Week 15: Enmodes

I have a lot of feelings about this week, my main one being that I’m normally a time efficient person and waiting until 2am to finish a presentation isn’t the highlight of my week. This week was especially gruesome to me because I had a lot of things to study for and work on but the motivation and the feeling of being stuck at home during a pandemic really got to me. I did the work and did what needed to be done but at the end of the day I didn’t feel better about it and it just felt like I was distracting myself from reality. It really sucks.

Week 14: Nothing Special, Again

the only thing exciting about this week: I got to take my car in for servicing and it was the only time i got to feel some sense or normalcy for weeks. everytime i go out to heb (cause that’s the only place i can go) i am hit with speakerhead warnings over coronavirus and to stay apart from other people. so being able to go to service my car and see other people (closer than 6 feet shockingly) was a sense of normalcy that I craved. besides that my entire week was exceptionally boring and consisted of nothing but schoolwork and stress. It reminded me of high school where all I did was school and it was the worst time of my life.

Week 13: March 5 - 11

This is where school started to kick in. More and more work. I starting going for bike rides to keep my spirits up but honestly, I went maybe once or twice in the week. I spent my days just working on homework, studying, going downstairs for some coffee, etc. I really don't know what else I could write about because 1) I don't really remember what happened and 2) I probably didn't do anything exciting anyways.

Week 12: Quarantings

March 29 - April 4

This was the week of our 253 exam and our math exam, the first exams fo zoom university. For the 253 exam, I didn't do as well as I would have liked, but I accepted the grade. For math however, it was surprisingly well. Considering the fact that it was the first exam that was administered online AND my internet went out during it, I ended up with a pretty decent grade. Besides that, this week was the end of my mandatory quarantine and I was finally able to go back to my real home with my family. When I finally go home it wasn't as exciting as I thought it was going to be, mainly because everyone else was so tired and bored of quarantine just as I was. So even though I was back home and seeing my family for the first time in awhile, the situation really dampened everything and made it difficult to be excited.

Week 11: First Week of Zoom University

So this is the week where things stopped being exciting. The excitement of going back home had died down, the couple days of already being at home had settled and now I just spent my days working and doing nothing but sleep and homework. Thankfully, I had no exam this week so I didn't have to have that added on stress. Honestly the only things exciting this week were being able to see most of my friends through zoom, even if it was during class. It was still nice to see my friends.

Don't know what else to add, everyday feels the same.

The End

Thy semester has now reached its end. As a sheep reaches the end of the fence, there are two options for me. I can continue to roam in my pre-defined pasture, or i can choose to not be a sheep and instead be a horse who jumps that constricting fence and makes his own path. I have learned plenty from this semester. I learned who I am, who I want to be and what I appreciate most. This semester was a whirlwind of turbulent changes. My ability to adapt and grow to the world has strengthened. I ended my classes almost to the point of expectations. However, with everything that happened over the last few months I will say that I am not disappointed. I miss everything about Germany. I miss the people, the cities, my classes, my professors, my friends and even my host mom. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life and I am still sad it had to end early. I want to thank Dr.Wasser specifically for creating such a beautiful study abroad experience for all of us, it wouldn’t have been the same with any other professor. I plan to return to Europe someday, and hopefully stay for  much longer than a couple months at a time. Summer 2k20 is here now and i’m ready to make it great. I already have a lot of plans for this summer, i want to check off as much as i can. I have summer classes as well, but just one(Ochem) so it should be a breeze. I think i am also going to try to learn a new language this summer. I have a basic foundation in spanish so i think I will try to become as fluent as possible. I also want to get back into piano. I used to play a lot as a kid, but I’ve kind of lost the heart to play. I miss playing an instrument and it’s a great skill to have! The world is great the world is round and as long as i’m around I will be the great the world needs. As a fish swims in a school through the vast ocean, it’s the one who ventures off and mutates legs to walk on shore that changed everything.

I am that fish

Signing off

Jack Gibbs

Final Post... For Now.

APR 27th-MAY 5th:
And here we finally are. 5 months from the beginning of my journey abroad, and there is no denial that a transformation had taken place. I had met some friends that I can say without a shadow of a doubt will be people I speak with for the rest of my years. And my professors and TA's? Could count on them for anything.

Getting down to the actual week breakdown, it really consists of late study nights caused directly by procrastination during the day, using grade calculators to find out threshold grade for each of my finals, and one good ol' all-nighter. Wouldn't be finals week without one!

In addition to the 4 finals I would have to take across Thursday to the Tuesday of the next week, we also had a third physiology exam to take on the Tuesday prior. I was actually very much in favor of this though, as it would help even out my first exam that went a little too rough, and the same material would be tested on the following week. So I really didn't have to study much at all for the final.

Across all my classes, I was able to clutch up in all of them except one: my arch-nemesis, 211. Will definitely be pass/failing that one! But hey, I'll take the A's everywhere else!

I know this won't be my final blog post as we will be coming back to this some months down the road, but I still want to take a moment to thank everyone that made this program abroad possible. I had the most fun I have ever had in my life, and that is no understatement. I'd give any amount of money to run it back just one last time, but no amount could get me to give those memories up. I'm beyond grateful that this was the group I got so lucky with meeting.

Once again, I cannot thank our Biosciences family enough.

Peace out.