It's 10 p.m. up in the Crimson White newsroom and inbetween the passing rounds of news pages to critique I'm thinking about all I need to get done before I leave the country in 18 days. It's a very strenuous balance between finishing up my classes, preparing the 2007-08 CW staff for their duties as well as drafting a budget and other proposals, and then doing everything I can to make sure my Spanish is top notch. Most of that is pretty boring, but for practicing my Spanish, aside from meeting with a Spanish grad student some afternoons, I've begun labeling everything in my apartment with note cards that says what it is in Spanish. The cabinets, the furniture, Chef Boyardee cans, candles, the window blinds, a shell I picked up on the coast of Lima, my chess piece bookends, and, of course, the kitchen sink.

What makes this kind of schedule so rough is that not one of my three projects lends itself to compromise. I wake up in the morning knowing that it's more time efficient to rub my eyes while walking to the shower; cutting through a trail in the woods behind my apartment saves at least 2 minutes of the walk to my office; and if I ignore the phone each time it rings, then, wow, who knows how much time I'm saving.

I think getting out of the country will be the easiest part of this whole process. I can pack for a three-month trip in about half an hour, one of the benefits to my lacking sense of style. But it doesn't help to have so much work and something so big to look forward to. Sometimes in class I'll catch myself remembering the Arenal Volcano, the green sea turtles of Tortuguero, the high waves under the full moon in Tamarindo. I looked at all of them as if I'd never see them again, and now I'm on my way back.

Until I get to Costa Rica, my updates will probably be few and far between. Then I hope to update as often as I have the chance. I should make it known right here, for my readership, that I'm not very good at ending journal entries. But I'm getting better.