As I mentioned in my previous post my two in person exams are very far apart. That means that although I took my first exam yesterday I'll have to wait more than a week and a half until I'm fully finished. In the meantime I've got a paper to write but I'll start with my exam experience.
Exams at the University of Edinburgh feel more formal than exams at GW. I accidentally arrived only 6 minutes early because of a walk I slightly underestimated (it was in a different building than the class meets in) and an unavoidable pit stop to the bathroom before I left. When I got there the proctor was already beginning instructions (I hadn't missed anything) and 95% of students were in their seat. At this university the exams are not given by the lecturers and their TA's but rather by people totally unaffiliated with the class.
They did try to answer questions for students that had them (going so far as to text the course organizer) but generally recommended that if you were unsure about the wording to a question you should answer a different one (there were 8 prompts from which to write two essays.) Seats are assigned. Being as late as I was I had the misfortune of having to walk almost completely to the front (the test was located was a long and somewhat ornate library) only to find they had directed me to the wrong row.
Eventually I found the desk with my name on it (they provided stickers with identifying information,) only to realize I had forgotten to leave my phone in my bag. I got that sorted out and got comfortable in my seat with plenty of time to spare and filled out the information on the exam booklet. Unlike at GW exams at the University of Edinburgh are graded in a totally anonymous manner; the identifying information we put on the essay booklet is sealed over with a tamper evident adhesive.
Unlike at GW where I have seen (in a large lecture) students arrive 5 minutes after the exam started, everyone was in the room on time. Students were allowed to go to the bathroom throughout the test until the 15 minute mark at which time no one was allowed to move. Exam booklets could not be turned in early and students were (apparently, I'm not 100% certain) required to stay even if they completed it early.
After the time limit was up it was announced that exam conditions would remain in place until the tests were fully collected and counted. This equated to about an extra 3 minutes of silence. In the end we grabbed our stuff and headed out a different stairway than we entered. All in all, the test went well for me, I got the best selection of questions I could have hoped for and felt I had time to fit everything I wanted into my essays
Now that I've got the first test out of the way I've got an essay on anti Imperial struggles due at noon on the 13th and my Spanish final on the 21st. In between those two events I hope to find the time to visit a few museums I haven't been to yet and find some presents for my friends at home. I have little bag space to spare but I'm hoping to find something small and light enough that I don't exceed the weight limit. The biggest struggle for me is that I opted to bring my tripod which, while compact, is relatively weighty. That means that packing without a scale is going to be especially iffy.
In the end I think, if anything, my present will probably end up being socks, but hey, if I get them from the Christmas market at least they've got a cool back story.