The Calm Before the Storm

Today is a Bank Holiday Monday in the United Kingdom.  Well, that’s not technically true.  Today is a Bank Holiday Monday unless you’re a Cambridge undergraduate.  Some of my friends have exams today (although luckily I don’t).  As I’ve probably already mentioned, mine begin with gusto tomorrow, but the nightmares about them have already started (I’ve had three so far, hooray)!  On the bright side, owing to the totally arbitrary nature of the questions on the first paper, my revision for it this morning has consisted of me looking at interesting things in geology on the internet (and legitimately being able to say that it’s useful and relevant revision).

One anecdote springs to mind on the relationship between bank holidays and Cambridge.  One undergraduate, upon learning they had various lectures etc. on a Bank Holiday in exasperation asked their supervisor, “How come there are no Bank Holidays at Cambridge?”, the supervisor promptly replied, “Because Cambridge University existed long before the banks did”.  So there you have it, case closed.  Luckily however, the UL is open, which effectively saved my life.  Revising without the University Library is analogous to scuba diving without a tank of oxygen, it’s probably not going to end well (as the other libraries are either full, or have lots of people to talk to, the latter of which is enormous fun, but not conducive to studying at any great length)!

My exam timetable (the physical manifestation of stress), or “Satan” to its friends, looks like this (so expect a precipitous decline in the quality of prose on this blog over the next week or so!):