Holly

With only three weeks left of the quarter I am more than ready for it to all be over. But of course, before the end will be able to arrive I will have to complete some serious projects of great academic proportion. I have been working on a research paper for my Social Movements class about undocumented immigration, specifically from Mexico. The purpose of my paper is to investigate how the United States’ immigration policies affect everyone in this country, not just the people who immigrate here. I hope to be able to offer ideas about how people can evaluate their own attitudes about immigration, legal or illegal, and understand how every single person in this country is reliant upon a migratory workforce in order to keep our economy running.

In my Spanish class I have yet another critical literary analysis essay to write before the end of the quarter. We have been studying magical realism and the importance of this literary genre in Latin America. We have the choice of writing about two different stories, one by Isabel Allende and the other by Gabriel García Márquez, two revered authors in Latin American literature.

Outside of school I can honestly say that I have never felt more burdened by my academic workload. In other words, I have no personal life right now. Even my part-time job has become overwhelming for me, and I love where I work! I suppose this is nothing new. The end of each quarter is always accompanied by elevated stress levels and moments of pure panic, until it’s finally all over in December and I experience the exhilaration of being one quarter closer to graduating in June. I have no actual exams to take during finals week, just essays to turn in the last day of classes, so I’ll get a full month off of school for winter break. Hopefully that will allow me enough time to experience the necessary amnesia in order to begin another quarter excited and refreshed. Right now I just have to keep my sight focused on December 4, my last day of Autumn quarter.