Adventures in finals

[This is a really long and slightly rambling post. Sorry. Read at your own risk.]

Yesterday (Wednesday) was the last day of finals for winter semester.

I had three that I had to take during finals week, all that I could take any time I wanted.

I planned on taking one Friday afternoon after the temple, one Saturday morning, and one Saturday afternoon.

Didn't happen, because I woke up sick on Saturday. I did get the one done of Friday, but I didn't get any done on Saturday.

Sunday, of course, is a day of rest :) plus I was still sick.

Monday I was still too sick.

By Tuesday, I was feeling some better but not well enough to do two finals on the same day. I needed to finish studying, anyways. But I took one of the two that day.

Wednesday around four in the afternoon I decided I was as ready as I was going to be for my last final, and that I might as well go take it.

So I headed to campus. I knew that the line for the testing center would be long, but I had NO IDEA just how long.

There is a reason why it's a bad idea to wait to take a final on the last day. Thank goodness this is my only experience with this, ever. Because it WILL NOT be happening in the fall. You can count on that.

The line wound all the way through the testing center and out and past 3 more buildings.

BIG buildings.

And it was HOT yesterday. At least 80, and very sunny.

This is NOT a good thing when your baby already doesn't let you be on your feet for more than half an hour without getting dizzy and passing out. (No, I'm not anemic, my blood pressure is fine, I eat plenty, I do my best to stay hydrated...nobody knows why but it keeps happening so I deal with it.)

So I stood in that line for about 15 or 20 minutes and got maybe a third of the way from where I was when I started to the building (but I'm sure the line inside the building was at least half as long as the line outside the building). Then this testing center employee starts coming down the line with a list asking people what test they're taking, because some tests had been changed to a different location.

[During finals week, there are THREE separate testing centers. One houses most tests, including the tests for pretty much all upper-level classes. Another houses mainly HUGE freshman-level classes, like American Heritage 100, Biology 100, and Physical Science 100 (among other things). The last is for all religion tests (and there are a lot, because it's a private Church-owned university). But, the religion testing center closes early on the last day of finals, and certain tests from the main testing center are sent there. They do this to make the line shorter and also so that they (the employees) won't be there all night long. As long as you're in line by 9pm, you'll get to take your test, it just might be a while. A couple of years ago the last person didn't finish until about 3am.]

Phew.

So, I had to leave the line that I'd just spent 20 minutes in and go to another building and stand in yet ANOTHER line.

I was in that line for another 20 minutes.

By the time I had been in that line for about 10 minutes, I was feeling pretty dizzy.

By the time I actually got the the front of the line and told them what test I needed, I was about to pass out.

AND THEN. And then they didn't even have a copy of the test I needed available. Apparently they only had a couple of copies of that test and they were all being used.

Fabulous, eh?

And then I promptly passed out.

Of course I was able to communicate this with those around me before I actually did. And I was able to catch myself so I didn't actually hit the floor.

[Is it bad that these are things that I am good at? I've had a lot of practice...]

Well, they were very nice and helped me to a chair and wrote down which test I was waiting for and told me they'd come get me when they had a copy.

FORTY-FIVE MINUTES. That's how long I waited for a copy to be available.

By this time I was so ready to be done that I took the test in about 30 minutes.

100 questions. Multiple choice.

I only got a B, but I say that's PRETTY DARN GOOD considering what I went through to get that test done.