I’m done with finals. My first one was a few weeks ago (Soviet/Russian Foreign Policy), and my last two – Politics and Policy of Russia and the Post Soviet States and Russian Sociology – were yesterday. I think I passed.

Taking exams here is a very weird process. I’m used to GW, where you show up to your classroom, the professor hands you a blue book, the questions, and you write for two hours. Occasionally, the professor might give the class an extra 10 minutes or so if people were still working on the exam after the two hours had passed. Basically, it’s the complete opposite at LSE. Here, you are assigned a classroom and desk number that you will be taking the test at…and it is not just your class that is taking an exam in that room…usually the classroom is filled with students from two or three other courses. I feel like I’m at some test factory. Also, the professor doesn’t give you the exam, instead it is given to you by a team of two or three proctors who are there to hand you additional books, escort you to the restroom, and check your student ID to make sure you haven’t sent someone to take the exam for you. Now, personally I wouldn’t really trust anyone to take these exams for me, unless maybe it was Mikhail Gorbachev (”Soooo Misha, how about answering this question on how your policies led to the collapse of the Soviet Union? Thaaaanks!”) or Vladimir Putin. No, on second thought, I wouldn’t want Putin to take the test for me…I don’t think my professors would like his essay on why Chechnya has become such a violent and protracted conflict.
Anyways, it’s a huge relief to be done with these exams. I’ve never studied so much before in my entire life…weeks and weeks of studying. Oh, and my hand is going to fall off thanks to yesterday’s exams…six hours of constant writing is madness. Afterwards, we of course went to the Three Tuns for a few pints. Victory at last!

I’ve also decided that I’m not going to visit the library for at least a week. I’ve had enough of that place. The library is pretty cool looking…modernish type architecture and what not, but it’s not a great place to study or do research. A few days ago I was minding my own business, reading about Uzbekistan or something, when this girl a few tables away started singing along with whatever song she was listening to on her iPod! Yes, SINGING! A horrible pop song! At the top of her voice! Now, I understand that sometimes you have this urge to burst into song…it happens to me, usually when I’m riding the Tube and listening to the Clash (”Shareeeef don’t like it, rockin’ the Casbah, rock the Casbah!”) however, realizing that I am in a public place, I somehow manage to restrain myself. But a library? I mean come on, are you that into your supply and demand graphs that you don’t realize you are singing some horrible pop song at the top of your voice?

Also, due to exams, the library is now open 24 hours a day, so some people have effectively MOVED INTO THE LIBRARY! There are two girls on the third floor who have taken over a table with all their notebooks, notes, books, cookies, Red Bull, etc. And they are there practically all the time, and when they aren’t all their stuff is just sitting there. RIDICULOUS! Those hardcore studiers stress me out. I take one glance at their study “cocoon” that they have built over the month and think to myself, “OH MY GOD, should I have staked out some territory in the library and stocked it full of goldfish crackers and diet lime Coke??? Should I be doing nothing but living here, perhaps venturing out only to sleep and shower? Why did I spend so much time at that pub last night??? AHHHHHH!”

But whatever, I’m done, so now it’s time to do a bit of relaxing. Oh, and clean my messy room:

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