Exams

So yesterday was my first final. I have been bouncing up and down in my seat lately just waiting for finals to begin. And of course, my first final was history, one which every had to do, so I was even more anxious watching everyone else study. Yesterday morning rolls around and I pop out of bed at 6:30am, the final being at 9am and we needed an hour to get to the exam arena. So I grab my notes and a cup of tea and start studying. I had showered the night before to prevent any slow ups in the mornings and somehow I was the last person on my floor to get up. By 7:15, I had eaten and dressed. But kept looking over the same information as we were not leaving for quite some time.

Finally, 7:50 rolls around and we head out...only to have me forget my ID and have to run back for it. But all is well, we reached the bus stop by 8am, stopping to laugh at Garrett who was waiting outside of Burger King to get his breakfast sandwich. We climbed on the 4a which would take us to RDS and found some standing room. This was a first, an extended bus which reminded me highly of the Green Line Subway. Far more comfortable to me than riding on a double decker. And as I was standing in the middle where the two parts connect, I couldn't really see out the windows, good thing too. No need to have my motion sickness act up on top of my anxiety.

So we made it the stop and then had to walk to the exam center which was about two blocks away. We made it, accompanied by a duck-walking Staropoli, and I looked with fear at the sheer number of people inside this massive building. I would say it was about the size of your average baseball stadium...okay maybe not quite that big but it definitely would have fit at least 8 jumbo jets comfortably. Luckily, in the study area, I couldn't see all of that. So after getting some direction from Morgan and others, I walked to the corkboards and looked for the W's. I found my name, along with the course number, and an assigned seat, number 2,307. Yea, my mouth dropped open when I saw that number. After committing this to memory, I found my group again who had managed to locate the girls from upstairs who had arrived earlier than us. Arti begged me for an Anglo-Norman rerun, which I happily obliged to give. Shortly afterwards, they began allowing people into the exam area.

After hiding the history notes so they could be burnt later, we made our way over the entrance. I walked in and almost stopped; there had to be over 3,000 desks in this room. And not the small desks we have at Bentley, oh no. They were the 2.5ft by 2.5 feet with unattached chairs spaced at about intervals of 2 feet of space between each desk and chair set. It made me want to cry. I began looking at desk numbers and we had come in at the beginning, so I walked with the group towards the other side of the hall with great trepidation. I couldn't believe there were so many people here. We spotted Doug and realized that it was set up in a reserve alpha order from his seat up towards the front.

So I began walking with York and Zozarro towards the front of the gigantic room. I found my seat, Caitlin was three in front of me and Lexi was two in front of her. I was definitely having a Harry Potter taking his O.W.L.s in the Great Hall moment. There was an obnoxious amount of bodies present. We still had about 10 minutes before the exam was to begin, but I couldn't sit still, it was unnerving. But finally it was time to begin. I filled in the first page of information about myself and then the examiners (called invigilators) began handing out the test. I steeled myself and turned over the paper to look at the questions. They were far more in depth and difficult than I had anticipated. I skipped over the Anglo-Norman question with much disappointment in favor of one about the United Irishmen. After I squeezed out as much information as I could onto the scrap paper in the back, I proceeded to write the essay. This was followed by another essay on the cultural revival similarities and differences, not my favorite way to answer in the world, but I didn't have much choice.

There were air vents on at first making it extremely loud and thus easier to concentrate on what I was doing myself. However, about half way through, they shut themselves off making the huge, echoing room, sound like a tomb or cave. All you could hear was people breathing and writing and sighing and coughing, I started to freak out again. so I had to take a couple of calming breaths and concentrate on what I was doing. Not long after, it began to downpour...on a tin roof...which always makes me want to sleep, not the ideal situation for taking a final. So I listened to it and relaxed for a few minutes before realizing that I should probably finish my test. The rain did stop not long after but I was almost done at this point, much to my relief. Being in a room with so many people was making me very titchy indeed.

I held my hand up for someone to come and take my test. I signed off on the piece of paper and handed over my booklet, I got to keep the exam questions (yay me!). I quickly left the room, walking along the entire front section under what seemed like watchful eyes of other students, but that was most likely paranoia as most of them were probably concentrating on their own tests. I made it out, finally. I decided on a quick bathroom trip before walking home. But upon coming out, I ran into Kyle, almost literally, as I didn't notice when he first started talking to me. So I walked with him and his ridiculously long and fast strides to the bus stop. Decided as it was still slightly raining, I might as well jump on the bus. Met Lexi on the top shelf as well.

It was an overall successful beginning to exam week, I thought. I have another today which is going to be an absolute brawl to get through. Then I have a couple days off to shop and relax and study before having my last two on Friday, one which will be relatively straightforward and the other which I have no idea how to study for. So it should be an interesting last week here, I just hope the sun stays around. Last night out on Friday followed by collecting and packing all my shit up on Saturday. Perhaps a final drink with the crew before we all go our respective ways at our respective flight times. I think I'm on the same flight as Alex and Mike again, so hopefully we won't run into any issues and I'm hoping the sun will be out to wish us a happy goodbye. But we'll see how it works out...