Ilse and the End-of-Semester-Blues

As much as I dislike midterms do I like end of terms. Especially the final two weeks in which you buckle down to finish those last bits – polish that last essay before you hand it in, sit down to your last exam, finally finish that course book... two weeks, immense madness and you are constantly reminded of there being 'only two weeks left!'. You are aware of the upcoming deadline and the endless three-month stretch of 'freedom' that lies beyond. You know you will never have to take the courses you don't like but really do need for your major ever again – in my case, anything abstract with numbers – and you will end that awesome course – for which you have suffered through three other courses in the previous semesters just to fulfill the requirements – while thinking 'Week 15? Really?!'. The end-of-semester parties are coming up, all kinds of events, three months of endless sunshine – and it's actually a bit sad. You also realize that you again spent 15 weeks of your life having a marvelous time and it's again over. You think to yourself 'only n semesters left! Oh my, does time fly!'. You know that the three months of freedom also mean three months without RA, three months that are torturously long. It's interesting that we interpret these months as free, since I haven't encountered any student yet that plans on doing nothing. All are going to do some awesome internship, summer course or will work and/or travel et cetera. It's a very double feeling. Pleasant, but saddening. Not really a blues, actually. More like... a big band song in minor key. But that doesn't sound as good.

Ilse is a second year social science student with an interest in law and law enforcement with an interest in many different sorts of media.

Ilse and the Hogwarts of Zeeland

The other day, a friend and I had a very short conversation on  how RA is like Hogwarts. Well, actually, we said something about how some instructors here are like Hogwarts professors or were – this was our most probable conclusion – informers for the Ministry of Magic.

It's not a new comparison, either, RA and Hogwarts. Our gorgeous old main building is very old, though still much younger than Hogwarts (1500 vs. 1000 AD – making the castle pictured in the movies actually a bit anachronical, more in line with the time our building was built), with some halls that do in fact resemble some of Hogwarts' halls (sigh... if only we could have our meals in the Burgerzaal!). That's not all. Our four campus locations are fairly easy to compare to Hogwarts Houses, with Bagijnhof being like Hufflepuff, the place where all the sociable people are, Driewegenhof being Slytherin (we have our reasons) and the unresolved issue of whether Koestraat or Roggeveenhof is Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. This works especially well since we, like the teens of the Wizarding World, live on location. Also, Hogwarts has about 600 students according to J.K. Rowling – as many as we do. Our Dean even once referred to Jan Peter Balkenende's Convocation Speech as 'the homecoming of Harry Potter'.
Of course, there are many differences. For one, we don't learn any magic here (Yeah, I too was shocked to learn that. Also, if Time-turners really exist, I call dibs.). We're a University, not a Secondary school. We have no evil wizards and witches roaming the grounds (though I do suspect the science students of being evil geniuses) – we don't even have grounds or a proper forest or lake. We utterly lack inter-house/-campus location competitions. We don't have poltergeists or any normal ghosts (but I have heard rumours of hauntings...).
However, all these differences are for the better (except for the lack of magic bit. And the houses. And the ghosts.) since it means we are left with a student body of 600 students, devoted to their studies (thankfully we aren't all little Hermione Grangers, that would be scary... imagine all the hair!) and their friends, pretty awesome teachers (and, I am pleased to inform you, none resemble Dolores Umbridge) and a whole bunch of other stuff. I'm sure any real witch or wizard would feel right at home and the Ministry of Magic would be pleased. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and find me a mad scientist. They're in terribly short supply nowadays.

Ilse is a second year social science student with an interest in law and law enforcement with an interest in many different sorts of media.

Ilse Feels Whelmed

It's hardly my favorite movie (though I enjoy watching it when I'm feeling down) but '10 Things I Hate About You' does have one of the better questions ever asked in films; 'I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed?'. A small bit of internet research told me that yes, it is possible. 'Whelmed' apparently is an archaic, somewhat poetic word and means 'submerged' or 'overcome'. Overwhelmed, then, is a hyperbole while underwhelmed is an understatement. If that's the truth – the Internet never lies – then I feel terribly whelmed at the moment, as in, there's so much stuff to do at this particular moment but I know I can handle it. I am submerged in homework, but as the Zeeuwse motto says; 'I struggle and emerge' ('Luctor et emergo'). I am whelmed. Interestingly, the answer to the question in the films is 'I think you can in Europe.' Well. Isn't that the truth.

Ilse is a second year social science student with an interest in law and law enforcement with an interest in many different sorts of media.

