Happy New Year!

Dear readers,

I apologize for not having written in SO long! The last part of last semester turned into a hectic frenzy of studying and some surprises. I cannot update you in full detail as to everything that happened since I last updated (partially because my detailed recollection of events is limited and partially because it would take too long), but there are several little tidbits I thought I'd fill you in on before starting back up for this coming semester.
First of all, November flew by with a significant number of post-midterm and pre-final-exams celebrations. These included a few outings to the clubs and pubs of London, a house-party, a house-gathering, and I even hosted gathering of my own at my apartment, where we lit a fire and talked and hung out and roasted some marshmallows.
Zina helped me prepare for the party and we decided to make a Betty Crocker cake. Unfortunately I only have one 8" pie pan to use for baking, and the cake-mix box makes enough batter for two such pans, so we poured half the batter into my pie pan, and we poured the other half into a completely metallic little saucepan that I have, and we put both of them in the oven. My guests arrived shortly before the cakes were ready. Somehow the pie-pan one cooked more quickly than the other one. When the saucepan cake was ready, I took it out carefully with oven mitts but then a couple of minutes later I wasn't thinking and I grabbed the saucepan's handle as I regularly would (when it hadn't just come out of the oven) and I burned my right hand. I was able to alleviate the pain temporarily by running my hand under the tap or holding ice to it in a towel, but as soon as my hand started warming up again the pain began to ignite again, and it felt as though I'd just burned it all over again. After about an hour and a half of my whimpering and whining, and after having taken two Advil and lotioned my hand with Polysporin (neither of which were helping much), one of my invitees insisted on going to the drug store before it closed and finding me something to help my poor hand. He left with Zina because she'd brought her vehicle and Loblaw's (the closest store having a pharmaceuticals selection) was about to close in about 15 minutes. They brought me back this bottle of green "Medicated Lidocaine Gel" called, "Solarcaine." It worked like a charm. I covered my hand in green goop and it started soothing and cooling. I kept having to reapply as the night went on, but the next day when I woke up, my hand was out of pain! Yay! So that is my brief word-of-mouth (word-of-fingers may be more appropriate a term in this case) advertisement for Solarcaine.

