Woo boy, so two down and two to go... I took my huge Kant exam yesterday, which I literally worked on for four days straight after my Lacan exam. It was probably the hardest I've worked on anything in a long time, which is hard to believe that I would stress about it more than my Kierkegaard work over the summer, but there it is. I had NO idea what the professor was talking about most of the time, so it was a long and arduous effort to make sense of the notes. Fortunately, there were a few of us in similar circumstances, and so we got together and worked on it, splitting up various sections and making presentation. It was a good experience, and when I got up there to talk to Prof. Moors, I felt pretty good about my answers. We'll see how I did though.

I love being here right now. It's totally the most stressed and pressed I have ever been, and yet the challenge is something I've been really looking for. Which is not to say that my previous academic challenges haven't been substantial or fulfilling, but something about the level of expectation and my new and improved level of committment and preparation is deeply satisfying. The level of comraderie is really nice too, everyone knows how hard this stuff is and we appreciate the diversity of talents that everyone brings to the table.

I have a long way to go though, still. I have my Kierkegaard paper to revise in the next two days (I hope to be done then anyway) and then Malebranche and dread Logic come up next week. I haven't even started thinking about them, but I've been working consistently throughout the semester, so I think I won't be coming to it blind.

The world outside has gotten very cold by Belgian standards, which is really alright because it helps to keep me inside and more or less focused. We had a crazy hale storm on Sunday night, I literally thought my window was going to break in on me, it was incredibly loud. I can never see hale without thinking of the time I went to Treblinka with my Polish camp in July and it haled on us. The most superficial guy in the group (whom we used to call "Gel" on account of all the grease he used to wear in his hair [ten points for the reference if anyone gets it]) said in perfect English: "God is crying."

So tomorrow besides work I think I'm going back to Holland for a little rest. It's lovely to be able to do that, I don't think I'll ever take that for granted.

At any rate, I hope everyone is well and projects are continuing apace.

Love,

Cake