Day 123, 9 May: No More 'Study' in 'Study Abroad'

Norfolk Terrace, UEA, Norwich, Day 123. No More ‘Study’ in ‘Study Abroad’

Today was the day of my last exam (Marie provides background noise as I write this in the kitchen Thursday morning). There were announcements that the exam was pre-released an hour before the actual exam, which confused my general sensibility of how testing works, but I made a half-hearted effort to see if there were any copies left about 20 minutes after the hour it was pre-released. Nothing. I didn’t mind—I just went back to study up a little more on the delayed decoding literary technique applied by Conrad. I felt ready.

      Again there was a swarming beehive outside of Congregational Hall and an announcer calling out the titles of modules. I ran into Joe, a guy from my Nineteenth Century seminar who did the Livewire announcements for Jailbreak (Day 62-63), and another guy from seminar. I looked at the copy of the pre-released exam in their hands and was satisfied with the excerpts. Still doing Henry James and Joseph Conrad. Nerves crept upon us subtly, as we waited. And then we heard the module. Nineteenth Century Writing. Room 1.20.

      Once inside, and after the initial confusion in finding the room, I ended up sitting next to Joe from Romanticism, like last time. The invigilator, or the proctor, explained the instructions and the exam began.

      Despite being at a disadvantage and not having had much time to brainstorm for the hour others did, I found it an advantage for me—I felt suspense and excitement in not knowing exactly what I was going to say for the excerpts. Sure, I knew which critics I would use, since I’ve gotten into the habit of using secondary sources, but I didn’t know beyond that.

      In the Romanticism exam, I had felt a vein of uncertainty in the writing. Here I felt empowered. The novels were impressionist/modernist, my quick-becoming favourite time period of literature. I talked about perspective and the inescapable nature of subjectivity.

      After the exam, I was done. Done with all the studying required on my program. I saw my tutor Catrin and talked to her about how there's too much time in the exam period and she told me how she has a month to grade the exams. I ate lunch and hung out with a guy from Romanticism and Nineteenth Century, Tom, and his friends, including another person from both classes Katie. Then I headed back to my room to plan out what will most likely be my last trip out of England, Edinburgh in Scotland.

      At night, seven of us (Jen, Charlie, Alvin, Vinnie, Marie, Stephen, and I) went to Castle Mall to watch the recently released Avengers movie. I was impressed that it was a Joss Whedon film—he’s really making a name for himself on the big screen after his ups and downs in TV shows (Buffy on the up and Firefly on the down—but it should’ve kept going after the first season). The music was by Alan Silvestri, the same who composed the soundtrack for Back to the Future. The actual movie was stunning and for a superhero movie, it had good commentary about the ordinary hero and the anti-glamour that comes with the glamour of superheroism.

            After the movie, we all headed home, I chatted with Katya, and fell into bed.