So, February.

“It was a Tuesday in February. Many of my life's most awful moments have taken place on Tuesdays. And what is February if not the Tuesday of the year?” -Stephen Fry, in Moab is my Washpot

Okay, so don't get me wrong - nothing terrible has happened to me in February, but it is a Tuesday in February as I write, and I always have to think of that quote on such occasions.

No, so far, my February has been fairly reasonable. I have two more weeks (including this one) of classes and then the "Lernphase" (studying phase) begins before exams. As I have explained in earlier posts, the German university system (at least in Math) is based on one grade from the final exam, so it's around this time of the semester that a little ripple of panic goes through the lecture halls and study rooms as students realize that the are soon to be responsible for every lecture and piece of homework that has passed through their ears and eyes since the beginning of October. Due to a complicated set of circumstances induced from the switch of University systems, though I was in five courses this semester, I am only required to take one exam, and that's possibly in the very class that I feel most confident. So as I said, February's not been so bad.

We've been enjoying a mixture of Fall, Winter, and Spring weather here, including sudden flurries with the biggest snowflakes I've ever seen:

A ten minute flurry, photo taken just outside the Mainz train station.

 We've also had singing birds and falling leaves and sudden gifts like this one next to a Wiesbaden sidewalk:

The happiest leaf I have ever seen.

And now, my desk is properly set up for a preliminary stage of the Lernphase - pot of tea, candle burning, pencils, erasers, rulers and pens (Yes, rulers - I like my underlining to be quite straight). Better get to it while the tea's still hot.