Finals Week: The End of a Semester

I read a good quote this week:

"When something is lost, that thing transforms, escaping time and becoming a memory. Memories are immortal: they stay the same forever, their beauty never fading. Immortals yearn for mortality, and mortals yearn for immortality. To find peace, the two worlds must exist in harmony. Though they are apart, memory is the link that binds them together."   -Dan Merrill ('Immortal Childhood')

This week is finals week for the Winter 2013 semester. I finished my last final today! Drinks all around! I already mentioned this past Monday's "final exam" for English. Yesterday, I took my Geography final in the testing center on campus and did well. I already got my religion final out of the way last week. Again, an easy final considering it had to be some kind of presentation or an essay. And then today, I took my Science final this morning and the Math final about two hours after class, both in the testing center. And that was that, I got one semester of college under my belt. I've already calculated my grades and I'm looking at A's and B's. But there is still room for improvement.

Tonight, we celebrated! We as a group drove down to Idaho Falls and ate at Buffalo Wild Wings; tonight was the 40 cents per wing night so we took advantage of that. I ordered myself a platter of 25 pieces and stuffed my face.

Ah, yes. Buffalo Wings. An American staple!

I will admit though, these wings were a little dry. My dad had Buffalo Wild Wings once and he said they're okay, and he was right. This was a family issue; ever since we moved to Salem, Oregon, we've been searching for a good wings place. Back when we were living in Maryland, we just loved eating at a place called Buffalo Wings & Beer. I kid you not, this was the best wings place we've ever known! It just sucks that there are none of these establishments in the western United States! I don't care what anyone says! BWB is so much better! But I'll take what I can take. Besides, we enjoyed ourselves this evening since most of us were done with classes and their respective final exams.

We had quite a large group.

I made some great friends this semester.

Useless fact: Buffalo Wings originated in Buffalo, New York.

Even more useless, yet controversial fact: there are five different claims as to how this American staple came to be. None of these five claims are well substantiated.

Look it up here. My roommates asked me to because one of their "girlfriends" asked if Buffalo Wings came from the actual Buffalo animal. We all just snickered at her question! Buffalo don't have wings, and they are an endangered species so I highly doubt we're allowed to eat them! And I wasted 5 minutes of my life that I can't get back researching the origins of Buffalo Wings!

Well, I get a week off and then it's back into the grind for the Spring Semester. I don't think I'll forget this past semester anytime soon though. It was my first at college and needless to say, it was a rough start. But who hasn't had a rough start at anything these days? I've enjoyed my classes and I had great roommates. Many times over, it has been a battle of emotions. But I think the one thing that sticks out the most that happened this semester, wasn't what happened at school, but within the family when my uncle Paul passed away last month. That was by far the hardest moments I had to face. It was during that time when I had the greatest difficulty focusing on my studies and trying to grasp reality. To me, those moments were a game-changer. To me, that's when perspective completely changed; it was a time to keep moving forward and appreciate the memories. A lot of people affected by my uncle's passing would have wanted it that way. And I'm pretty sure I needed it to be that way even if I didn't realize it at the time. I've gained new memories to supplement the old ones, but it's time for a change of pace.

It's definitely time for me to take a well-deserved break and breathe easy for a little bit.