holidays

Oh yeah...

so if I hadn't talked to my parents yesterday afternoon, I would have no idea that today was the observation of MLK Jr's birthday. Not that it surprises me, but it is a little strange to think about going my day as normal knowing that back home everyone has the day off.

In fact, the placing of "bank holidays" confused me for a really long time before I realised that the US has them too... we just give them fancy names to commemorate something. The UK has these bank holidays scattered throughout the year at regular intervals, I think it's one every two or three months.

The difference is, all through this term (just like last term) I have no days off. None, zero. No MLK Jr Day, no Presidents Day, no spring break thrown in the middle of term, no reading days after a month of classes. Just eleven straight weeks of lectures, tutorials, and practicals, then that awkwardly-placed break before exams.

Different countries, different systems.