I'd fallen in love with Oxford during my first term, and really couldn't wait to be back, however, my enthusiasm was tempered by Collections and the prospect of Mods. Collections are, in theory, an excellent way to check progress and get exam practice. However, because they hang over you for the whole of the vacation, it's very hard to get a guilt free break from academic work; something essential to your sanity while a student. The eight week terms are extremely intense - one needs to relax during the vacations. In addition, the conditions under which Collections are sat are far from ideal - I sat most of mine in the Hall - which while a beautiful place to eat, is really not designed for sitting exams. There's not enough light, the benches aren't particularly comfortable, there are too many people for the space etc.
Anyway, I survived my Collections - only making one huge error, by failing to read the rubric - something which upset me a lot at the time; obviously it was far better that I made the mistake in the Collection and not Mods, but I really ought to have known better - I'd sat enough exams by then, to know that you *must* read the rubric thoroughly.
We did Constitutional law and the other half of criminal law that term - I really enjoyed constit, because it covered things I'm interested in - like House of Lords reform and devolution in a different way, giving me all kinds of ammunition for arguing those topics with people. The only difficulty with that paper was the sheer amount of reading involved - there was far more to read than there was for criminal law, which itself wasn't insubstantial. Mods had me very worried, unlike most other subjects lawyers take Mods after two terms; we were in a completely different position to the others in our year.
Outside of work, various things were happening; I got my first taste of an email mailing list - set up by Heenal for our year group - the list itself no longer exists, but at the time it was fairly high volume - with twenty to thirty messages each day. I loved it. I'm fairly certain it was in the middle of this term that I featured in the Merton News for the first time - as I recall, it was an article following up on the gossip that had started at the Ball the previous term. That, in itself, shouldn't have been particularly remarkable, but it was for me - I'd been bullied for so long at school, that I wasn't always particularly good at taking jokes, but here was something being printed about me, that wasn't true, and I *didn't* mind - I could see the funny side. The other thing that occurred around this time was a kind of gentle, flattering encouragment to stand for a JCR post the following term. I've always been interested in politics - in all senses of the word, and have always regretted not getting more involved in the Students' Union at QMC. I was therefore quite keen to get involved in Oxford, but still fairly shy and doubtful of my own abilities. There were a couple of things I learnt this term that were essential to my ability to deal with the events of the following terms - firstly that elections do not result in the best person winning, just the person for whom the electorate vote and that Executive Committee posts, at any rate, are demanding.
As is often the case in Oxford, when things start to move they go extremely quickly. Eighth Week consisted of nothing but constant revision, worry and definite lack of sleep. I remember getting about six hours the night before my first two exams, being absolutely petrified as I walked into Schools (indeed, as I recall, I was more afraid then than I was before my first Final), sitting that first exam - where I managed to forget DPP v. Lemon, and then going for lunch. Walking into Hall in sub fusc is a great way to get sympathy - it also saves having to think too much about what to wear, which is a good thing, when your brain is occupied with so much law. After lunch I went back to my criminal revision for half an hour, before realising that it was absolutely pointless and giving up. We sat the criminal paper that afternoon - I don't remember much about it, other than being really annoyed that I didn't know what impecunious meant, and so didn't dare to answer that theft question. Then a group of us decamped to Cafe Boheme (now Merton's Bar and Brasserie) for a (soft) drink and postmortem. I'd booked into Hall for dinner (I didn't have a kitchen in my first year, and knew that I needed to eat properly during exams), I ate, and then did everything I could to avoid going back to my room to work. It's weird, but motivating yourself for that last bit of effort is extremely hard - I was exhausted, but knew I had to keep going. Finishing is *so* close, yet, at the same time a life time away. A couple of days previously I'd seen a motion of no confidence in the JCR VP displayed around College, and hadn't really paid too much attention to it - thinking that it wouldn't get anywhere...When I *did* make it back to my room and checked my email, I saw an email saying that the VP had resigned and that nominations were open - wow, what a think to do to someone who might want to stand, in the middle of her exams. As I recall, I quickly found the Standing Orders, and checked that even if I did want to stand, I didn't need to do anything immediately, because the three day deadline for nominations only counted days in Full Term (It being Thursay of Eighth Week, three days away was Monday of First Week). That should have been the end of it - but David came and we got talking about it, until he did the best thing he could and left me to do some work. I worked, and then slept for four hours - getting up at 6am to carry on working.
By the time it came to sitting that last paper, I was just glad it would all be over so soon - I was certainly counting hours. As you'd expect I don't remember much about the paper. I do remember practically running through Schools to catch up with some of the lawyers who were ahead of me. Walking out of Schools to the cheers of the second and third years who had come to meet us was amazing - in some ways it was even more powerful than finishing Finals. We went to the JCR for sandwiches, wine and beer - our tutors came and joined us for a while, but with characteristic wisdom, realised that the last thing those who have finished Mods want, is to have their tutors around while they celebrate/collapse. I was extraordinarily tired, and distinctly remember lying on the floor of the JCR almost asleep - Hannah roused me and gave me a pint. Soon after that the group disintegrated - a couple of people collapsed into bed or went to meet their boyfriends - but at least five of us embarked upon an afternoon of celebration - we went to the Purple Turtle and spent hours there, together with the third years and some of the second year. At around 5pm we went off to Pizza Express, where a couple of others joined us, and we had a nice meal, accompanied by wine. The we went back to College in time for the bar opening, and spent the evening there. The party didn't end when the bar closed - after having changed my clothes (I was a bit sick of sub fusc by this time) I went off to a house party in North Lodge. Here came more wine - out of mugs, and being sprayed with champagne, and general celebration. Justin, Veronika, Jenny and I started a competition over who could stay awake the longest - I've got no idea *why* that was so important to us, but it seemed vitally important at the time.
I lost, (but not by much). At around 4am, Andrew said 'I'm going to burst the balloons.', and I burst out screaming - I hardly knew what I was doing. It was the combined effect of complete lack of sleep - I'd been up since 6am the previous morning, and hadn't had much sleep the nights before, the effort involved in actually sitting the exams, and to some the extent the alcohol I'd been drinking. I wasn't any more than tipsy - I remained in a tipsy state all day, but combined with everything else, it was enough for me to overreact as I did. I've never liked the noise of bursting balloons, and that was just the final straw. I was taken off for hot chocolate and bed. I distincly remember waking up about four hours later - I was so sleep deprived that my body couldn't catch up - it was several days before I *could* sleep for seven or eight hours again. That Saturday, I turned my attention to standing for VP - I suppose I'd already made up my mind then, because I emailed one of my tutors to ask for permission.
Trinity 2000 - Elections, elections, part one
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