Board Exams Part I

Done and done! The day before, Maja came over and we read over our notes again. Both of us managed to fall asleep on our notes so I think our brains were as full as we could get them (at the last minute anyways). After an alright night's sleep (filled with tossing and turning and dreaming of surfing) the day was here. I woke up with a mixture of emotions. I was hungry, nervous, tired and excited... kind of an awkward combination. Soon after the adrenaline must have kicked in because I felt alright and was ready to tackle the exam. Maja and I made our way to the hotel where the exam was taking place. We didn't talk to one an other but instead listened to our music. Eye of the tiger, Anthem, Float on, Electric feel and a mix of other upbeat songs nearly had me dancing on the skytrain on my way there. I was pumped, ready to do my best with this exam.
The buzz in the lobby was a nervous one. Maja and I spent a couple minutes there then returned outside so be away from all that nervous energy. Strangely enough all the people from UA weren't sitting there with their books open but almost everyone else (there were probably 200 people) was. I met up with a coworker who's also writing the exam and she casually mentioned that she felt she should review Bunnsomething something. Apparently this was something that was very important and that when she went to school, they stressed it heavily (something to do with stages after a stroke). I chuckled and told her that it can't be that important because we never learnt that.
By 9:15 (after signing in and sitting in a room buzzing with energy) it was time to start the two morning exams. Juriceprudence and Clinical Sciences were it. I started with Juriceprudence because I figured it would be the easiest out of the two. I kept calm and wrote myself a good luck note on my scrap paper that almost made me cry (something along the lines of believing in myself and that I am successful in life despite the outcome of this exam). I stayed focused on the exam and tried not to get ahead of myself. With Juriceprudence over, I started on Clinical Sciences. I chuckled and thought of my coworker when I looked a question that asked me about the Bunnsomething something. I educated guessed/eeenie meenie minee moed that one*... but I think that's the only one I did that to. By the end of the exam my tummy was rumbling and I went for a huge lunch at Capers. I felt alright, not worn out but rather excited to try myself at the Sciences exam (after lunch). I wanted to see how my last minute studying paid off. I was proud of myself for studying so much and so hard despite everything that happened.
By 2pm, we started the sciences exam. I tackled it, one question at a time. Some I knew and would circle confidently and others were a little more questionable. Once I got to the endocrine system I actually had to turn over my sheet of paper, rest my face in my hands and take a couple of deep breaths in and out. Stupid endocrine system. By the end of the exam, I felt as if my brain had just thrown up over and over again and when it was done throwing up, it dryheaved until it went into spasm. At least all the information was out but I felt exhausted.
I waited for Maja and we said we'd go for drinks, by the time we'd walked a couple of blocks, we decided we were too exhausted for drinks! We walked, mostly in silence, making a couple grunts or groans to express our tiredness to one an other. We parted ways and I slipped into a book store to buy some non massage related books to read while I was waiting for my facial to start.
Oh... the best part of my day... My facialisicous facial at Skoah! It was awesome. I am so glad I booked it! And a HUGE thanks to Heidi for the gift certificate (which she gave me after her wedding but I saved it for this moment... somethings are worth saving). After spending two and a half years learning about touch, I've become super picky about it. This has made massages and facials a little less enjoyable because I am always paying attention to things like quality of touch, depth of pressure and whether they feel like they know which structures they are working with. But I was darned impressed at Skoah. My esthetician knew what she was doing and I left there feeling relaxed. So relaxed that by the time I came home, I finished the tub of Haagen Dazs and went to bed (and was in bed by 9).
The board exams aren't as bad as they're cracked up to be. They are just freaking exhausting. I'm giving myself two days of no studying then I am going to hit the books again so to be a little bit prepared for my oral practical. I won't ACTUALLY know whether I am going to do the oral practical until the 10th (that's when we get out written results back... if we pass, we do the OP, if we fail... then we don't). And for the famous question of 'how do you think you did?' My answer to that is: I will know on the 10th how I did.
* I found out that I educated guessed/eenie meenie minee moed that one correctly! Woo!