First up, exams! I had my first three exams Wednesday, Thursday, and yesterday (Friday). Wednesday was a two-hour Statistics final worth 100% of the grade. I studied long and hard for it, and it paid off... I am extremely pleased with how the exam went, and frankly, I would be surprised if i did not get a distinction on that exam (and thus for that course).
Thursday was a three-hour exam, my longest, in my core course, Issues and Approaches in Public Policy and Administration, worth 75% of the grade. We were told it would be fair to expect 12 specific topics on the exam, with us expected to write 3 essays out of the 12 options. Well, just to be safe, I prepared 4 topics, and boy am I glad that I did, since one of them ended up not being on the exam! Alas, it was no big deal... I memorized and utilized 20 different authors over the three different essays, and I was able to incorporate some class-related metaphors that should surely please the professors. The Iceland Volcano, pit bulls, badger culls, and most importantly of course, polar bears all made an appearance. Overall I was also very pleased with how this exam went, and when combined with the other 25% of my grade that was one of the two essays due a month ago, I am expecting a merit for the course. Agenda-setting, interest groups, and reward.
Yesterday, Friday, was a two-hour exam in my most difficult course, Policy-Making in the European Union, worth 100% of the grade. It is never a good feeling going into an exam that is worth 100% of the grade when you know that it is not your strongest subject. As if that would not have been bad enough, to have to do it without having much feeling in my hand as a result of the 5 hours of exam writing from the previous day and a half, and it was certainly going to be a bit of a battle. A little perspective... after my exam on Wednesday, I immediately came back to start crash-studying for my exam on Thursday. After about 6 hours of this, I slept for 3 hours, woke up at 1am for the Blackhawks game, went back to sleep at 4am, slept another 3 hours, and then spent the entire morning preparing for my exam that afternoon. When the Thursday exam let out it was already 530pm, and I had essentially been up constantly save for a couple of long naps, so I passed out immediately. Friday morning I woke up at 2am, and studied straight through the night and into the morning for the 10am exam. You know, no big deal! But alas, the exam came, I managed to stay awake throughout it, and my hand did not actually physically fall off. Though that said by the end of it, I had permanent indentations to the bones on my fingers, which even now, almost 36 hours later, are still quite present. The exam itself was fine... one of the questions was word-for-word one of the ones I practiced for, so I wrote that first. The second that I chose had ambiguous wording, but I was able to specifically manipulate and tailor the argument to what I wanted to write about. EU implementation rates and the EU budget.
There you have it! Three exams down, and two more to go. Next up is GV4F4, also known as "The Politics of Policy Advice," this coming Thursday June 10. That exam is 2 hours and is worth 50% of the grade, the other 50% coming from the second of the two essays I wrote about a month ago. Then, after that, my last exam is not until June 22, a 2 hour exam for DV415, aka Global Environmental Governance. That exam is worth 80% of the grade, the other 20% coming from an essay I wrote back in January, that I got a merit on. So yeah... 7 hours of exams completed, 4 to go. I took today off from studying (I needed a break), but tomorrow the preparation for Thursday gets started!
Now, for the second set, what else could I be talking about besides some playoff hockey?! When I last posted, the Hawks were up 1-0 in the Stanley Cup Finals against Philadelphia, winning a high-scoring affair 6-5 at the United Center. In Game 2, they beat Philadelphia again to take what seemed like a commanding 2-0 lead. However, Game 3 did not go our way, and we lost in overtime to make it a 2-1 series lead. Then, most heart-wrenching, the Hawks blew Game 4 by a 5-3 final, and the series is now all tied up 2-2. Thus, it is a brand-new, Best-of-Three series for the Cup. Game 5 is in Chicago, Game 6 is in Philadelphia, and if need be, Game 7 would be back in Chicago. Without any question, the next two games (and possibly three) will be the most important hockey games in my life's worth of Chicago hockey. Winning at home is essential tomorrow night. If the teams split Game 5 and Game 6, and force a Game 7, it would be Friday June 11. With my exam on the 10th, I would be heading home for that game, and a chance, with a win, to lift Lord Stanley's Cup for the first time in 49 long Chicago years.
First up, Game 5, tomorrow night at the United Center. 7pm Central, 1am London.
Two down, two to go.
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