finals, Parties and Sadly Farewell

Finally I left Marshall University after 262 days (about 8.5 month). I was really sad, as I found a lot of really good friends here, but I am also looking forward to see my family and friends at home again :). Before going back to Austria I will travel to Washington DC, Lancaster, Philadelphia, Boston and New York City before I will return on the 20th of May.

This week, I had my last final exams and I successfully passed all of them (or at least I think so). On Monday, I didn't do a lot because I had 2 finals of 2 hours each and I also had to prepare for the final on the next day. On Tuesday, at night we went to Margarita's - it was Cinco de Mayo - that's the day the Mexicans won a battle or so against France (only Americans celebrate that day - Mexicans don't care at all :). It was fun - there were many specials and we had a lot of good Coronas and Modelos.

On Wednesday, I didn't have any exams and as the weather was really nice (up to 30°C (about 85°F)), we decided to have another barbeque. This time we had it at a house with a swimming pool and a beach volleyball court, so we could also do several other things. On Thursday, I had a lot of things to do before I could leave, which took a lot of time. I also started packing then and nevertheless had to finish work for the presentation of the software engineering project on Friday. As Thursday night was my last night in Huntington, I obviously had to go out. We went to Black Sheep and to The Union.

On Friday, in the morning I prepared everything for my presentation, which I had after lunch. It was ok, a guy from Microsoft came and evaluated our software project and he did not seem to be disappointed about it. After the presentation I finished packing and then had a dinner at a Japanese restaurant, where they cook in front of you - it was a nice experience. I went back to campus afterwards to say goodbye to all my good friends here, which was really sad and went then to the Greyhound bus station where the bus had about 2 hours delay. But I did not have to wait alone, so it was not that bad... (Except from the leaving of course).

And here a picture slide show video of the spring term:

Week 36 - Holi Festival, Cooking and Farewell Picknick

This week was the so called "Dead Week", the last week of classes - next week are only finals anymore. I already had a few final exams in Cyber Security, Software Engineering and Spanish, which went ok, but not great, but I think I passed all exams and that's the only important thing. It is also very different here than in Austria, the final exam only takes a rather small part of the overall grade (from 10 to 40 percent), so if you don't do well on an exam it is not too bad.

On Tuesday, we watched Pitch Perfect at night on the campus on an outdoor screen which was quite nice - it only could have been a little bit warmer...

On Wednesday I had the earlier mentioned 2 exams and at night we went to a bar/restaurant called ALE House to have dinner. I had a nice burger and a delicious Weihenstephaner wheat beer (I miss wheat beer so much - they don't have that here almost anywhere). On Thursday, I had only one class, studied a little bit for my Spanish exam on Friday and at night, we had a farewell party for Anabel, a Spanish student, who left the next day. It was fun, but I didn't stay really long as I had my exam on the next day.

On Friday, there was a Holi Festival on campus. We put colors on others and got covered with colors for about 1.5 hours.

At the night we also had a small party at an American friend's house. On Saturday, I had to start studying for my final exams and at night I cooked "Wiener Schnitzel" (Vienna Schnitzel) and "Kartoffelsalat" (Austrian potato salad) and I am really content with my cooked dishes! To complete an Austrian evening we watched "The Sound of Music" which is in my opinion just hilarious :).

On Sunday we had a pick nick / barbeque from the International Student Organization, where a lot of international students showed up and everybody was supposed to bring food from their country (I brought the Kartoffelsalat from the day before). We had really nice weather (about 26°C - 79°F) and were at a park close to the university from about noon to 7:30pm. We played soccer, volleyball and just enjoyed the sun and the good food.

At night I also went to the library, because I had two finals the next day. And now it's going to the final week already - the time flies - only 5 days left...

Week 35 - ISO Party, Walking in Heels and Karaoke

It's again time for a short update after this quite eventful week is over. On Tuesday we went to a free show of the BBC Orchestra, which was quite nice and afterwards, we went to Jake's for a Karaoke night. I had to sing "Hollaback Girl" from Gwen Stefani because of a lost bet and it was just awful, because I didn't really know the song (and I cannot sing :). Of course, almost all of the others also sung and so it became a funny night.

On Thursday Matheus and I went to an event called "Walk a mile in her shoes". A lot of people walked a mile in heels and Matheus and I also participated. It was a walk against sexual assault and walking in the heels went better than expected as I didn't break my ankles :D.

On Friday there was the last party of the International Student Organization at Margharitas. That was of course a mandatory event for our group and I'm kind of sad now because the semester is almost over.

On Saturday I went to a fundraising event for Autism. We had dinner there and gambled Black Jack, Roulette, and Crabs with fake money. We would have become rich, if it would have been real money :). At the night we also had another party at a friend's house with a lot of people which was also really nice.

I also finished my traveling plans for after the semester. I'll go to Washington, D.C again, then to Lancaster where I will see the Amish. After that I'll go to Philadelphia, Boston and spend a few more days in New York City, before I'll catch my flight back to Austria on the 20th of May. I am looking forward to this, because I'll see my family and friends again in Austria, but it is also a little bit sad now, because I've made so many good friends here...

Week 34 - Beauty and the Beast Musical, Walmart Trolleys and Whitewater Rafting

Another week has passed and it's time for the next blog post. Now the semester goes into the final stage - there are only 3 more weeks until the end of the semester, so right now I have to make sure that everything is set for the final exams and project presentations.

On Tuesday, a few international students and I went to the free musical "The Beauty and the Beast" in the Keith Albee theater in Huntington (the normal tickets would be around 80$). It was a nice musical and I also took a few pictures (and got some from other people):

On Wednesday, we had again a poker night and this time we played with money - and I was lucky enough to win 10 dollars :). On Friday, we went to Walmart and wanted to try the American lifestyle. We tried to drive with the electronic trollies, they have there. I think they are just hilarious and the best thing is they beep like a truck when you go back with them. Unfortunately, it did not last long and some employee of Walmart came to me and asked me if I am disabled and told me to drive the trolley back... After we bought some stuff in Walmart we went out and also made a race with a normal trolley (our Fast and Furious 8 :D).

On Saturday, I had the highlight of the week. Another student and I went on a whitewater rafting trip organized by the recreation center of the university. We went to the New River Gorge, which is about 2 hours away by car and rafted for about 4 hours on the second oldest river on earth. It was really nice, the river had almost too much water, so that we could not do it (it was 10 feet (3 meters) above the normal level - and at 12 feet you have to do another route).

After I came back (at around 8:30pm) we also went out to Sharkey's. The next day I had to do some work for the university and at night we went out again as it was the end of the Greek Week and there was the block party at the fraternities.