"Mr. Moose is up, it's done, done, done!!"

I'm done! Done with all my coursework for my MA. Finished my last exam today. All I have left now is my dissertation, which is the fun part. Holy crap, what a month it's been. Absolutely mentally and psychologically draining. I must say one thing, I hate the British concept of exams! They make it so...arbitrary. How you perform on an exam says nothing about how much you know or how much you've learned - it merely says how you were doing that day, and whether or not you prepared for the exact question topics that appeared on the exam. It's impossible to revise every topic covered throughout the year, so it becomes an issue of strategy. And if you "strategize" wrong, you're screwed! Luckily, I anticipated the right topics on the exam. Now it's just a matter of waiting to see how I actually did, which I'll find out in...December! By then, who cares? I'll already be deep into my PhD programme, other people will have jobs, so who really cares if you got a distinction or a merit? See, it all becomes so arbitrary and, administrative almost. All that matters really is the overall experience, and how much you got out of it. As far as that part goes, the experience and knowledge gained here has been unparalleled.

Anyway, after my exam ended at 1pm today I spent the day hanging around campus with friends - it was that "end of term" atmosphere which I haven't felt in years. Some people still have exams but most finished today. We spent the entire day just milling about the pub on campus, went for dinner, walked around town to a couple of different spots. It felt nice being footloose and fancy free. But the only downer has been the weather - it's been raining all week and right now it's around 13˚ but it feels colder.

I'm taking the rest of the week and weekend off. I'll start researching for my dissertation on Monday. Tomorrow I'm going up to Camden Town with a couple of friends to spend the day with our friend Walter in his neighbourhood - we promised each other a "do-nothing" day - hang out at his place, watch movies, walk around Camden Town. Then Wednesday I'm going shopping, which I haven't done in ages. I need a new pair of 7even jeans. You get the picture - a do-nothing week. Then on the weekend I'm going up to Manchester with some friends. Most are heading up on Friday but Walt and I are catching the train up together on Saturday to meet them there. Then we're coming back to London on Monday (so I guess I'll start on my dissertation on Tuesday). I'm a little antsy about traveling with a bunch of people I've never traveled with before, but it's a fun group so it should be good. Nice to get out of London for a bit. We really need the break!