I think I may have inadvertently fooled some people into thinking I was finished with the examinations last Friday – afraid
that wasn’t quite the case. My crazy set of exams was finished then, but the final final final one was this morning. I have now officially ended my university career, and am all set to enter the world of reality. Wow!
Come on. You could hardly expect me to finish without showing you the Red Carnation in action. Here it is, sitting contentedly on my lapel, all ready to perform its task. I’ve been through the mill a bit, but the bulk of the achievement falls on the shoulders (or floral equivalent) of these carnations.
The exam today was Middle English Commentary – but, as promised, I shan’t bore you with the pages of Middle English text. Suffice it to say, I recognised where both citations came from, in Pearl and Troilus and Criseyde (not to be confused with Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida, on which I wrote in my first exam) – this was nothing short of a miracle. And then I was the very first person out of the exam hall – very strange, there were three of us from Magdalen out of the building first, and the assembled crowd of 100+ all burst into cheers as we left. Obviously it was at the finalists in general, but it still felt rather exciting.
One of Oxford’s stranger traditions, and one which dates to quite recent times, I think, is ‘trashing’. When one comes out of exams, one is punished for all the moaning one has committed, generally through the liberal application of glitter/flour etc. My friends decided that buckets of lukewarm tea were appropriate… Oh yes, this blogger 
is not privileged to know sophisticates such as himself. But luckily it was a beautiful day for sitting on Magdalen’s lawns, and thinking about the nothing I have to do for a long time.
In the spirit of celebration, alongside a lovely letter from Barbara-from-Ludlow, a jumper arrived in the post today, which I ordered quite a while ago. The design is shown to your left… it amused me.
That T-Shirt remains brilliant. Oh, and congratulations on finishing your exams.
Yes, many congratulations on getting to the end of finals, Simon. How long do you have to wait for results?
Hi Harriet – I think it’s about four-five weeks til results come out – but my mind isn’t going beyond ice cream/book/lawn at the moment!
Well, when you reach ice-cream/ book / lawn / RESULTS, we expect to know immediately, if not even sooner. You must appreciate that this is “The Doves’ Degree”, and we have all chewed our nails up to the elbow for you! I’ve loved reading about your papers, carnations,etc, and hope you have a well earned rest, elegant proboscis between pages……….
Enjoy your well-earned rest! I trust you won’t be taking a break from blogging ?
You look wonderful – what I can see anyway. Congratulations and enjoy a well earned rest.
Congratulations Simon, I feel as I’ve sat the exams too and so perhaps should award myself book-lawn-ice cream too.
Congratulations! That must have been quite a sigh of relief to walk out of the exam. Thanks for sharing your Oxford traditions–too bad you didn’t start blogging at the same time you started Oxford-it would be fun to read about it from the beginning! Enjoy your well deserved break.
Well done..you made it. Takes me back to my own exam answer on TROYLUS AND CRISEYDE.. which I absolutely loved. (The poem, not the answer..) You don`t mention anglo-saxon so presumably you were spared that – I don`t know, youth of today.
SUSAN HILL
Au contraire! Anglo-Saxon was a first year affair, so (mercifully) not part of my final grade – I was rather awful at it.