July 5-6th--Mad Study Skills

So, not much to report for the past two days, due to our midterm exams. It was a bit stressful to prepare for, as we had spent the previous weekend in Dingle and had full days of classes leading up to the exams. The general atmosphere was very tense, especially since the courses are so compressed and the midterms, though only encompassing two weeks of classes, actually covered a lot of material. I may have had some mild insomnia induced by the Nine Year's War and the implications of the Battle of Kinsale, but I'm happy to say that both exams went fairly well. The format of the exams was pretty intense--we all had to sit in this intimidating hall and leave our bags at the front of the room, had to be escorted to the bathroom, no breaks between tests, etc. The whole thing would have been pretty unpleasant but then I realized that the format was how I'd always imagined the OWL exams in Harry Potter and it was bearable. It was pouring by the time we finished the tests, but we donned our raingear and headed into town to a little cafe for soup and sandwiches. We then went on a successful hunt for ice cream and headed back to our homestays, where I promptly threw on sweatpants and spent the rest of the night watching TV. So... pretty much what I do after exams at home.