By Darren Casserly
With the semester coming to an end and exams unfortunately around the corner, it seems like a great time to distract ourselves with Christmas. I like Christmas, but I’m not the kind of person who’ll put up their tree right after Halloween. Even now it feels strange writing this in early November but it’s the last issue before Christmas, and everyone loves the festive season.
We’re halfway through November now and you know what that means, nothing but Christmas songs playing on the loudspeakers in every store in the country. This is the one thing about Christmas that really annoys me. The worst part about it is that the vast majority of the songs are horrible cash grabs or bad covers of good songs, and I’m sick of nearly all of them by the time December comes around. Other than some of the music, Christmas really is one of the best times of the year.
It was also announced that the charity fundraiser Christmas day was cancelled officially. I have a feeling it will however go the way of RAG week and nothing will change, except the university cleaning their hands of it. It’s just a pity that it’s the charities that lose out on it just because a few people went overboard, but I suppose what do you expect when you mix college students and a lot of drink.
Unfortunately, we have the small matter of exams to deal with before we can think about all the best parts of Christmas and going out. Exams are the worst part of being a student, all the stress and the hours spent trying to learn an entire semester’s work in a week. Also, the fact that it’s dark by five o’clock doesn’t help anyone’s mood.
College exams will be a new experience for me. Essay writing is what most exams will be based on and it has been challenging trying to completely change my writing for college. Learning referencing is one of the biggest differences. Why does every subject use a different referencing system? I’m pretty sure they are trying to confuse us.
Lectures the last week have been especially annoying, talking about exam preparation when you still have five assignments left to do. It was ironic that one of my lecturers told us that we should find time to hang out with our friends, and not to get isolated, when it is them that’s telling us how hard we have to work for these exams. I prefer to think about after the exams, and my few weeks off for the first time since September.
If you really what to look at the bright side, its only three or four exams for most people and it will fly by. It’s also good to remember regardless of the result, it’s not the end of the world and enjoy life, it’s not that long we have to be students, so good luck and Happy Christmas.
