I have completed the first half of my courses at the University of Cambridge, Pembroke College! The final paper for my Drugs and the Mind neurobiology class only had to be 2500-3000 words long but I think it is easily the longest paper I've ever written. It certainly contained the most references. That bad boy was chock full of scientific evidence, weighing in with a full page containing 14 references. For the final exam, Zoltan provided us with 10 possible essay questions. 6 were on the exam, two of which we had to write essays for. Not to mention that if you knew how to answer one question very well, you could reword it and put the emphasis on different parts of the information and more or less answer all ten of the questions. The only thing I felt unsure about was the fact that we needed to reference a few scientific studies in the essays. To assuage this situation I simply wrote down the names of 5 studies and their leading researcher that I knew the most about. Since all of the information overlapped, I figured no matter which questions I had to answer, those studies could be worked in. I was right. Success! It felt so very good to put that pen down.
So that was the end of my first class. I have already served all of my time for the math class, but I won't be taking the exam for it until the end of August. I will do wretchedly. Really, its undeniable.
It'll the worst two hours of next month. I don't really care though, as if that class doesn't transfer I'll still have the 6 I need for financial aid from Drugs and Art and Satire (next month's course).
As you can imagine, from Tuesday-Friday afternoon was awash with studying. Sarah and I did manage to find some reprieve in a nice little punting trip Wednesday evening though. We set out about 7:45 armed with a pizza, a bottle of Pimm's, some lemonade, and beer. I punted a good ways away from Kings, refining my punting skill quite a bit. We got almost to a clearing area and Sarah and I switched places. There is a video in my pictures under the punting section, it is worth a watch. She had never punted before, and was....well, a bit confused by the whole thing, I suppose. Eventually we found a spot to park the boat and chill, eat our pizza and drink the booze. There is another video in that same section showing my recommendation for mixing Pimms and lemonade. For those of you who don't know what pimms is, it is a gin based fruity spirit. Kinda raspberryish? And still 25% alcohol, so it still has some bang.
Friday night after exams was the BOP. A BOP is basically a British costume party. I'm not sure if it has to be British themed, but the theme for this was simply Britannia. Anything British was allowed. I had a group of people ask me to be Ringo Starr for their Beatles group. I obliged, especially since I had no other plans as to what I was going to do and all it involved was me wearing my suit and buying a white shirt. I also got a union jack tie, and to add a little more festivity I wanted a union jack handkerchief for my pocket. Couldn't find anything the right shade of blue though, like a small flag or anything. So I got a pair of boxers, folded them up, got the same effect.
The programmed had rented out an entire club just for the PKP program. So yes, I have now officially been to a club. It was pretty much exactly what I expected it would be. Extremely hot, with extremely overpriced drinks, and a giant orgy of people moving around in one room. By the time I left I was soaked through with sweat, pretty nasty. I came, I saw, I danced, I don't really want to do it again.
I've been enjoying an excruciatingly lazy weekend these past few days. My new class starts Monday, but I don't expect it to be as hard as the past two. Here's to an easier next month, and to seeing you all soon.
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