I may have over-scheduled myself slightly. Between class, class-work, yoga, aerobics, Haverfest committee meetings, writing for the newspaper, and working for the phonathon, I have very little time left. Of course, it’s a good thing that I’m so busy as it forces me to be more organised, but it also means that on days off it can be hard to motivate myself to actually do anything (even when I have to write an essay on Marxist historical theory, prepare a short presentation on the Monroe Doctrine, finish my sound project and go to yoga, as I do today).

Last semester, I got a bit frustrated, as I didn’t feel that I was doing enough. This semester, I seem to have signed up for everything possible, but I don’t want to cut back on anything, and in fact I’m quite keen on having a radio show as well. I’m still managing to have fun, but I’ve had a disgusting cold and cough for a week, which prevented me from dancing and larking around with my usual enthusiasm.

All these commitments are also preventing me from going places – I haven’t been into Philly yet this semester, and although I will be going to New York it will be to get a Chinese visa for my upcoming trip to Shanghai, rather than for fun. Incidentally, Chinese visas cost $130 for American passport-holders, and only $30 for everyone else. Unfortunately for me, I’m here on my American passport and so have to fork out the extra $100, which is a bit galling. I’m presuming that the hiked visa price is a tit-for-tat response to some aspect of American foreign policy towards China, but it’s still really irritating and is one of the reasons I’ve had to get a job.

On Saturday, I went to the opening speech for Haverford’s International Alumni Weekend. Haverford alums from across the globe converged on the college to tell current students about the big and scary world out there and the part that they can play in it. I’ll admit that I didn’t want to go as I was feeling ill, but I had to write an article about it for the paper so I dragged myself there with plenty of tissues and throat sweets. The speech was one of the most interesting things I have heard in a long time – the speaker is the head of an international polling company, and he explained all about polling. This might sound dull, and as I’m not that great with numbers I didn’t hold out much hope, but when he described all of the cultural barriers and events that they had worked on, it was incredibly interesting. American universities make sure to keep strong links with their former students, and although this is mostly for fundraising purposes, it does mean that current students benefit from the experiences of past students, whether through talks or job opportunities.

And on that note, I’m off to read some Marxist theory.