School's out
02.06.06, 1:44 pm

Dear University of Sheffield,

I would like to say a huge thankyou to you for firstly accepting me despite my rubbish A-Levels, and then for being generally wonderful for the last three years. Yes, it is common knowledge that Biomedical Science (and therefore Neuroscience) is one of the hardest degrees there is to do (shut up, it�s true), and third year did turn me really quite hermity at times with the insane workload. Some of the labs I had to do were horrendous, including all that involved an exercise bike and a Douglas bag in any way, and nobody believed for a moment that that stupid module about food and diet was at all relevant to the course. You completely used us all to run your Open Day for free, Crazy American Psycho made our lives hell at times and none of us can now see a fly without calling it Drosophila in our heads. Which is obviously mistaken, as only a fruit fly can be called that. The fact that I know this means that I now have geeky qualities, and this is also your fault.

It is also common knowledge that Sheffield has too many hills, and that any journey anywhere will involve a trek up at least one mountain. Wearing the right combination of clothes has become a huge skill, as it�s inevitable that you will start off freezing and end up boiling hot. The wind tunnel between the Arts Tower and the library takes the piss, the bus drivers are some of the rudest people I have ever met and we all know that the van behind the Union sells burgers made from rats. Sheffield is home to some truly bigoted old witches, Mingdom is the worst club ever and it rains way too often.

Yet despite all this, my time at University has been the best three years of my life, and I owe it all to you. My housemates and my course friends are some of the most fantastic people in the entire world, I have spent many pleasurable hours lounging around in the Union drinking beer and I now possess actual knowledge about science stuff. And the city of Sheffield is indeed a wondrous and green place, despite being associated with MeadowHell, and has definitely contributed to the amazingness of the last few years, and it�s for this reason that I�m staying here for at least another year. Maybe I�m a little premature writing this now, when I�m really a student until June 10th, but what the hell. You rock, Sheffield University. You have big special place in my heart.

Holly

So yeah, I had my last exam on Wednesday and now it�s all done. It�s not really the end, seeing as the rest of the kids haven�t finished yet and the year doesn�t officially finish until June 10th. This is lucky for both you lot and me, as it means I get to be a student for nine more days and do the student thing (i.e. bum around, drink at random times of the day and generally have no purpose) and you lot get to postpone the inevitable mush and angst that I�ll be spewing forth once Uni finishes.

Sorry, I would have written sooner but people keep making me do things. I should probably talk about my last exam first � I found the Neurodegeneration exam okay (I chose to write about how zebrafish, mice and bastarding Drosophila have helped to study brain diseases, i.e. big yawn) but everyone else seemed to find it really hard, so I dampened down my post-exam response accordingly. It was okay though, because for the Neuroscience people it was the last exam ever, and Paddy and me had a big celebratory hug once I joined him outside the exam hall. Even though there�s nothing I can do about it now, I get a slight sinking, sickening feeling when I think about the exams, because they seem to have all gone quite well and that worries me. It makes me think I maybe haven�t written enough in my essays. What you gonna do though.

Amy gave me, Paddy and B a lift to the Union, and then went off home to revise for her kidney exam that she had the next day. We went off to Interval to meet up with Kul and had Pimms o�clock in the beer garden until we felt a bit sick, although that might have been because I totally gorged myself on nachos. Continuing on with this summary of my movements since I last wrote, Thursday Dave and me went off to the Entertainment Centre (oh yes) and did a cinema marathon. I tried to get some money out of a cash point, as you do, and the machine decided to not give me any money. And then when I went into the cinema and tried to pay for my tickets with my card, the dude behind the counter pointed out that my signature had been completely stripped off. Thanks, cash point of robbing bastardness! And then I got out my driver�s licence to show him proof of signature and the dude totally pissed himself laughing at my photo. Thanks and no need. Dave and me did a two-man poll in Burger King later on though and had to agree; the photo�s appalling and makes me look like a mini goth. And no, you don�t get to see the picture; I still have some pride left.

We saw The Da Vinci Code (god, Audrey Tautou is so gorgeous and I have such a crush on her), Ice Age 2 (hee! Dave agreed under protest and then totally loved it) and finally X-Men 3 (I wish I was Wolverine). Once I got home in the evening I was immediately dragged off to the pub by Michelle and Em, and we ended up doing some pub quiz that was so hard (i.e. averagely hard) we gave up halfway through and doodled all over the paper. Finally, in this briefish summery, I went into town this morning and bought two pairs of jeans and a top, before buying a foot-long Subway on the way home. I have spent so much money already this week, and have decided that it�s best to just remember something Michelle said yesterday after her last exam: �It�s okay, how many times do you finish University in your life?�

Allow me a tiny whine here. They made me go to The Ball last night, which is a pub up in Crookes and consequently at the top of one of Sheffield�s mountains, and Em had to let me lean on her by the end. And then today I walked into town and back and my legs felt like two sledgehammers, and I should�ve got the bus but I didn�t because normally I can walk back just fine and I�m too bloody stubborn. I now feel comatose, and my legs hate me and my left arm�s twitching and trembling from having to carry two carrier bags. Still no referral letter, and if the mystery illness doesn�t get fixed soon I�m actually going to be driven insane. Sometimes I worry that I�m going to wake up one morning and not be able to walk.

Sorry, reat long entry today. I�m now going to go have a sleep, because I can do that kind of thing now my exams are done. I�ve also been shoving Subway in my cake-hole the whole time I�ve been writing this. School�s out forever.

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