The rest of winter term kind of flew by really quickly. Assignments for all my classes started to be due and weekends were filled with trips up to Mt Bachelor to snowboard, nights out (maybe too many) and just generally being busy with life here at college.

One Thursday night, the girls from Core, the snow club here at OSU, had a night together, just the girls (until the boys crashed the party later). It was awesome to get to know a whole new group of people and have a few wines together. These girls were mainly skiers and a few snowboarders but they are definitely very positive, outgoing and fun people.

I turned 29 during week 8 of term and it was a really strange feeling to have my birthday overseas. In the morning Britt and I did a workout, then we headed out to lunch at McMenamins with Courtney, Jordan and Eric. After lunch I skyped the family including my beloved Mojo and my gorgeous Neffs. It was so awesome to see everyone for my birthday even if it was via the internet. Rhosie, Dan, Julian, Chelsea, the Neffs and the Pups had some beautiful flowers delivered to my room which was such a wonderful surprise and made me feel very loved. At night, I headed out on the monthly bar crawl with some of the Internationals and some of my American friends. Once again it was a messy and festive night in Corvallis and mainly thanks to Andres, I probably had too many (or just the right amount?) of drinks than I needed.

Being 29 and at college over here, living in the dorms with people much younger than me, is definitely an interesting experience. Sometimes I really hate it and feel totally out of place. Sometimes I absolutely love it and wouldn't have it any other way. But most of the time, I take it for what it is and just enjoy getting to know people and learning about myself, others and this quite bizarre American culture.

I spent most of the last three weeks of term in the library reading, researching and writing papers. I had a few epic study sessions, none more epic than the one which went for 16 hours: 11am on a Sunday until 3am on the Monday. I got so into the project I was working on that I just wanted to get it done and as close to perfect as I could. People may think I am crazy , but I thought it was so nice that I could spend this much time on a project and not have to worry about anything the next day i.e. work or whatever else. This is for sure one of my favourite things about this study exchange, my ability to focus on my studies 100% without any other conflicting priorities. This has been the first time in my life that I haven't had to work one or two other jobs at the same time as studying.

All the time and effort I put into my work this term really paid off and I ended up with two A's, an A- and a GPA of 3.75. Not only that, I learnt so much in all my subjects and reconfirmed my passion for Public Health.