I'm not in Denmark anymore

Today was the first day of Spring Fest at the University. It is a long weekend of activities, music and free food for college students. Its the 3rd time I have attended and I must say I felt out of place this year. The first year I was an undergraduate, which 90% of the participant are. Last year I was with a large group of graduate students who stuck together. This year all the graduate students in my department including myself just ran down, grabbed some free food and returned to the office. It was also indoors, instead of outdoors as it has been the previous years, because spring is resisting to bloom. Safe to say, it did not make a lasting expression. However the fact that it is a returning event that I can reminisce about tells me that I am reaching new milestones in my Alaskan life. I not only remember last year, I am also critical of how things develop and romanticize the good old days. I wonder if I am loosing that feeling of being somewhere new, somewhere inherently foreign. Is Fairbanks becoming home in that boring, same ol', same ol' way? For a second I catch that feeling and then I turn to get some water in my kitchen without running water, I look at my dog who is sleeping next to me, or I read in the local newspaper that the first bear has been spotted out and about. No, I am not in Denmark anymore (I will be in 5 weeks though). While these guys hold down the fort:

Uhm, Break-Up? Hello?

So April is suppose to be the month of ice break-up. Maybe you remember how I posted an Ode to Break-Up from blogger Julia O'Malley last year. You can find it here, if you missed it: http://immovingtoalaska.blogspot.com/search/label/April%202012 - just scroll down to the 2nd post of April 2012.
This year: not so much break-up yet. Instead it's been snowing for two days and we are up to about 8 inches (20 cm.) of snow. I had to turn on the 4-wheel drive to get out of the driveway and I just know I am going to have to remove snow when I get home tonight. This kind of weather in April makes for great conversations about the weather, and in case you didn't know, Alaskans LOVE to talk about the weather. In class someone told me that in 1992 it snowed from September to June. Great news.
James continues to be completely unimpressed with the weather no matter what it grants him, while I continue to be constantly amazed, freaked-out or impressed. Delta has never known a world without snow.
This week I have been able to add "Financial adviser" and "Bookkeeper" to my resume as I have taken on those roles for James' recording studio. I love an organizational challenge and this one will even put food on the table for us, so I'm excited. It is also a great practical kind of work that gives instant rewards, which I as a student rarely experience. Instead I write and write, and talk and talk and somewhere in the process of all this writing and talking a thesis is being produced. Hopefully. I look forward to a summer without classes where I can devote my full attention to this thesis. You know, after I travel to Denmark for a month, remodel the kitchen, tend to the garden, work as a research assistant, babysit, walk the dog, and take some time off.