Y2-8: Weeks 15 & 16, revision and exams!

These have been some incredibly long two weeks. Honestly, not having a routine kills me. I am so good at procrastinating…

The trip back to Bath was alright. So incredibly long, but I didn’t have any mishaps so I arrived as scheduled. It was funny to think I had been in three countries over the span of one day, as I returned via Amsterdam. I overheard a conversation between the air hostesses who were talking about how they might travel a lot, but at the end of the day they haven’t visited most of the important monuments, not even in their home cities! The Londoner one said he had only been to 10 Downing Street and Buckingham Palace once with a school trip, and never to Saint-Paul’s Cathedral! That is insane. Makes me value the effort I make to get to know the cities I visit, I’d rather have quality than quantity, but I guess when you live in a place you just assume you have all the time in the world to explore and you end up never doing it. And that is another of the reasons why during this ISB I’ve decided to stay in the UK and visit a couple of cities and explore Bath properly – I have been here for over a year and a half and still have not visited many places…

On Wednesday the 6^th, it was Reyes, so many friends woke up to open their presents back home, while I had a day to adapt back to Bath and the cold. Begoña was already home by then as she’d arrived a day before me, but the rest of the house was still empty for a couple more days. Anyway, I ran all the errands: groceries, laundry, cleaning, vacuuming… And in the afternoon I finished unpacking and tidying up and sort of organised the next couple of days to plan out my revision time. I had to hand in a French essay which was almost done and just in need of proofreading one last time and printing out, and had two exams, luckily a week apart (one on the 12^th and the other on the 19^th). My first day was a pretty chilled day in terms of actual revision because I really had to reinstall myself in the house so I didn’t do much.

On Thursday morning I went to campus to do some printing and shopping, and then went to the bank. The highlight of the morning was that they’ve opened a Tiger shop, which is both good because the things are good and cheap, and bad because now I want to spend my money on non-useful stuff! I cooked once back home and prepared a massive batch of food to keep me going for a couple of days and then sat down to read through my ‘Italy since 1945’ revision notes as I had a revision session on the Friday and literally had no idea of what we were going to talk about, so definitely had to have a run-through… That night I finished ‘27 dresses’, which I’d started whilst on the plane but hadn’t finished. Or was it ‘God Save the Girl’ that I watched that day? Maybe, can’t remember really, but it was one or the other. This one was a cute musical, Wes Anderson style. I enjoyed the music and aesthetics.

On Friday I woke up with terrible cramps, and the cold didn’t help, but I had to brace myself and go up to campus for the revision session. The revision session was on how to face revision and the exam, which was sort of useful, but I expected it to be more of a Q&A to solve our doubts on the contents… Anyway, the lecturer helped me out with my questions via email, which was lovely, and I went to LimeTree and managed to finish up and hand in my essay. Another thing to cross off the list. That night, Amélie came back and I was feeling like pizza and cookies, so we ordered Dominoes (my first ever, yes, I know, how could I have survived until then…) and then did some more revision.

The next three days leading up to my first exam this exam season were quite boring and uneventful. On Saturday I procrastinated a bit doing some grocery shopping, receiving some parcels for the neighbours, helping the neighbour out with their washing machine… It took me forever to focus, but I did eventually manage to go through my two topics for the exam. I watched some Glee episodes as a treat before bed. On Sunday I cooked some more and worked on some of my notes and decided to prepare another topic so, to avoid procrastination, I went up to campus and worked there until the evening. I did review a bit after coming back too, so it was a pretty efficient day. Then on the Monday procrastination threatened again, but since my exam was the next day I did focus and revise all day. I had an early night in to be fresh and recovered for my 9:30am ‘European Integration’ exam the next morning.

On Tuesday the 12^th I woke up early to go to my exam. It went alright, I was sat near the window which wasn’t ideal because a draft was coming in even though it was closed and was quite chilly, but aside from that, I think I did quite well and I was happy with my work. One less thing to do. After that I went to Starbucks for a Caramel Latte treat and now I definitely think coffee gives me headaches, it’s not fair. I did some work at Lime Tree planning my revision from scratch for the Italian politics exam and then came back home. The rest of the day was pretty chilled, I watched ‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’ that night, ended up crying but oh well. It was a good film, Wes Anderson style mixed with ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’. Hipster movie at its best.

The three following days (Wednesday through to Friday) I pretty much spent in Lime Tree, either on my own or with Amélie, doing the reading and research and notes for my Italian exam. Not too interesting, I already told you. I fitted in some cooking sessions (can’t believe I reached a procrastination level in which I actually look forward to cooking…), got my feedback for the French oral presentation back in November, watched some TV shows (really into Orange is The New Black and Penny Dreadful at the moment)… On Thursday night they said it was going to snow (yes, that’s how cold it is), but in the end there was no snow but a lot of ice, which means it’s pretty cold and slippery outside so I have to be quite careful… We’ve been waking up to ice every morning since.

That week I also decided to join PetiteBlasa’s project “Cartas Encadenadas” (read more about it here). Basically, I will be writing a story with other people, in chunks. So someone will start it, send it to the next person who will write another page, then the next, so the result will be random and completely dependent on what each of us decides to write. I just thought it would be a nice change since I really need to brush up on my creative writing skills… I will keep you updated on how that goes.

Another thing that happened this week which absolutely shocked me was the passing of David Bowie and Alan Rickman, both great actors and singers from my childhood. The Goblin King will be forever in my heart, and so will Rickman’s memorable characters, amongst which Snape stands out to me.

Both the weekend and Monday before my Italian exam were literally the heyday of procrastination. It took me forever to focus. I stayed at home because I can’t concentrate in the Library, but it didn’t make much of a difference… I did some cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping, watched videos on YouTube (if you haven’t seen Adele’s Carpool yet, what are you waiting for?)… Anything but actually sit down and focus (although I eventually did). We even booked a short trip to Brighton next week for ISB. Looking forward to that. I also tried out the comfiest and cosiest pyjama bottoms ever, thanks a lot for the practical Christmas present. Literally, on Sunday after dinner we just chilled in the kitchen for a couple of hours chatting. No work done that night of course. Monday was my last day before the exam so got my act together and studied forever. I kind of panicked too because I wasn’t sure if the contents I had prepared would be enough for my exam, but I had done what I could and went to sleep early to try to get some rest (although it took me forever to actually fall asleep).

On Tuesday the 19^th I slept in since my exam was at one, and then got ready and headed up to campus to print some stuff and have an early lunch. I found Connie and Catherine so I had lunch with them which was nice. I was dreading the exam but at the same time wanted to get it over and done with. It was alright. I’ll pass, but it is definitely not the best exam I’ve ever done. At least I don’t have to worry about it anymore. After the test, all the stress disappeared and exhaustion took place so I came back home and took a nap because I was going to go out that night with some course mates to celebrate the end of exams. First we met at Ellie’s and then headed to Moles’ Big Cheese. It was a nice night, despite the fire alarm going off and having to evacuate the whole club at like 1am. Fortunately, nothing happened and we only had to stay outside for like ten minutes because it was -4ºC… I just went to get my coat back after that and walked home. Freezing.

Now that my exams are officially over, I have a longer ISB as of today. There are a couple of things I want to do and places I want to visit, starting from this evening since today all I’ve done is the laundry and updating the blog. I think I will go to the cinema to watch ‘The Danish Girl’ tonight. Hope it’s good! Will keep you lot posted on what I’m up to, good luck to those with exams! You can do it!