The light at the end of the tunnel is approaching rather quickly. It seemed like the end–or rather the next "beginning"–would never come, but I've finished the school year with good marks in all of my classes. Two of my professors are writing up letters of recommendation for me, and I will soon have another one coming from my volunteer job. I'm also registered to take the GRE in a week. All in all, it was worth going through a year of post-baccalaureate study to prepare for grad school. It's given me the opportunity to improve my grades, get to know my professors, gain work experience, save money, and think carefully about the near future. It's also allowed me to spend one more year in Eugene: the city that I both love and loathe, and which I can call my second hometown.
Over that past month or so, I finally narrowed down my grad school choices (Pitt, Rutgers and the University of Texas), and I'm fairly confident of my chances of getting accepted in September. Just in case, I do have a back-up school picked out in case my expectations do not play out (but, let's just say that I don't really want to go there since it's even hotter and drier than Austin).