8.15 AM Friday morning, I am severely disillusioned today. Disillusioned with the American university system, and disillusioned with my own capability to write, anything, let alone a report on the Latvian transition process to democracy. Okey, maybe I’m overreacting a little bit (and not forgetting the ridiculously early morning), my point is this; GWU workload=huge, gigantic (compared to English University). However, it doesn’t reach the analytical level I am used to, it’s basically simpler. Because there is so much of it (quantity wise) it is harder to do a really excellent job with it once you are doing it, there just isn’t time or space. I have slept three hours today, about four on average this week, the Gelman library walls have become my mine. Thankfully, thankfully; there isn’t a Eastern European democracy in the world, or a grayer library or more square eyes that can revert the fact that the four-Scandinavian-girls-take-on-Philadelphia-and-Atlantic City-watch-out-Road Trip is departing today at 1300h! Getting out of Foggy Bottom, and greater DC, is going to be so liberating. We are going to see fields, maybe cows, maybe Amish people, some sea, and what has apparently been called; America’s Blackpool (Atlantic City). It couldn’t sound better, freedom here we come.