So, last Friday the stars aligned in such a way that I had three midterms and an application due all on the same day. Here's how it went:

MIDTERM 1: Medieval History. I showed up on time (for once. Usually I'm about a minute and a half late; don't ask me why) at 9:40 AM with a sort of nobly fatalistic expression on my face, ready for a massacre. The study guide listed about 30 dates to memorize, 100 names and terms to know, 20-something primary source documents to identify by author, title and time period, and 40 geographical locations we would have to label on a map. I have problems with both dates and geography, and by the end of the previous night's studying I had still been guessing that events took place centuries before or after they actually did and mixing up my rivers, so I was expecting to have to leave those sections of the test almost completely blank. However! Fate was kind to me, and the test was much easier than I had been expecting – the names and terms were fill-in-the-blank, the map didn't ask for all the locations, and I knew enough of the dates that I think I did all right. I passed it in feeling like I probably did decently.

MIDTERM 2: French. Turns out this was the one I should have worried about. We had to answer several rather difficult analysis questions about poems and passages, such as "What is the purpose of the narrator's interjections throughout 'Eugénie de Franval'?" in 1-2 succinct sentences, in French. Personally, when I write in French, it involves a lot of beating around the bush, and takes me a rather long time to say anything, since I don't know the precise expressions for things. I ended up writing fairly long sentences in very small print, and somehow still finishing weirdly early, at least 5 or 10 minutes before anyone else. The professor asked me if I'd read everything over carefully (I had). Hmm. Wish me luck when I get this one back.

MIDTERM 3: Social Welfare. This was an in-class essay where we had to take a stand on a true-or-false question posed to us. I found it relatively easy, but it was another one where I finished early and wasn't sure I had done enough.

And all throughout the day, between midterms, I had been working on an application to go on the Career Center Scholars program in Los Angeles this winter, where I would get to meet people in the film industry and find out about possible careers. I only found out about this program the day before the application was due, so I was rushing like crazy all day to get my app in on time (5:30 PM). This term, I've suddenly realized that I love directing more than anything I've ever done, and I definitely want to pursue it as a career, so I hope this works out.

In conclusion: if you come to Carleton, hope that your midterms are on different days. Also, eat at Basil's Pizza sometime, instead of ordering delivery – the pizza is like 200% gooier and more awesome when you eat it fresh out of the oven. That's all the advice I have for today.