Up until the end of November, there had been not even a glimpse of snow in London. I was starting to come to terms with the fact that I might be leaving to go back to Victoria before the first snowfall in London. It had even already snowed in Victoria in November! But come December 1st, it snowed. It didn't stick that day, but it snowed. Then it snowed every day after that that I remember.
Our first final exam was to be held Friday December 10th, and we were supposed to have classes that week, Monday through Wednesday. On Monday (the 6th of December) it took me forty-five minutes to get to school (it usually takes me 20 minutes if I walk) because the weather was so bad that traffic was a continuous slow crawl and I couldn't cross the road without a light as I usually can (shh! Don't tell about my jay-walking)... so I missed two busses that come within two minutes of each other. It was so cold and windy and snowy that I didn't want to risk walking. The other problem was that the snow had accumulated a lot over night and there hadn't been much of a chance for the city's plows to clear out the roads or the sidewalks, so I wasn't sure how I'd deal with walking to school, as at this point I didn't have snow boots, only some leather rain-boots... My feet were very cold even just waiting for the bus. I went to the sheltered bus stop by my apartment buildings and waited and waited and waited. There was a delay or something, I'm sure. Then the bus was packed and wet and everyone was saying, "I don't understand how today isn't a Snow Day at Western!" Well I finally made it and fortunately I'd left early enough to make it to my first class, Math, on time. During Math class (10:00-11:30am), the university sent an email declaring the rest of the day as a "Snow Day," that is, classes were cancelled for the rest of the day. Excitement and thankfulness swooped through all of us as we started making plans to get back home in the snow. The busstops filled with students, and taxis started arriving like ants to take advantage of the situation and collect the overflowing mounds of student-crumbs that were fleeing the buildings around campus. Line-ups for the busses were so long and wide that it became almost impossible to get across the sidewalk.
Little by little we each managed to get home safely and soundly -after having frolicked a while in the feet-deep snow, of course. And then everyone half-studied and wished earnestly that we wouldn't have school the next day. All us first years were at this point extraordinarily exhausted from the entire semester, weighed down by the stress of the upcoming final exam period, and feeling completely saturated with information. But last time I'd hoped for a day off was before the Microeconomics midterm when there was the possibility of a strike. Then no strike happened. This time it was just before the Microeconomics final exam so I didn't let myself get my hopes up, nevertheless, I silently wished the snow would keep falling and accumulating... and when I woke up the next day, my eyes were only half-open when I yanked my blankets off and threw my body across my room to grab my laptop and check my email for updates on what UWO would do regarding the weather. Hallelujah! The University was declared closed. All classes were "cancelled due to weather conditions". When we checked the Internet for weather forecasts, it said, "WARNING-- Snow squalls in London..." So yay! A whole day off! The snow was at least three feet high at this point, and it still wasn't stopping! It was literally a winter wonderland and I was thanking my lucky stars... Then, about half-way through that day (Tuesday the 7th of December), there was notice that the London Transit Centre (the bus services in London) were to be shut down, again due to the weather conditions. They were shut down from around 3pm that day and made notice that they would not be running the following day, Wednesday, either. Subsequently, UWO announced that it, too, would be closed for Wednesday. Wednesday was supposed to be the last day of classes, so Hallelujah! We finished a whole two and a half days earlier than anticipated! What a glorious day that was. I wish I could have told you that I spent those extra days off studying feverishly and that I took full advantage of additional study time, but the truth is that I was so worn down and deflated from the previous 3.5 months (remember I started review classes in August), that having a couple of days of a breather and some procrastination was inevitable. I did study, but not as much or as hard as I would have liked.
Then, exams happened. It wasn't a great streak of exams for me, but I survived. In particular I didn't do any worse than the average. The worst of the exams was Macroeconomics. We worked hard and studied previous final exams, but when our exam came around, it was completely different than past exams (with the exception of about 30%), and much more difficult, too. We were tested on material we hadn't even had assignments on, and there were about 617 slides to review (I can't remember the exact number, but we counted)... Unbelievable.
Anyhow, that's all over now and since I now have my marks back I know I survived without too badly of a scratch.
The last final is also something worth mentioning. We had about three days between our second-to-last final and our last final. The last final exam was Econometrics. Three days to study for that one and that one alone was more than we'd had for any other exam (besides the first one, Microeconomics, due to those three snow days). Everything since the midterm for that course had come in such a blur and at such a speed that we were all very much behind and very lost when we began to study for the final. Somehow, though, having felt so unsatisfied with the way the past finals had passed and with Econometrics being my best and favourite subject, I managed to step it up and focus and study appropriately. Still, there was a significant amount of material and we had little reference because there was not much of a hint as to what would be important vs. non-important to know for the final exam, and the professors notes were sometimes a bit unclear, so we had to push through over 200 pages and 4 chapters of text-book (which was sometimes also unclear) to get a better understanding of what had happened since the midterm. Whereas for other subjects I studied sometimes with a group, Econometrics I decided to study almost exclusively on my own. When the final exam came, it was supposed to be two hours long, beginning at 10am. The exam was somewhat surprising in its content. Whereas on the previous final exam (which we had studied) and previous assignments there had been a great focus on one subject in particular, this exam had not a single question on that subject (limiting characteristics). Also, we had all bet that one particular chapter would not be tested (or at least not tested heavily) on that exam because we had covered only one side of one page of notes on that chapter, but we were wrong. That chapter made up 25% of our exam (although it was a generalization of another chapter). Anyway, I don't want to get too into it, but it was surprising... So there we were, scratching our way through the answer-booklets to try and get through the exam when the fire alarm went off. We all stopped, looked around at each other almost chuckling. Someone suggested we keep writing, so we did. We weren't being invigilated because our professor told us, "You are graduate students, you're not going to cheat, so I don't need to watch over you..." We kept writing for a couple of minutes, until the professor came back and told us perhaps we should clear out. We all crowded out of the building and went outside to the snow, some of us carrying our books, etc. We were told not to discuss the exam while we were outside - in the snow, might I add, though it was not snowing at the time. We were out there for about 15-20min. with only the final exam on our minds. I'm not going to tell you that we did mention the exam, but I'm not going to tell you that we didn't, either. Another unbelievable exam! When we went back in we were given extra time - thank goodness! I still don't know how well I did on that exam, but judging by my final grade I guess I wasn't too far off.
And that was it! The end of semester 1! I went back to Victoria a couple days later. It was so wonderful to get back. When I got off the airplane it was sunny with blue skies and +12 degree weather! I'd been coming from -13 degree weather so for that first day I walked around in short sleeves and a scarf outside. The best part, of course, was seeing my dear family and in particular my little sister whom I always miss while being out here in London. I only had ten days to be back home, but they were lovely and revealing to me. As much as I missed Victoria out here - especially towards the end of December, when I was back at my old home, I missed my London home. I missed the extra space and quietness and ownership I felt for my apartment. I missed the lack of things crowding out my rooms, and I missed the snow - though it was a treat to see the ground and green grass again. Moreover, after having spent a week in Victoria, I started to feel that yearning to fly away from there. I don't know why. I still enjoy Victoria a lot. Definitely it is much more romantic a city than London, with its Ocean and its Mounts and its mountains-on-the-horizon picturesqueness, its natural beauty and its secluded havens. Also with its old-and-new downtown, its uniqueness of shops and alleys, its Solstice Café organic hot chocolate with almond milk (which, of course, I indulged in and it soothed my soul). But it is not where I need to be right now, and it is all too familiar, all too known, unsurprising, and thus... unstimulating to me. It is my old, gold friend, and in my greenness I am following my desire to explore a different friendship...

And now I'm back in London, and though I miss my Victoria-bound family and friends, I am feeling home. This semester's courses begin tomorrow. This past week we had different faculty professors come to talk to us about their research. We are to choose one of these professors to work with over the course of this semester, and we are to prepare a research proposal and give a presentation at the end (ah!) No homework this week, though. After classes has been a series of going out with my friends, celebrating, catching up, and socializing. It's been slightly tiring because I've still been getting back to this timezone, but it's been exciting and lovely to be back. My Visa bill isn't going to be pretty this month, but well worth the past month's fun and activities.
And I guess that's where we're at now. I'm trying to bring back the blogging for 2011! Thanks for reading and thank you for your patience with me during my burnout of last month.
Happy New Year, everyone!
~Selina