Ilse and Glorious Insanity

Everyone goes mad. All around me voices exclaim Essay! Test! Paper! Exam! Presentation! Debate! Discussion! Quiz! Dinner! When?! Tonight! Can't! Tomorrow?! Sure! Meeting! Drinks! Read! Study! Listen! Watch! Learn! Move! Sit! Sleep! Wake! Eat! Coffee! Energy! Sun! Finals! Summer! Not yet! Plot! Trip! Visit! Lecture! Class! Break! and people seem to be running around in circles thinking everything follows Murphy's Law and dropping everything at the prospect of actually finishing a task and looking far too worried about everything. This is RA at its best. The insane paradox of everything being impossible and yet everything being accomplished shows the gorgeous chaos that is studying.

I continue reading on websites the comments of people who got stuck in the 1970s and still think university students are all about drinking and sleeping in and general laziness. An interesting opinion, I must say, and one completely foreign to all who are familiar with the University College concept in general and RA specifically. The total madness of RA shows that through dedication, hard work and an incredible amount of personal craziness everything is possible. Apparently Aristotle once said that genius never goes without a bit of madness. Having observed several of my fellow students and quite a few of my instructors, I think it would be fair to say that Aristotle wasn't far off. Which shouldn't be taken as an expression of any idea that we are all geniuses, which I know is untrue. However, so many people I met here over the last 20 months brim with brilliance and most of them are, well, not mad, but indeed possess quite interesting personalities. What should be taken for truth, as well, is the infectiousness of insanity. And this particular insanity, I must admit, I find glorious.

Ilse is a second year social science student with an interest in law and law enforcement with an interest in many different sorts of media.

Ilse and Lists

Anyone out there who knows me should be aware of the fact that I keep a number of lists. I feel they help me organize my thoughts by taking out all that is unnecessary to memorize at that specific point in time – for instance, I throroughly enjoy writing up To Do Lists and then crossing off all that is on there. My two favorite lists, though, are my To Read List and my To Watch List. As the names might suggest, the former is a list of all works of literature and non-fiction I have yet to read. At the moment it is highly populated by English Literary Classics but if you have a suggestion I am very much willing to put it on there, it just may take me a few years before I get round to reading it as I am currently trying to put on there all the books all my RA instructors have ever recommended to me, which is a task of significant magnitude as it means I have to sort through three-and-a-half semesters of class notes. The latter is a list of all significant films. Perhaps I should also put a few tv series on there but as I am still in the process of working my way through all CSI:Miami episodes and after that wish to catch up on CSI:NY, Vampire Diaries, White Collar, Chuck, Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother, I feel I have my work cut out for me. Most of the films on the list are found in the IMDb Top 250 or have been recommended to me before, though I also at times hear films mentioned not to me but to others and then still wish to see them, so I put them on the list and get round to seeing them probably 10 years from now. Either way, all of this is in a massive Excel-document that also holds lists of Things To Do Before I Die (Since I merged it with Places I Want To Visit Before I Die it consists mostly of locations, though it also has activities like 'eating blowfish' and 'bungeejumping' on there), Classes To Take Before I Graduate (Of course, there are far more than I could ever have time for) and Things To Do Before The End of the Semester.

Now, it's the last one that worries me. Whenever I observe the growth of the list (it seems to perform that feat all by itself) I feel somewhat anxious and fear that I will still be working when the semester is over. Strangely enough, I feel like that every semester and every time I still manage to pull it off. Of course, pulling that off also requires me to have total disregard for the state of my room (which is why I feel incredibly reluctant to invite my parents over in the last few weeks of the semester) and the weather outside and anything else that may distract me. The result is then a forest's worth of essays, more exam results than the total of all exams in the last three years of high school and a severe vitamin D deficiency. And you know what? I wouldn't change it for the world. After all, I chose courses I am interested in. Writing papers is then no longer a massive task, but something of an enjoyable effort, like a sport, though of course it requires an entirely different sort of effort. Exams – yes, well, no one likes exams but most people enjoy getting results back, except for when these aren't as expected.

As for the growth of the list, I tackled a few interesting assignments last week and intend to do a few more this week. Perhaps I will still be able to completely empty the list before the end of the semester. If not – well, I guess I'll then just drag my books and paper and pens and markers and pencils outside and study there. What else is spring for?

Ilse is a second year social science student with an interest in law and law enforcement with an interest in many different sorts of media.

Ilse and Spring

I love spring. I love every season. I love winter when there's snow and all canals are frozen over; I love summer when barbequeing with friends and family (I'm sorry you vegetarians, your summer experiences just aren't comparable to those of us omnivores); I love fall when coming home all soaked and then drinking hot cocoa and sitting near the radiator (better yet, a fireplace) reading a good book; but most of all, I love spring. I remember having to write a thing on something I loved last year and I wrote about spring, also because it was spring. I wrote that spring was uncomparable. One of the comments was 'really?' or something of the kind. Yes, really. There is nothing quite like those first few days that you can go outside without an overcoat. Like wearing a skirt without freezing your legs off. The last few weeks of winter are gruesome, with everyone being irritable. Fellow students just aren't themselves, parents are more than concerned about everything (and then not the good kind of concerned) and instructors just don't seem able to deal with things the way they do throughout the rest of the year. So when spring comes around and everyone's starting to feel happy again, when the Market square is again filling up with people who enjoy themselves in our beautiful sunny Zeeuwse city of Middelburg, when going outside requires shades and when popping out to get something at the supermarket no longer requires you to put on a far too heavy winter coat, that's when I'm feeling particularly happy with all that's around me. Last year I hummed 'Here comes the sun' for weeks when spring finally came around. This year? 'The best is yet to come'. After all, we still have the glorious days of summer ahead.

