Week 2 of Summer Vacation- Might as Well Tell Another One

Well, I am officially off campus and I think that summer vacation has already started to hit me like a brick. I am letting the day drift by but somehow I am managing to pass the time whether it is reading, playing the video game, or using Facebook to start a conversation with another person who is either bored or interested in wasting time like myself. I am employed but I do not start my internship until June so I am just resting until that time comes. In the meanwhile, I am still without a digital camera to show you any pictures that I can adequately tell you readers a visual blog. I am also still trying to recollect everything that happened in the two weeks of my time as a freshman at Ohio Wesleyan. This week, I think I will think back to my Finals and tell you of the excruciating pleasure of taking them.

Two weeks ago from last Saturday, I began the process of taking my finals. At 8:00, I made the trek over from my comfy residential hall to the academic side (in the Science Center). I think I was still drowsy from my long rest from the night before because of studying for a good amount of time, I will say 8-9 hours on Friday. As I made the trek from side to side, my thoughts were about the test and what kind of questions they could potentially have. For this occasion, I had a good idea because in my syllabus, there was a outline and a stategy on how to approach the essays. That's right, the entire test would be in essay form. I am a okay writer but on essays, I have the tendency to stray from the original question to try and link my examples to what the question is asking. I head into the building and my anxiety increases tenfold; I tense up and forget what I was thinking about the second before. I enter the classroom where the students were talking more than usual. I was trying to block it all off of my head. Several minutes pass before my teacher arrives; my anxiety increases another tenfold, recognizing that this is it. The test is in his hands and my fate rests on how much I knew. After all, the test is only worth 30% of my grade. By the way, in case you are wondering, this class was an upper level History class(Emergence in Modern America, 1877-1929, HIST 376, to be exact). As soon as I receive the test, I look at it thoroughly so I won't miss critical points. Once I answer the first part of the first question (the who in Identifying a Famous person or event), I start to develop a strategy and a mode that would not be broken until two hours and thirty minutes later. I felt rather confident that I would do well on the test (meaning at least a B in my case). End of test 1- around 10:30 a.m.

I had a weird Finals schedule. I completed my other history class, HIST 335B- Topics in Latin American History- The Spanish Conquest of America on the Thursday before Finals. I had a presentation along with turning in my Final research paper on the Process, Successes, and Failures of the Evangelization of Mexico. I was happy that how the class turned out and I realized that I would take another Topics course sometime in the near future, probably the Spring of my Sophomore Year. After the completion of my two upper-level History courses, I was thrilled to find out that my next Finals exams was not scheduled until Wednesday afternoon. For me, HMCL 122- Myth, Legend, and Folklore was a lot easier than my two History courses, simply because it was not an upper-level writing course. I had more leeway in what I could write as my imagination and comparisons with what the story tells me often takes off. The test did not seem hard nor was it long (forty-five minutes). I passed the class with a A- and I'm satisfied (my only A in any major topic thus far, that is kind of a bummer).

I headed over to the other side of the Science building in drop off my other research project for my Physical Geography class, GEOG 111. I admit that the project was given to the students a week before Finals as something we could do in lieu of a daunting 26-page final, which I was not trying to take. I was prepared for it but the option to do a 10+ paper was looking very good, so that this what I chose. I stressed over it but ultimately the finished project was in my hands and I gave it up after my exam on Wednesday. This felt good because all of my research was finished (I had three big ones to turn in) and I can prepare for my Spanish final on the last day on Finals on Thursday.

The material on my Spanish exam was easier than I expected since I studied mainly grammar and culture. I like the fact that these two items comprised itself of the Final, although I know that I still managed to goof up some areas on the exam. I realized after the Final that I am not the best test-taker even if I study a lot. I am not complaining but I think something has to give at some point in my collegiate career. I got the grade that I thought I was going to get in the class and again I'm satisfied. For me, it is progress over grades and I know that I will continue to progress throughout my years at Ohio Wesleyan. Progress will eventually lead to better grades, hopefully.

If any prospective student want to know how Finals are for a college student, there you have it. At least from my prospective as a freshman. I hope that this blog will somehow reach you and that you learn from what I had to deal with. Particularly, the two or three lines of the previous paragraphs. From there, it is up to you rather you will take my experience and seek more advice from that.

Until next time,
Hasani Wheat
Class of '10