December

Dimitri and I finished our first semester of grad school in December and were glad it was over. Since I only took three classes my finals weren't too bad (2 fifteen page papers, a take home exam, and a volunteer journal). Dimitri ended up having 5 finals in two weeks. His exams were evenly spaced so he had a little time to study for each exam, but not a lot. After Dimitri received his final grades he had to email them to the Master in Applied Economics program so they could decide if they wanted to admit him to the program. Usually the teachers only have 3 days to grade the final exams and post the final grades, but one of his teachers took 2 weeks so we didn't hear from the econ department for a while.

After school finished we flew back to Spokane to visit everyone for Christmas. We were home from the 22nd to the 3rd. Unfortunately on Christmas I came down with the stomach flu and ended up getting sick that night and the next day (our anniversary). On the 27th Dimitri ended up getting sick, but WAY worse than I did. We ended up having to go to the ER where they gave him 3 liters of fluid and Zofran to prevent him from throwing up. We left the ER at midnight and then had to drive up north to go to a 24 hr pharmacy to get his prescription, so we didn't get back to his parents house until 1 am. Getting sick definitely put a damper on our plans, Dimitri didn't feel very good for a few days after he got sick so we just relaxed.

On New Years day we decided to go snowshoeing, which we were planning on doing on our anniversary. We had a lot more fun than we thought we would. We hiked up a trail at Mt Spokane and were surprised at how many people we saw. We hiked uphill for 2 hours but it started to get foggy so we decided to head back to the car, which only took an hour. After our hike we planned on going to the Flying Goat or Perry's Pizza for dinner, but they were closed for the holiday so we settled on Olive Garden. I can't believe we've already been married for 4 years! It doesn't feel like that long!

Dimitri had asked his grandma for a tree skirt for our christmas tree as our gift. She did a great job! Dimitri put it under our tree when we got back to Ann Arbor to take some pictures before we took down the decorations.

The day after we got back I had a data collection and the family brought us poptarts with the Michigan logo! I brought a pack back for Dimitri.

A few days after we got back Dimitri had an email from the MAE program and he got in! He is officially a dual Master's student in Financial Engineering and Applied Economics. Our classes so far this semester have been good. We are both taking 4 classes and so far Dimitri's homework load is at a reasonable level unlike last semester.

Next weekend we are going to the Detroit Auto Show with our friend Giovanni.