Ilse is a second year social science student with an interest in law and law enforcement with an interest in many different sorts of media.

Ilse and (Post-Break) Midterms

In theory, midterms after the break are great. After all, it means an extra week of studying before having to pretend you understand concepts everyone else seems to grasp effortlessly in order to keep your GPA on a healthy level. In practice, not so much. In fact, it seems to me that post-break midterms are far worse than pre-break midterms, as the break tends to mess with your study habits and the lack of class makes the active knowledge a bit less active. Nevertheless, the post-midterm feeling is almost as good as the post-end of terms feeling – relief that it's over, but also a bit of sadness that another signpost has been passed. Just the other day I spoke to some people who are now in their last semester and though of course there are exceptions, most expressed some sense of sadness when they mentioned that they are now going into the last half of their last semester at RA. I can only imagine how they feel. I mean, I imagine I'd be excited to start this whole new adventure of a Master's study or going out into the real world to work or travel (I must say, I am most jealous of those who plan to travel) but I'd also be really sad that my time at RA'd be over. On the other hand, I also spoke to a few first-semester students before the break and they seemed pretty nervous for their midterms. I remember that feeling, not knowing what the exams would look like, not knowing what'd be asked, scared that everyone else'd do far better, worried that the method of studying used throughout high school would suddenly no longer suffice... quite scary but also somewhat exciting, like a big mystery. I guess the post-midterm feeling is happiest in the first semester and saddest in the last.

For me, well, I'm glad they're over. I've had all sorts of exams this midterm; essay questions, short answer open questions, multiple choice, take-home exams, exams that need to be done on the computer, exams that need to be done with pen and paper... and then to think I've actually only had four. The only sort I didn't get this midterm was open book, which is fine as I don't really care for those. The searching for answers in the book always takes up too much time, making me nervous as I see the clock evilly ticking away time.

But anyway, let's put in that extra bit of effort necessary to make it through the last half of the semester. It's going to be interesting.

 

Ilse is a second year social science student with an interest in law and law enforcement with an interest in many different sorts of media.

Ilse and Sleep

Nine days of spring break, nine nights of proper sleep. Fourteen hours of sleep on the first night, nine on the last with an average of nine (I screwed up that average by deciding to spend one night doing only five – Middelburg is gorgeous at sunrise and there was enough caffeine in my system to keep me going until then) and a median wake-up time of 1 pm. Decidedly different from normal RA hours – the going to bed at 4 isn't that abnormal, getting the full nine hours of sleep is. So I guess I pretty much caught up on my sleep deficit (not entirely, if I am to believe those who say having a sleep deficit can only be solved by getting as many hours of additional sleep as the hours lost, but since I no longer feel like falling asleep every moment of the day I suspect I got rid of most of the deficit). Being woken up mid-day by sunshine and twittering birds is a very nice experience, especially when combined with toast, tea and old tv shows.

Maybe I should introduce myself. Ilse, 20, social science major, rhetoric & argumentation minor, obsessed with a bunch of things (among them Italian organized crime and ancient Egypt), fan of (old) films (The Godfather, Casablanca, Dracula, etc.), fan of reading (I must admit I didn't much like the Dracula-novel, though I loved Frankenstein. Prefer to read Oscar Wilde, though. I find his characters' views on a whole bunch of 'civilized' matters hilarious) and a whole bunch of other things that are not interesting for you to know.

Anyway. I am aware that I should probably have spent much more time on studying for some upcoming midterms (yup, still got some of those to go) and trying to find a place to do an internship this summer but sleeping just felt really good.

I did do some other useful things. I cleaned my Koestraat room, which was nice. Cleaning clears my mind as much as it clears my room, so that's always good. I did some studying but not as much as I'd intended to. And I re-watched many old CSI-seasons, something I am inclined to consider some sort of studying as there are many concepts in there that probably work in real life – if I were a science major.

So now it's all back to class again, midterms, homework, studying. Well, at least I sort of caught up on sleep. That's always nice. Now I can afford to lose a whole lot of sleep again.

Ilse is a second year social science student with an interest in law and law enforcement with an interest in many different sorts of media.