Ahlan wa Sahlan, Summer

(Quick edit to add a link to my newly unveiled Egypt blog, Summer in Misr!)

I survived finals week, just turned my last paper in, and now it's finally summer break! Until next Monday at least, when I leave for my Egypt summer abroad program and classes begin again.

I honestly wasn't sure if I was going to survive finals week (or if I actually did, since part of me has been DEAD since Monday's LSAT). My brain was too fried to study for finals and I kept reading the same thing over and over without retaining anything. My Econ final was seriously the worst exam I've taken in my life and my final grade in the class definitely reflects that... ouch. Arabic was pretty miserable too but I'm counting on my quizzes/midterms and extra credit performance to save me. Cognitive Development actually went very well, considering how similar the final was to the two midterms we took! I'm still waiting on my final Arabic/Psych grades (and I won't get grades for my two honors theses until the end of fall), but Arabic and Cognitive Development should be an A+/A so I shouldn't have to worry too much.

It's a good thing I'm keeping busy for the next few weeks, since the wait for LSAT scores is keeping me on edge. I can't even count the number of breakdowns I've had this week over the LSAT and finals, even though in the end I know I will end up at a great law school. It'll be nice to get my score back, since even if it's not what I'm hoping for, I can at least cut my losses and create the final list of schools that I'm applying to. For now, all I know is that I'm applying to Stanford (long shot), Penn, Berkeley, Georgetown, UCLA, and George Washington. Likely Duke as well, plus a few more T-14 schools. And hey, UC Davis/Boston University/University of Washington may make the final list as well (since I know I'd be happy at any of them and I need to add a few more safety schools)! But anyway, my list won't be set for about another month and I'll likely apply to any T-20 school that gives me a fee waiver.

Alright, time to embrace summer... Hello long wait for my LSAT score, hello EGYPT! Welcome, bad Toms tan lines and book-a-day reading sprees. Junior year was miserable yet amazing, so I'm eager to see what this summer and senior year have in store for me!

Is it summer yet?

I can't believe spring quarter is over! As soon as I tackle the LSAT on Monday and final exams/papers Tuesday through Thursday, I'll be on summer break.
 
This may have been my least favorite quarter so far - only three real classes plus my two honors theses (20 units total), but my classes were less interesting than normal (of course, it didn't help that I had 9:00am class every day and I've been anything but a morning person this year). International Economic Relations and Cognitive Development weren't the best classes for me to take considering my junioritis, with dry subject material that absolutely didn't motivate me to want to wake up for class. In Arabic, we started a new textbook and while I enjoyed the class, I didn't enjoy how the material got three times harder when it had already been difficult to begin with. However, this is the quarter that my language ability grew exponentially. I can finally read, write, listen, and speak Arabic (to some degree). I'm sure Egypt will only help with that!
 
As far as the LSAT goes... with all the work I've been putting into my jobs, academics/honors theses, fraternity, and social life, I haven't been able to devote as much time as I'd like for LSAT studying. My mantra for Monday is all I need is a 170, which is true if lawschoolpredictor.com is at all accurate. Anything 170+ puts me in range for most of the T-14 law schools, since my LSAC GPA is doing very well after last quarter (and with all my A+s in Arabic). Will I get a 170 on Monday? Maybe. We'll see.
 
Assuming I do well on Monday (or at least do better than February's mostly-decent score), I'll spend my summer finalizing the list of law schools I'm applying to and writing admissions essays. Of course, I have other summer plans... like a month in Egypt, a weekend in Southern California with my family, and a week in Cabo. When I'm back in Davis, I'll also be training for my new position as the International Relations peer advisor and preparing for my fraternity's rush week (since I'm our new Public Relations Chair). I'm hoping to have a fun, productive, and potentially relaxing summer. It'll be nice to have a break from school, even if I'm taking classes in Egypt and will have to study/write papers there.

On a final note, I'm almost done setting up my blog for Egypt! I'll still be blogging here on Dreams and Ambition while I'm abroad, but I'm hoping to update my Egypt blog several times a week. (And what else am I going to do during the hottest part of the day in Cairo anyway?) As soon as the blog is up and running, I'll post the link on here.