Finals week is upon me! Nothing like Williams, but I've still been stuck inside spending a lot of time studying when all I want to do right now is soak up as much Fiji as possible before heading home (in a little over a week...oh my god). I had my first exam in Physiology this morning. Exams are administered in sports centers (stadiums, gymnasiums, etc.) so you're in a room with about 300 people (at least this was in one of the smaller venues) and you're next to people taking different exams than you. For such a relaxed school, they've got a lot of professors and proxies patrolling the aisles looking out for cheating. One great thing about here is that they've got the finals from the last 3 years for every course at the library, and you just have to pay about a dollar to get them all photocopied. One good thing about academics might save the whole semester? Physio went well, but tomorrow I've got invertebrate biology and Fijian...let's say I'm not looking forward to tomorrow. All of our Fijian tests have been conducted as open book up until this point, so I really haven't learned much other than useless phrases, and now that our final is closed book I'm a bit concerned. I might try to get away for the weekend, and then I've got marine biology on Monday, and then I'm free to go where I please for the last few days here.
I've got a job working with a vet in Brookline this summer, so my procrastination from studying has involved scouring Craigslist for potential subletters whose roommates are least likely to turn my summer into a B-grade horror movie. It's not that fun. I've also been trying to catch as many world cup games as possible, which kind of sucks when you're in the middle of exams and the games are shown at either 11:30 at night, 2:30am or 6:30am. I've been dedicated to watching the US and Germany (uber alles!) as much as possible though, which is keeping me sane. For the really late games we've been restricted to watching grainy broadcasts on our TV that white out every time something interesting happens and during subsequent replays. I'll be back home for the later stages, but it really just won't have the same charm of trying to keep up with things in Fiji. Also since we leave in a week I've resolved to eat everything in my kitchen to leave behind as little as possible, which kind of sucks because all I've had this week are tuna sandwiches and packed noodles. Oh well.
This post sucks, so here's something truly fascinating that will blow your mind:
A fat toad. A cane toad, or boto (although that also means boat) to be exact. These have invaded everywhere in Fiji like they have in Australia and other countries, and the land is pretty much theirs at night when you can't take a step without one hopping away. There were massive ones on Vatulele, and I accidentally kicked one while running 120s a couple of weeks ago. Actually it was more of a punt, since the toad was in mid-air when my boot hit it and sent it flying...the animal loving part of me was very upset, but the biologist part figured I was doing Fiji a favor since these have crowded out a lot of native species. I guess I break even.
No comments:
Post a Comment