Finals Week/Final Week

Thought I’d give a quick update about how my finals week went. Because of the nature of my class schedule, I ended up with a kind of strange finals week. I had one final on Monday night, and then the other four on Tuesday. Because they were so clustered it meant I had to study for all of them at once, and I couldn’t really spread it out.

I started studying about a week and a half in advance—some subjects a bit earlier, some a bit later. But when you only have two tests per semester, you have to cover a lot of ground each time. But before I got too deeply involved in finals, on Thursday I did get to go watch the school’s performance of Les Misérables. It was a really good, especially for a college group singing in their second language. It was really beautiful even though waiting in the cold outside for it to start was a bit taxing.

 The Friday before finals I camped out at the library until 3 a.m. Then I came back to the dorm to keep going until 6 a.m. Not my finest hours, I assure you. But don’t worry, I had some pickled radishes to help me through the studying.

That Saturday we had a farewell lunch with some of our wonderful Korean friends who helped all the new internationals out at orientation. Not all of us internationals and not all of the Korean helpers could make it, but it was really good to spend time with them again. This semester seems to have lasted forever, and yet at the same time it seems like just yesterday we arrived at Handong wide-eyed and clueless. This is the conundrum of time I guess.

I spent the rest of the day procrastinating and then eventually buckling down to study again. That evening I went to buy a few ingredients, then headed out to the faculty apartments with two lovely Chinese friends to do some baking. I ended up acquiring several baking mixes over the semester that needed to be used up, and the faculty family I work for told me I could use their oven when they were out of town that weekend.

We had a great evening baking and then sharing with others. But after we were finished it was back to the grind stone. I only lasted until 5 a.m. Saturday night, but was thankful to make it to church the next morning for my last service here. I really have come to love my church family here, and I will really miss them. What a beautiful church with beautiful people! And the worship was just what I needed for refreshment.

As you can imagine, more studying followed. I met up with two classmates for a study session and we ended up being able to take a car out into the city to find a quiet café with late night hours. We found a nice coffee shop by the ocean. It was actually a very productive evening for me, despite the repetitive Christmas music playing and the inebriated wanderers who strayed in later in the night. We stayed out until almost 3 then headed back. I got about seven hours of sleep this time which was greatly needed.

Monday night I took care of my Korean 1 final which may or may not have a good result. Then I pulled my final grueling night at the library. Tuesday came and found me taking more tests in one day than I ever have before. I feel slightly discouraged about at least two of the tests, but at least I can say they are over and I survived a very long day. Tuesday night I was able to have a really good time relaxing with a lot of good friends and good conversations—a blessed end to a very stressful finals week.

Since then I have been packing, taking care of random things, and spending time with friends as much as possible. I am not looking forward to the long trip home, but I trust God will get me through it somehow. Prayers would be appreciated! More posts to come soon.