remember, remember, the fifth of november

I finished my last exam ever on Monday! What a feeling... I finished it early but stayed to the end, just to get the "pens down" (or rather, "finish your sentence") moment for the last time. 'Twas an odd experience. Not all that exciting somehow, like it was hard to convince myself that THIS was the end. Partly I guess because it already felt like I was finished, after the thesis, and the essays, and everything. So many small endings. Now I am officially on holidays, although it doesn't really feel like it, since I've been working every day and trying to actually get wedding stuff done.
But Monday was good. After the exam I headed to Manning bar with Sam, where we ate chips, I drank coke and we did the crossword. All in good uni tradition. Ok, I had one beer. But only one. Drinking beer then heading off to look at reception venues with a bag still loaded down with uni stuff is fun. Makes you reflect on life, y'know? The afternoon was pretty hectic, although it did involve some awesome burritos, and Andrew and I went to an Old English Reading Group end of exams party around 2 hours late. It was great though. An interesting bunch of people, ex- and current Old and Middle English professors (or teachers of various sorts) as well as students and hangers on. Somehow Andrew managed to get into a conversion which ended with everyone telling us that he and the groomsmen should wear top hats at the wedding, or that he should wear a purple suit, or something... There was a token American telling everyone how great the new Bruce Springsteen album is. The people were friendly and just a little bit eccentric, in short it was how I always imagined parties should be, and I feel a better person for having gone. Oh, and there were sparklers, in honour of Guy Fawkes day. I (kind of) locked myself in the bathroom, but it turned out alright, as a friendly passer-by helped me get out. And that was the end of that day, and the start of the holidays proper, or, the Rest of My Life, or, The Real World. I prefer the first option.

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