FREAKING GREAT

So you might think, whoa. An ALL CAPS title, Colin? Could we be more sarcastic in text form? And my response would have to be yes. Because I'm not being sarcastic. Today was actually freaking great.

I got up at 9AM, but I didn't get a lot of sleep because I was sending out some much needed correspondence via my helpful electron friends. I went to the bakery, got my breakfast, and sat down outside my classroom and just enjoyed some food. Dr. Molis came in, I sat down, and kept eating my breakfast.

Then the two groups presented... They were somewhat good. But they started great discussions, so they win in my book. hahaha. Today was actually a good day of trading ideas, and almost a debate... sort of. It was at least engaging. And the professor's lecture afterwards (it was an extended class period) was really direct, which I find to be a lacking quality with my professors here. So I really enjoyed the simplicity and directness of his lecture. Props in the air to him.

Then I went back to my place and NAPPED!! I haven't napped much in Estonia, which my former roommates at Rhodes (Dan and Smith) would never believe. Back at Rhodes, if I have a break between classes, I nap. I'll lay down, even if it's a 25 minute break. Just get me horizontal. I can't explain it. But I really haven't napped much here, and it felt AMAZING. So wonderful.

Then I woke up and headed to my Russian class... to meet the impending doom of my exam. And I was late getting out of my apartment, so I power-walked it and walked past my professor in the hallway. I said, "Здравствуйте." (*zdrastvoostye* [a polite hello]), she responded in turn. So I thought, well, that's it, no mercy. Yay. FALSE.

After I sat in class alone, the rest of the students trickled in, and she came in with our exams in hand. I breathed in and out. She informed me that I hadn't finished the first exercise, and I should do so immediately. So I said, "ДА!" (*da* [yes]), and started answering the questions in Russian. She had graded everything else on the exam, so I just had to do these correctly... Oh crap, what's the genitive of that? Ooo, that's accusative... Oh, what's my faculty called here? But I finished it, and gave it to her...

If possible, always write meaningful, poorly written apologetic notes in Russian to your professors. It's apparently really cute. Because when she handed back her test, I noticed that she changed the point totals on a couple of my sections by a few points to give me exactly a 90. I got an A!! See kids. If you show up early, if you're in every class, if you participate, if you write cute emails earnestly, they do notice. Yay!! Made my day. I owe her big time.

Then I went to my workout with Coach Lemberg. He was beaming because one of his professional runners was back from South Africa and six weeks of training there. Bahaha. I walked from across town. I mean, it's the same thing to him, I'm sure. My workout was a speed workout, plain and simple. I haven't done a pure speed workout in about 3 months... and I didn't do one today either. UGH. Ate me up and spit me out. I was mangled by the end of it. We even had to cut it short. So my anaerobic capabilities are WAY beneath where they should be, but I have retained my ability to roll within my aerobic range. This means I might be good to race a 10k... but not a 1500m. And unfortunately, best as I can tell, the games in Latvia have only a 1500m race...

But I'm going to talk with coach about it. If they only have the 1500m, I'm not going to race. The competition is in 6 weeks, and I doubt I can shoot up and be in peak 1500m speed in that time. When there's still ice on the ground, I doubt it. And I'd be representing the University of Tartu and the country of Estonia when I raced. I don't want to go out there and just blow up in the 1500 and not do anything productive at all. But we'll see... I just really don't want to be that American that kind of spit on Estonia's desire to be a serious competitor. Just my thoughts. Obviously.

But overall today was grand! Weee!