Day 118, 4 May: Exam #1 and Under the LCR

Norfolk Terrace, UEA, Norwich, Day 118. Exam #1 and Under the LCR

The Study Set-Up in the Morning

After spending the morning in stress-induced hype with Charlie (we had exams at the same time) and my Romanticism books for one last look, it was finally here: My first examination, the last time I was to partake in the Romanticism second-year module at UEA. The situation was dramatic: a large crowd of students stood in groups outside Congregational Hall (apt title in this case, I guess). I found familiar faces from class, though the names to those faces I could not place, and stood with them, just as much in the pre-event hype. Two of them I later learned were Joe and Jack. An announcer at the top of the staircase called out the room assignments for each module: Psychology Dissertation…Biology…Romanticism.

      We went downstairs and into a smaller room. Our seminar leader Cath Sharrock was there, in the process of leaving, and she wished us good luck. There was also a proctor in the room, making me feel like I was back in the days of SATs, ACTs, and AP tests (high school standardized exams).

      The test began. I turned the paper over and numbers two and five of the eleven prompts held topics that I had studied very specifically. I normally would type up my notes from class as my study method, but this last week I figured that studying William Blake for the significance of childhood in Romanticism and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein for a discussion on the sublime were likely to be on the exam. I just studied those two in depth, along with a few critics on them, and it paid off.

       After the exam, the proctor collected all the exams and we left at 2:15. The exam had lasted two hours and we were now completely done with Romanticism. As Jack said in the hallway, it was a really good module and I agree. Cath led really good seminars and I’m really happy I learned about the Romantic poets. Before this class, I knew Wordsworth—now add William Blake, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, Charlotte Smith, John Keats, Edmund Burke and the sublime, William Hazlitt, and Mary Robinson. There are more, of course, but a semester-long class can only cover so much.  

      I decided to join Jack and Joe to the Union Pub on campus and we and four others each had a celebratory pint. I ended up staying for two hours, hearing Jack talk about the ROTC-equivalent program he’s in and Joe talk about the gap year he took before uni to explore the United States (New York to the Grand Canyon by bus). Their friend Shori, also from Romanticism, joined us and talked about how she was in the same theatre youth group with Robert Pattinson (yes, the Twilight vampire) years ago and that was where he was discovered—originally for the role of Cedric Diggory in the fourth Harry Potter movie. This reminded me that Emily on Wednesday had mentioned that she had met Emma Watson once. (I was thinking, so there’s a Californian stereotype that everyone who lives there knows the Hollywood celebrities and then hop over the pond to England and people know Harry Potter stars?! ) As for myself, I talked about being in Washington, D.C. on 9/11, in 2001. Eventually we got onto topics like American vs British uni’s and next year modules at UEA (for them). This was a really good part of the day.

The Undercovers in the Union Pub's Blue Bar

      Later flatmate Matt invited me to do laundry with him and Vinnie tagged along too, so the three of us all spent our Friday night in the laundry room—and the Union Pub (very close by to the Laundrette). I generally haven’t spent that much time here, the place under the LCR, but today proved a good day for hanging out there. In the evening, we ran into members of the flat on the bottom floor of B block, a neighbour block, of which I knew Emma and Vicky. Marie and her friend Rachel were also there. The main event was a show performed by a cover band cleverly titled ‘The Undercovers’—and they really killed it. They had a sound that was seemingly identical to The Killers and Red Hot Chili Peppers, which were the main bands they covered. I watched the lead guitarist and was both in awe and envy. Laundry finished around the time the band ended their show, and we headed back in the midnight air.