Last days of summer

It's the last day of summer break, and a rainy one at that. I've notice that with each passing year of college, the distinction between semesters and breaks become more blurred. This summer, after taking a class for the first six weeks, I worked 5-7 days a week at my lab, studied for and took the GRE, and spent a great deal of time panicking about graduate school applications; the fact that starting tomorrow I have to add attending class into that mix hardly makes a big difference. Part of this may be a science thing - working in lab can be, for many people, somewhat all-consuming, and the rest of one's life tends to fade in importance compared to one's work. But that does lend a nice stability to life...

It probably also stems in part from being a commuter. While many other students were moving into their dorms the past few days, I was cleaning and reorganizing my apartment to get everything into shape for studying. Technically I share the apartment with my mom and brother, but my mom works outside of the city about half the week and my brother just went up to law school so for most intents and purposes it's mine. This definitely has it's perks - quiet, space, privacy - but also means I have to fit housekeeping and animal care into my routine, and when you need to be at school by 9 o'clock in the morning the extra 20 minutes to feed and walk dogs, feed cats, and take care of the parrot definitely takes a toll.

For now though everything is calm and in order, and I can sit back and enjoy the last day before senior year.