In which Tari faces her final final (oh, what a pun!)

Ad Mundo Exteriore,

I am totally exhausted from the math final, although I think I survived, mostly because I hadn't studied enough and therefore was more careful in solving problems. Excepting that embarrassing moment when I got utterly quagmired in a line integral and then realized that the horrendous-looking vector field was a bloody gradient after all. (Don't mind me, I've been reading Harry Potter fanfiction during my "breaks" from studying this past weekend, and the language has stuck in my head. Why the heck I end up thinking/acting/talking like the characters I read about is beyond me but probably will be the basis for another soul-searching self-analysis.) Anyway, it was really stupid of me to get stuck on that problem because I should have realized that it was time for a question on the Fundamental Theorem of Line Integrals by that point. Really straightforward test--I'm not sure if I remembered the trigonometric identities correctly on that last Stokes' theorem problem, but it all solved so nicely that I don't really care.

Speaking about not caring...I'm going to take the Rome of Augustus final cold. Well, not completely cold, I did go to the review session yesterday night, but I didn't really study for it. Nor will I panic and try to study for it now. Maybe I'll look at a few images but...I'm mentally and physically drained right now, and I've gotten all As in Rome of Augustus so far. I've done all the readings over break when I was researching my paper, and while there are a few topics I'm not too confident about, I don't particularly need to get an A in this class. And the only way that I won't get an A at this point is if I do really, really badly on the final, which I don't think is very likely, even if I haven't looked over anything.

Justifying aside, I'm hungry, my mind is tired and disgusted with itself, and I've a three-hour exam full of writing to look forward to...I don't have any energy to spend on last-minute cramming. Whatever. I feel so awful right now, even though I should be cheering that there's only one final left.

I'm going to sleep early tonight. >_<

...Tari

In which Tari emerges alive and intact from the inferno

Ad Mundo Exteriore,

The hell known as exam period is finally over! ::cheers::

I think I did fine on that last final. Well, I'm sure my essay should and could have been longer and better organized, but my knuckles were pulsing by that point, and honestly, I really don't care. My analysis of the "new" primary source passage was excellent, and I say that objectively. I mean, I saw the poem (Propertius, Elegies, IV.6) before, thanks to my final paper, and also by this point I've nearly memorized Virgil's description of the Battle of Actium on Aeneas' shield in the Aeneid, so the comparison was detailed and spot-on. I managed to identify all the images and passages correctly, though my commentary on a few may have been weak. The multiple choice was insanely picky but amazingly I figured all of them out too.

I only studied two and a half hours for this final. That was a pretty amazing stroke of luck that I came through the exam relatively unscathed. I guess it helped that I read Ovid before in eighth grade and that I did so much extensive sourcebook reading for my final paper. I swear, that exam was completed nearly entirely on the basis of residual knowledge from the paper.

My knuckles still feel swollen. Ow, it hurts to type. ;_;

I've been admitted to my second choice seminar! Unofficially, that is--the professor just emailed us. Actually, the only reason why it's my second choice is because I really wanted to take a non-science seminar (my last chance before biochemistry swallows me up whole, you know?). It's closely related to the field I want to go into (the seminar is called "Why did intelligence evolve on Earth?" and I want to do origin-of-life research), and I think it would be a really cool class. I'm almost hoping that my first-choice seminar rejects me just so I can accept. ^_^ The textbook apparently is already available at the Coop, and I'm thinking about going ahead and buying it regardless of whether I take the seminar or not.

Hm...I won't have to write papers for this class, would I? ::ponders::

Anyway, I'm going to relax! And go to sleep early! And write the last of the application essays tomorrow (I think I'm going to have to spend all my money sending them out by Next Day mail. Argh.)

...Tari