It’s been 4 days, 2 days of classes, and 2 Aikido classes since the Inauguration, so I’ve now had a chance to unwind a bit from the semi-madness that engulfed DC for the last week. A semi-madness which for me ended up involving 2 unofficial Inaugural Balls, the Lincoln Memorial Concert (Beyonce, Bono, Barack Obama, a bunch of other performers, and a ton of people, in case you were under a rock last weekend), and of course the Inauguration itself (final opinion: OMG CROWDED. But cool!). Oh, and somewhere in there I got to see Raina and Kavi, somehow It’s all been amazing (albeit cold … seriously, dresses should not be mixed with 10-degree weather, it’s just cruel), but I think pretty much everybody is happy that the tourists are beginning to disperse, the streets are re-opening, and we can all go back to looking at how cold it is outside and resolving to only go out to get between wherever we are and wherever the nearest Metro station is or whatever. Which is good, because I now have way too much homework to contemplate going out for anything anyways. Pictures on the Flickr, available by cell/email/etc, I’ll be home for the first week of March for Spring Break

Inauguration craziness has definitely hit DC, and we’re still a couple of days away from the actual event … I just spent all day out on the National Mall at the We Are One Inauguration concert, so I am dead tired, so suffice it to say that this is a truly awesome time to be in DC. Oh, and there are pictures up on my flickr A sample of the photos is below, and a complete overview blog post is forthcoming, sometime after it’s all over and things have settled down.

So, my break has been fabulous. I’m getting plenty of karate in (we did get snowed out a few times, but this is to be expected in New Hampshire in December), I’m reading and hanging out with the awesome people that make up my NH social circle and sleeping in and eating good food on my own eating schedule, thanks very much (which, for the record, involves random meals all somewhere between 9 AM and 11 PM, none of that ridiculous three meals a day nonsense), and basically life is good.

And I somehow also feel good about heading back down to DC; I’ll certainly miss home,  but you will not find me madly clinging to something in Boston Logan Airport and refusing to leave. Compounding my general feeling of non-stress is the fact that this time, unlike when I left for last semester, I actually know what to expect; the prospect of having classes for the next 3 months is not quite as unbelievably exciting, being as I’m now aware that classes = getting up early, heavy textbooks, and lots and lots of paper writing (woo), but at least I’ve got a very clear idea of what I’m going into, which as everyone knows is something that I’m very fond of having. I’ve also once again managed to save a bunch of money by renting my books ($204.20, to be exact), which is nice. That about covers it all—DC people, I will see you starting the 12th, NH people, you have 7 more days to catch up with me if you haven’t!