School is out! I am free for the next three months, and my brain has run far, far away. Seriously, I feel like I'm in some sort of weird haze, like I'm in a movie, like everything is slightly surreal. I guess I still feel like there's homework to be done or studying I'm putting off or something.

It's probably because last week was so intense, what with all the cramming and stressing and carnage of finals. I spent ALL day at school. Several days in a row! I know that's typical for lots of college students, but not so much for us commuting transfer students. It was nuts! It was kind of cool, too, though. I got to spend lots of time with classmates, and we stressed together, and encouraged each other to keep calm, and we agonized over it all, together. It was kind of nice, in a weird way. That's one of those bizarre things about school - the unfun times become fun when spent with friends.

Highlights of finals week:

~ Lying on the grass in the shade of a large tree on a bright sunny day, with some girls from my Psych classes. Two girls who had already had some finals and very little sleep ended up taking quick naps in between their studies, while another girl and I pushed on through, reviewing our notes together.

~ Finding out the night before the final that my professor had told us the opposite definitions for operant and classical conditioning and had never bothered to inform the class, even after someone called the mistake to her attention during office hours. After a hard day, that little nugget of information made me want to scream! Luckily, there were no questions pertaining to that on the final. Which is good. Otherwise, there might have been little Meg bits all over everyone after I spontaneously combusted.

~ Running into Jen on campus and getting to hang with her, Ken, and Leilani for a bit in between review sessions.

~ Having lunch with Ruthie after my first final.

~ Belinda announcing, "I think I'm going to throw up," before each of our two finals on Friday. She didn't, thank god.

~ Cramming with Belinda for two hours before the Chem final and freaking out over one problem in particular. "But if that's endothermic, how is it releasing energy?!" I said, wanting to rip apart my book. We finally figured it out, though, and I feel good about that particular problem on the test. (It had to do with making and breaking bonds; I'll spare you the details.)

~ Having lunch with Belinda on Friday after it was all over, so newly over that it hadn't even sunk it yet. (I'm still not sure it has!)

~ Seeing all the graduates in their caps and gowns lining up, preparing for their ceremony, and being able to say, "That's going to be me next summer."

So that's it. My first year at UCLA is complete. That is incredibly bizarre! It seemed to go a little too fast for it to have been a year already. I guess I didn't take into consideration that a school year is really only... what, eight and a half months? But still, that's a long time. It doesn't seem like that much time could have already passed since I started school here. Wow. ...[moment of poignant silence]... Well, there you have it.

I currently have the whole summer stretched out in front of me. I'm looking forward to relaxing and getting in better physical shape. I want to read a lot, and hang with my friends. And there will be some travel involved, too, I'm pleased to say.

And then next year will start, and I'm sure in no time, I'll be sitting in my cap and gown, asking you all, "How did this school year fly by so fast, too?"