(no subject)

I slept in until two this afternoon, the longest so far this semester, I think. I really needed the sleep -- I'm on the verge of coming down with a cold, like most of the rest of the house already has. I think, however, that I can avoid it. (-: Woke up to an email from the Dean saying my appeal for a 9th semester was denied, but he signed my simultaneous degree petition! I promptly walked this form over to the college of L&S where they said "Check InfoBears in 4-6 weeks ." Four to six weeks? If they approve it, I think everything will work out.

I hope to take Algebraic Topology next semester as my final math course as an undergraduate. I especially like the proofs in algebra and in topology, so I expect it to be quite amusing. I'd also like to take Old Norse, which is interesting because it's the language from which the modern Scandinavian languages descended, is very similar to modern Icelandic, and is strongly related to Old English, Old High German, and Old Saxon (or so this article I'm reading right now tells me). Oh, woops, it looks like it's not offered next semester anyway. Maybe later. I have an interest in learning Finnish, too, because of my interest in Estonia; and I'm developing a stronger interest in Latin America and hence Spanish.

I'm excited about the upcoming trip (er, expedition) to Humboldt County. We should be able to turn it into quite a nice adventure. We absolutely must take care of the door problem this coming weeking if we're going to do it.. then the trip up to Arcata will be much more comfortable. I've also been looking (more like thinking about looking) for literary references regarding Humboldt county, and the route. I went up that way once before, not so far as Humboldt, but far enough to see the redwoods and the Russian River and Ft. Ross and such. I don't recall Kerouac or Steinbeck writing about any adventures north of here (Kerouac lived in Muir Woods for awhile, but that's just the start of our journey), yet I suspect I could find something by those authors or their brethren. I would be quite amused to find some literary references with which to enrich our expedition. Also, I need to get down to AAA to get some maps.

Applying to grad school

[Where] should I go to grad school? Somebody must have some suggestions. I have only about a 3.5 GPA (weirdly decreased by studying abroad). I've pretty much taken the big-name schools off of my list, the schools like MIT and Princeton and, sadly, Berkeley. I don't think I want to go to UCLA. I've been thinking a bit about going back to Sweden for grad school, but I'm hesitant, as it's just so far away. I like Lund, I think I'd like Uppsala too, and Chalmers has an excellent engineering program. I'm mulling over the Weizmann Institute, but I don't like Rehovot all that much, and there are just too few students there. and the emphasis is too much on life sciences. Going up a notch, I think I'd like CMU, or maybe UIUC, and there are excellent universities in Canada, like at Waterloo and McMaster. I suppose I need to talk to someone who could give me a clue where I have a chance to get in, and then I can figure out at which of those I'd be happiest. I am interested in a PhD program in something somewhere in the intersection of Mathematics, Computer Science, and Physics. Hmmm.