The Irish Exams

Hello Everyone,

The countdown has begun for my return home - 11 days!

I have the weirdest combination of emotions, I'm deeply saddened to be saying goodbye, but I'm very excited to be reunited with family and friends for Christmas. My time abroad has given me a chance to reflect on myself, to explore without limitations and on a cheap budget, and to meet incredible people that have helped me to learn about the world. 

Everyone's abroad experience is different, and soon enough some of my very close friends will be coming to Ireland for their chance at a 4 month adventure, and I hope it is surprising and different than mine was, as it is all subjective in the eyes of the beholder. I am bittersweet about my time here in Galway, it was the perfect place for me and I couldn't be more grateful for how God has played into the timing and events of my time here.

Now, I will explain how the Irish University goes about the task of handling final examinations... it was quite an interesting experience. First of all, I found the time and place of my first final exam, and I arrived to the hall twenty minutes early, as any nerdy bookworm student would do. When I arrived, I was greeted with a line of students out the door and around the building to get inside, and I waited slowly until the line creeped through the doors and I found a seating chart. On the list of 800 students, I found my name was allotted seat #94, and I headed through the crowds of people to find my spot. There were middle aged men every few feet with name tags that read "INVIGILATOR", which I'm assuming means a helper for the examinations, asking if you had a cell phone on me and warning me to not bring my bag inside. I backed away, put my bag away in the hallway among the rest, and made sure I did not have my cell phone on me. The announcements were ringing every two minutes with a woman's voice saying "You must not have a cell phone in the exam room. If we see one on you, you will have a 20 euros charge and be disqualified from the examination."

I've never been in a room with 800 students simultaneously before, all of the desks placed inside a huge room with individual numbers on them awaiting our destiny. (Remember, these finals are 100% of my grade, no previous assessment has happened this semester). Students were either itching their heads nervously, joking with friends that they saw across the room, or they were examining their pajamas that they hadn't changed out of yet. But when the clock struck 9:30 and the woman claimed "You may begin", the voices silenced and everyone picked up their pens and started writing like wind. Out of 5 questions, I had to choose 3 and write an essay on each. These essays are expected to be 4 pages each, so my hand was cramping by the end of the exam, but I'm glad to say I finished pretty painlessly amongst the other 800 peers. While the "INVIGILATORS" watched over us and walked inbetween our desks every two minutes, I felt the pressure and wasn't happy about it, but I understand the concern for cheating when the stakes are so high for these individual exams.

I know this post wasn't as excited as others because I haven't travelled, but exams are important, and at the end of the day, academics is the reason I'm here. So, there you have it! I will be going to Scotland this weekend, so I will post about that when I return. Thank you for all the well wishes, I can't wait to see everyone when I return. 

Stay warm, and happy holidays!

Lindsay