my summer so far...

well last week, i experienced what hell must be like. i graded papers for seven days, all day.
let me explain: to receive college credit, students in AP classes must pass exams. these exams, no matter the subject, include essays or open-ended questions. last week, Louisville held the 'scoring' for English Literature, Statistics, US History, and French. Teachers, college professors, and grad students came from all over the country to score these exams. We were housed in every hotel downtown. We took over 4th Street, hitting up the bookstores in the day and the bars at night. There were about 4000 people there to score.
I, of course, scored the English Lit test. I was assigned the poetry prompt. I graded student essays in response to this poetry prompt from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every single day. In total, I graded 850 essays, over the same two poems. Let me just tell you, there really is a limit to the way two poems can be interpreted. Around 2:00 every day, somewhere between lunch and our afternoon break, exhaustion would set in. The mocha from Starbucks would wear off, the cafeteria lunch would settle in, and my eyelids would get heavier and heavier. It was almost physically painful.
However, on the bright side of things, once 5:00 hit, it was actually fun. We met tons of people and did tons of cool stuff. I got to see Louisville through the eyes of newcomers, which is always fun. It made me appreciate my favorite city even more. Whether we were drinking cosmos at the Galt House bar or just walking down by the river, we found ways to relax and enjoy ourselves before the next day of reading snuck upon us.

That has basically taken up the majority of my summer. Besides that I've been helping getting ready for my brother's wedding. The rest of June is already jam-packed. Michael's wedding is Friday, I leave for Florida on Sunday, and my birthday is the next Friday! This summer is a busy, busy one!