Finals

Weeks 19 & 20: 6/8-6/22

These have definitely been two of the most difficult weeks of the trip. The end is staring me in the face, but all I can do is study. Preparing for the Statistics final was just as overwhelming as I anticipated – Chuck and I spent Monday afternoon in the UTS tower, although he had a Thermodynamics final (very tough class, especially abroad) on Saturday followed by a Fluid Mechanics final Monday. I got a nice surprise Wednesday (6/10) when Brett Tuma called and informed me he was at Scruffy Murphy’s in the CBD down George Street. Brett’s girlfriend (who he was visiting) was the only other familiar face I have seen in Australia, so seeing my longtime friend was a much welcome distraction and began to excite me at the prospect of returning home – we had a few jugs of beer and parted ways. On Friday the World Health Organization announced that Swine Flu had officially become a Pandemic. Coincidentally, by the following Wednesday I had actually began to feel sick and show symptoms – I was coughing, sneezing, had a stuffy nose, and (more than anything) I was simply exhausted. This didn’t bode well for my studies leading into the Stats final, and in fact, I felt so unprepared and tired on the exam date that I decided to skip it. I had already been in contact with my counselor here in Australia earlier in the semester regarding Stats, and he informed me at the time that I could apply for something called ‘special consideration’, which is a form you lodge if you want special consideration on your final grade and have documented rationale. When I first looked at the form online, I also noticed one for an ‘alternate exam sitting request’ and this was actually the one I entered after missing the final. So after a doctor’s appointment (for documentation – and he didn’t even test me for Swine Flu, so I guess I’m in the clear) I lodged the form at the Student Centre, however I was quickly informed that the alternate final exams would occur during the beginning of July (and I’d be gone!), but they recommended I enter the form anyways. I was a little panicked at this point, but the lady helping me was really nice and suggested I contact my Professor directly to work out an alternative option and so this is what I did. I sent him an email explaining the situation, lodged the form for special consideration, and over a week later he finally responded (time of this entry / Monday) and told me that he would just give me a final exam score based on the average of students that had received similar grades to me on the two in-semester assignments or (in other words) he told me that I had passed!
Anyways, the weekend (week 20) came quickly and was spent studying for my last final in Intro to Quantitative Management. Father’s Day was Sunday so I sent Mark a corny animated e-card, but we will be celebrating as a family in earnest next weekend. I had wanted desperately to take one last dive (scuba) this weekend but the trip was cancelled. Scuba diving was definitely the one thing I wish I had done more of, but I’m still glad I got my diving license and plan on doing a lot of diving in the future when I have more time and money. In the mean time, Chuck and I will be seeing Transformers 2, which we picked tickets up for Tuesday at the iMax. The final activity of the weekend was spent with Chuck and the Canadians girls one last time in King’s Cross. These were the first friends I’ve actually had to say goodbye to and it was sad, but I feel as though I’m mentally prepared and believe I will be seeing everyone again making this transitional period tolerable. That’s it for now – my next and final blog will include my adventures in souvenir shopping, my final exam, and last week in Sydney; saying goodbye, leaving, and final comments. Stay tuned…I will see you all VERY soon!