The exam race.

In addition to moving across an ocean, then across a continent (accompanied by all the aggravating storage and shipping issues), the Christmas shopping and the 3-city visiting tour, I also had two exam papers to write. I was without resources (and time) over the holidays and so resigned myself to the not-so-ideal situation of writing the papers in the first week of my arrival in Seattle. This proved to be an enormous challenge. Without Internet at home, furniture to sit on, Mallar’s luggage (held up in Vancouver and containing articles I needed), and with renovations still happening in the apartment (the washing machine leaked all over the floor on Day 3), I was struggling to get my work done at a local café. While the café was wonderful and I had many great lattes while there, it was not always a setting conducive to writing about women, ethnic minorities and category politics in France. In the end, we moved into a hotel for 4 nights so I could sprawl out my papers, have consistent Internet access and sleep in a proper bed.