CRAZINESS....

The last few days have been insane. I've barely slept; I feel like I haven't stood still since Thursday, April 29. And no, I'm not just being a drama queen.

But let me start from the beginning.

Two weeks ago was Finals Week and we closed on Friday. I always enjoy the beginning of Finals Week. Students are busy studying for exams, the building is quiet (gotta love 24-hour quiet) and work seems to slow down for a second. And then, you hit the second part of the week and the insanity of closing starts.

The RAs have to deal with the majority of the stress. I've always prided myself in being a supervisor who tries to make sure that my RAs are doing well and aren't getting too stressed out. However, this year, I had a hard time figuring out ways to help them. Part of that, I think, is how we do closing here. Each RA is responsible for checking out their own residents - I mean, they know those students and have built relationships with them, so it seems to make sense. Residents also have the option to just drop off their key in an envelope and not have a staff member check them out; staff will just go into their room later to assess damage charges and make sure all their belongings have been moved out. This method is encouraged for students who do not have any damages in their room. So yes, having the RAs take care of their own residents seems to make sense at first. But that also means that Friday - the busiest day for check-out - the RAs are going to be busy all day. I know many of mine didn't really have a lunch break. I also had three graduates who were gone for part of their day and while I tried to help with those floors as much as possible (offering to have students check out with me, being present there on Friday afternoon), it was a challenge.
I'm used to doing a centralized check-out for each building. Staff would set up a table somewhere; once a student is ready to check out, he/she comes down and one of the RAs who is available at the time will go with the resident to his/her room and check them out quickly before retuning to the table. In this model, residents may not get the individualized attention that their own RA could provide, but they also don't have to worry about their RA's schedule. And for the RAs, it means that as their supervisor, I can come up with shifts - making sure that everyone gets a lunch break and maybe even another half-hour break - and it's easy for me as the professional staff member to jump in and maybe do a few check-outs myself.

Overall, Closing went pretty smoothly though. I did end up running around all day Friday - answering students' questions, helping the RAs with damage charges, doing some check-outs. I was also on-call for the campus, which didn't help. And once the residents were gone, it was time for building walk-through's. That took up my Friday night and basically all day Saturday. And then I was swamped with paperwork and knowing that I was leaving soon, I started working on that Saturday night and continued to work on it all day Sunday. I also started packing.

Then, last week, was full of last-minute errands, finishing up tasks, a random campus interview thrown in the middle (it was now or never, so in spite of the insanity of leaving for a day and a half during my last week of work which also happened to be the week after closing = the week of insane amounts of paperwork, I said NOW), goodbye parties, last outings with friends, packing, packing, packing, cleaning and and and. I pulled a few all-nighters and suddenly it was Friday and I was at the airport giving my friend who drove me to the airport one last hug and dragging my ridiculously large suitcase, my guitar and the bag with my laptop to the counter. A few hours later, I sank into the seat in my chair and immediately fell asleep.

Twenty hours later (which included two layovers at airport; a delayed flight which made me miss one of my connections; a very talkative seat neighbor on the longest leg of the flight; and a few hours of well-deserved sleep in very uncomfortable seats), I arrived in Germany where my friends picked me up and we headed to one of my friend's apartments for her bachelorette party. Now, another 30 hours or so later, I'm back in my old room in my parents' house.

These past couple of weeks were so packed with events, so hectic that I never got a chance to stand still and think about anything. I'm not sure how I feel about everything that happened. The fact that I won't be able to walk down to my friend's office anymore just to say hi; the fact that I've really left my old job and am now - UNEMPLOYED???; the fact that I'm back home in Austria. I feel like it's too much to grasp for my tired, exhausted brain. I need about a week of sleep and then I'll be able to tell you what I think and feel.