the first semester at Brandeis ended exactly two hours and thirty four minutes ago when i handed in my last paper on Levi-Strauss' analysis of art. still difficult to believe... and not so easy to find a place... to decide what to do... i guess i could just go and sleep for a week. enough what to dream about. and my body really really needs rest. however, i have also printed out a bunch of texts about activist research and politically engaged anthropology, about doing fieldwork in dangerous places and reflexive social analysis. and, of course, i have some books to read...

but what were the last couple of weeks like? in my calendar they have all been marked red and circled because as long ago as september i knew these would be the days of hell. four papers in two weeks or so... it had seemed impossible and i was determined not to sleep at all. however (and here the story begins), on Tuesday afternoon, that is, when only two days and three nights were left till the deadline this Friday, i still had two papers to write and one to finish, which means that those last two weeks that were supposed to be dedicated to lonely nights typing my thoughts met a different fate. why? good question...



first, because of Sony Playstation 2. i had never played any computer or video games and the like before (except racing cars or changing the appearance of NBA players) and did not mean to, but one evening Schini just gave me one joystick and the game began. it was "Tekken". awful fighting game. the next to come was FIFA soccer, where Italian honor had to be defended even by such an unexperienced player as i am. so... we played every evening, before and after dinner, we even stayed late at night as i wanted to learn the special Xiaoyu moves from Schini, my teacher:) actually, the first time the "Tekken" box was opened, he stayed till five or six in the morning! later Stephan explained me "World of Warcraft", which they always play with Schini. but i will at least not join this... although i loved the "South Park" episode about it.



the last TGIF on Friday was at Heller school. i had not known that it is the third best school of social policy in the U.S. after Harvard and University of Michigan. Stephan met some new girls - one from Iran and another one from El Salvador. Quan got to know Mei-Mei... and i was awoken from casual daydreaming by some consultant from Uganda. don't remember anything about him because i think he was listening more than talking... expert in consulting.

we also watched a bunch of movies... usually, these were "Friends" or "South Park", "Futurama" or "Simpsons", sometimes stupid dating shows on MTV, during the Thanksgiving break, also a lot of old James Bond films. the last night before Stephan and Schini left we even watched "Batman Forever", since the vote was not in favor of more intelectual "Bolivia" or "Singing in the Rain". in fact, we did watch "The Doors" with Tathagata and Seyit after the Germans left and maybe more movie nights are yet to come. they are good for winter nights.



well, the majority of Germans left... Uli flew home already a week ago and Simon doesn't count as he has spent all this time in bed with a terrible virus called mononucleosis. he could not talk, he had to sleep while sitting and... finally they cut him with a scalpel so that now he feels a bit better and can breath more freely. we have been trying to take care of him as much as we could... with soups, movies, magazines, papers...



everyday (and i am not joking about that) around seven or so i used to leave Highland street to go to grad housing. and every night i used to come back with the last shuttle at two o'clock... or not come back at all if the shuttle did not come or i missed it. when a couple of days ago with Tathagata we were going to "Hannaford's" and passed my street, i thought "oh, i used to live here". indeed... recently i have spent more time in their place than in mine.

not only for video-games and movies... we also learnt. Schini was solving math problems even the last evening (because he didn't do that before, Simon remarks:)...



we with Jong-Hyun were taught to play Bavarian cards - "Schafkopf". i also learnt some useful German words from Stephan, like "ich bin uberfressen", "von dir lernen heisst siegen lernen" and the bad word for Uli which I have no idea how to spell:) Tatgahata learnt how to open beer bottles the German way... we with Quan also managed that but need way more practice... getting Germanized:) and getting boyish:) you would better not know what engaging conversations about hegemonic masculine society, the stupid girls or German social system we have!



but social activities were not everything. i also had responsibilities in class... a presentation on Chilean nation and student protests and the opening of the second exhibition of the southern Sudanese paintings from Kakuma refugee camp in Brandeis library (check out the website, which we made ourselves - http://www.brandeis.edu/projects/sudan_center/kakuma_exhibit/).



and on Monday again i went to Providence in Rhode Island. i was supposed to talk to one professor at Brown and i did, but the conversation lasted only twenty minutes, while i spent the whole day going there and back. anyway, i like Providence the same as i like Boston, so i enjoyed walking around the old streets and new skyscrapers with a cup of hot English tea in my hands.





these were very happy days. i had absolutely no time to write my papers, but i suspect that it doesn't affect their quality... one day with Uli we went to the science library, but otherwise i was not that hard-working. for the Armenian-Turkish negotiations of the Genodice i got an A and for time and space in Nuerland - an A+. still three more evaluations to come, but i don't really care any more. i have finished my PhD applications and whatever will be - will be. i really want to study more. but i really want to do many other things as well... so it doesn't matter too much. just i have absolutely no idea where i will end up next year... maybe living in Switzerland? or Sudan? Mexico? or Lithuania? in any case i know where i will be in winter a year from now. Bavaria! real white European mountains!



besides these sunny mornings and clear moon nights, one rainy day i realized how much all of my friends mean to me... it was Friday, i was angry and sad... i was walking in the rain for some hours, first with Luis, then alone... no umbrella. just me and the rain. but Stephan continued to call me every half an hour insisting that i have to come to his place. although i was sitting there speechless and still sad, it felt better. happiness through tears:)

tears remind me of onions... we also cooked a lot... Stephan taught me how to make delicious spaghetti with cream salmon sauce. Quan saved me from cold with some very spicy Korean soup. we ate Chinese. and we ate Indian. Tathagata prepared chicken curry for us, which was so good that i still get hungry whenever i rememeber it. we ate lots of American cookies as well... and we went shopping to Boston yet again, this time Stephan and Uli were looking for presents while i bought lots of nice sweaters and a skirt... and a terribly expensive Brandeis pullover, which i had always wanted. also... i got two enormous books for just twenty dollars each. Salvador Dali and Cosmos... unfortunately, i had no more money for an ancient maps atlas... but i hope some will be left till i get the scholarship.



that is it. final hugs so sad... and Uli, Stephan and Schini are in Germany. Seyit is moving out of Charles river and will live quite close to my place. Tathagata is leaving for Florida with his friends. and Simon will hopefully head for home on Sunday. we will meet next year... long time to go... i miss them already so much:) too much!

some more photos of the last days... http://picasaweb.google.com/ieva.jusionyte