My blog is more important than French Resistance media

Hello blog,

Well, it's that time of year again: finals have come, and Yana is procrastinating.

There's a certain height of desperation that comes with the end of the semester, when piles of work throw themselves at me and I have no idea where to begin, so I just don't. Suddenly, article headlines like "What Happened to Lee Harvey Oswald's Wife?" and "The One Smell Women Can't Resist" become the most interesting thing in the world. Instead of reading Albert Camus, I decide to google pictures of him instead (and yes, he was pretty attractive).

At least it's December, so I can listen to my Christmas Pandora playlist.

I feel sad that I don't blog anymore. For months, I refused to even log in. I pretended that this blog didn't exist, even though I secretly wished that I could write here the way I did a year or two ago.

I don't know guys. I could never delete this blog, and I could never stop blogging completely. I would never let it die, but I have nothing to say. Suddenly, it seems dumb to write about 2 AM tea parties with my two best friends/dorm neighbors, or extended rants about department stores playing twenty covers of five different Christmas songs. I'll figure it out eventually.

For now, treat yourself to a picture of a Christmas pig.

Aw.

Summer, Part II

Tomorrow is when my summer becomes weird. I'm leaving for Russia tomorrow.

The last time I visited Russia was in 2010, which was before I made this blog, so you guys probably aren't too familiar with the fact that I visit Russia every few years. My family has an apartment in my mom's hometown. We usually go to visit family on both my mom and my dad's side, and we stay for at least a month. It's kind of like an extended vacation.

This year, I'm staying till July 15th. My parents are actually already there, so I'm flying out myself to meet them there. My sister and my grandma come later on this month. I'm super excited to fly by myself. I always have had this weird fascination with traveling alone. I feel like it's the height of young adult independence. Even though I'm in college, the idea that I'm flying halfway across the world by myself seems so exciting. It probably seems ridiculous that I'm 18 and still in love with the idea of independence.

ALSO, exciting news: I'm going to travel through Europe again! My mom called me from Russia and surprised me with these news a few days ago. We'll mostly be in Italy, visiting cities like Venice, Rome, Verona, Pisa, and Florence. We're leaving on June 8th and will be back the 16th. It still hasn't sunk in. I've been cramming guidebook info into my head again, and getting the same rush that I did planning our Europe trip last year. I still don't know why I love Europe so much, but I do.

I don't care if it's the most popular attraction in Italy, I love the Colosseum.

What have I been doing since the semester has ended? Nothing really. Listening to lots of music and watching lots of TV. I'm currently really into the show Girls. It annoys me that the media keeps calling it 'raw,' as if that means anything. I guess that's a fancy way of saying that it's the closest thing to reality TV without spray tans. Either way, I'm impressed with how it's somewhat realistic. (That, and the fact that Ezra Koenig made a cameo appearance in the second season. I'm kind of obsessed with him right now.) The characters are all both likeable and unlikeable, just like real people. There's more to people than just always either loving them or hating them. There are good and bad characteristics to each person. Maybe if I stop being a lazy blogger I'll write more about this.

People keep asking me what I've been doing this summer, and I always feel lame when I say "well, I've watched lots of TV". Maybe I should start calling it a summer tradition. Anyway, I don't know when my next blog post will be, but I will probably blog over the next month or so. Hope you all are enjoying your spring/summer.

This is the story...

of a Yana, who thought she had her final writing portfolio due today at noon.

Who worked on it all last night,
And woke up at 9:30 AM this morning,
Typing furiously,
Hoping she'd finish it on time.

Who, at 12:05 PM,
was still typing,
growing more anxious with each second,
but still barely finished.

Who, at 12:45 PM,
was still not finished,
but decided to email it all in anyway,
only to look at the deadline.

AND REALIZE IT WAS DUE AT NOON TOMORROW.

6 AM babble

Hi. It's 6 AM. I have not slept. This is the second essay I've written in the past two days. This art history one is really kicking my ass. It's supposed to be 6-8 pages. I've been up all night and so far I've only written four three and a half pages. That's it. Ugh, I am so bad at art history papers. I honestly don't know what I was thinking when I signed up for this class. I adore the subject, but I just can't stand it in an academic setting.

Today marks the last day of April. So I kind of sucked at BEDA this year, but sorry. Like I've said before, it's not that I'm too busy, it's more that I just don't know what to say. Blogging used to be really easy for me; I'd come up with topics all of the time. The past year or so, however, I've just been completely out of ideas. When I do finally come up with something, it's usually in some strange setting and by the time I get the chance to write a post, I've either forgotten it forever or it seems dumb. I want to make quality posts, but I can't. Blogging god, why have you foresaken me?

This is the second all-night I've ever pulled. I really despise all-nighters. Last time I did it, I was super cranky the next day. I treated people meanly and didn't even realize it. I'm not joking; I seriously had no idea that I was acting mean until everyone told me. Then I felt awful. I'll try to control myself today.

I was also amazed at how forgetful I was. I was taking notes, and then halfway through writing something I would completely forget what I was writing.

Still have to finish this paper. Woe is me. Maybe I'll take a two hour nap, then wake up and finish it.

Last week of classes. God help me.

Here's a picture idk.

May this semester end

A lot of people are finishing their semesters this week. I'm not. I'm finishing next week, and then I have exams. I won't get to come home until May 16th at the earliest.

My brain is fried. I can't think anymore. I had so much work due this week. So much reading, so many papers, so many presentations. Tomorrow I have a French test. It's 11 PM and I just can't get myself to study.

I also have a 6 page art history research paper due next Tuesday. I've planned some of it out, and I've been trying to get myself to write it all week. I can't. I just can't.

Why isn't this semester over yet? Why do I have a massive paper due in a class a week before the final exam? Why do I keep watching movies when I desperately need to do work?

These are the questions that plague me. Whine whine whine.