Ten minutes before noon today I logged on our University system, trembling from the caffeine, carefully placing my Exam.pdf in the right folder. I took the dog out for a walk and made sure not to return before 12:05. It was too late to do any more last minute changes. Phew!
It was a hard one! I chose the following task: Analyze the most important reasons for the DDR Revolution in November 1989. What happened to the people in the DDR after the fall of the Wall? What options were available to State and Society on the eve of November 9th that year?
I focused my theories around the concept of isolation. The citizens of the DDR, die DDR-Bürger, were isolated economically, internationally, and within (separated from government by force and suppression). I think I made my point more or less clear, but just an hour before deadline, I realized I had written 1 page too many and so started a frenzy of running down unnecessary fluff.
This is what authors know as kill your babies.
In my preparation I had anticipated a political subject, and so I know a lot about post-war politics in Europe. So, I didn’t get exactly what I had anticipated, but I managed to twist fate in my favour. Which is what survival in an unknown language is all about. Bending it to your will.
Anyway, I logged on a few minutes later to download the curriculum copies as a backup, a quarter after the deadline, when I discovered some poor soul’s exam, put in the wrong folder and without the right credentials and templates.. AFAIK this is grounds for failure at the University. Made me sad.
So Lady C took me and Elvis for a walk in the forest, where we totally redeemed ourselves! It’s nice to see some piece of nature that is untouched, even so close to Oslo, a real treat not common among capitals of the world.
Next and last one up – deadline 12th of June – is some adjustments of my Thomas Mann and Franz Kafka assignments, and then I’m off to suffer life somewhere else completely. See ya!