Grand Finale (...and another long entry)

Hey, I've got a lot to say. The last day of exams, so I took the pleasure of writing it out in detail, from memory. Don't hate.

…and then it came to an end quite easily.

For the last time, I woke up at 6:something AM, but there was no Shane to drive us on to campus. Instead, Anand provided a lift. Ali, Kris, Eve and me regrouped in our lonely little Fort. Classic Longtail on the last phase of exams, in it together for the single hardest module ever. We had a game plan, we thought through exactly everything that was gonna go down in this exam. A couple last Fort traditions, including the ever necessary chocolate ticket, plus some gopro shots, and the three of us were off.

Outside the exam room, we found everyone stressing out. Into the exam room, F1something, not where I expected to be having my last exam. Turns out Dynamics is a small module, that’s why. Sit down, fill in the usual registration slip and booklet cover. Wait. Wait. Wait... Flip the paper over.

Turn the first page, heaven. Turn the second page, heaven. Third page, fourth page, all heaven. Couldn’t have asked for a better paper at the end of the day. Any better would have just been unfair. I could literally hear Ali, Kris and Shree breathing sighs of relief around the room. Here we go!

With the paper smashed in little more than an hour and actually reread for once, I left the room feeling like I was on another level. By the time all the boys were out, we just couldn’t contain ourselves. The hardest module to study ever had just breezed by in the best way possible. Oh, and it’s not that the paper was easy, no. It’s that we studied the module like absolute bosses. That will go down as the single greatest achievement of the Fort. Oh yeah, and we all blitzed the module. I calculated that I got either 97 or 98% on the exam. WHAT?! Elation. Here’s a photo of Ali, Kris, Shree, myself and Chiraag straight after, taken with Ali’s gopro.

Now time to relax. First stop, none other than the Fort to pick up our stuff! First beer at the learning grid atrium, now that they sell Coronas and Peronis at the learning grid café. Eve cheekily joined in, as Kris, Ali, Shree, Chiraag and I raised our bottles to the last undergraduate exam. Next stop: the Duck for food. And then on to Terrace Bar for drinks all afternoon! Racking in the bus stop JD and cokes, with the sickest group of friends and all of us enjoying the freedom. Sitting at the terrace for a good four hours or so, with people cycling through, Eloise, Hannah and Pam (ski tour reunion), Dave and Shane (fort reunion), MLJ, Johannes and Anirudh (team colin reunion). And countless others…
One thing left to do: Kasbah!

Ali and me ran to get a bus, went home to drop our stuff off, eat dinner, get booze and get changed. Mahfood and Anu joined me on the way back to campus and to Claycroft. Straight to throatboat’s kitchen lounge! There we had probably one of the best pre-drinks sessions of the year. Chunderstruck and Ring of Fire both made appearances for old times sake. The classic segregation circle. Kris, Ali, Anu, Anna, Mahfood, Anirudh, Susil, Ashley, Shree, Throat, Jayshit, Hannah, Eloise, Ant Scott, Seetal, Deeva and probably some others, but it’s too far in the past writing this for me to remember! Probably one of the most hilarious moments I’ve seen in a while: Alan asking Ant for advice on his application for SU pres. It got so good we (literally) got slammed by the warden and got kicked out. Into taxis and off to Kasbah for one of the chillest and sick nights out in a while. And indeed, hanging out with everybody who recently finished means I spent most of the night in the outdoors bit with people. It feels amazing to be a graduand. Who knows if I'll ever be one again. Time to enjoy it while I can.

peace out uni