Highlights from Exam #2

- Exams are way, way less stressful when you know what to expect. For instance, I filled out my test booklets correctly today. I paced myself a little better, so my conclusions might make sense. I nipped off to the bathroom right before the exam so I could use my bathroom break as a reward for finishing my second essay. You know, stuff like that.

- I was all prepped for questions on agency and violence, neither of which were on the exam. Instead, I panicked and answered questions on nationalism and the politicization of history that I was surprisingly proud of, then answered a question on religion where I basically said it didn't exist and hoped Talal Asad would back me up. I don't feel particularly great about that one.

- When I got home, I was digging the change from my misto out of the pocket inside my jacket and found a slip of paper that said "8:40-9:00" on it. I was like, 'where the hell did this come from?' before realizing that it was the slot I drew for my Rhodes interview. It reminded me that maybe I am a capable person with interesting things to say, and also that it's probably time to get that suit dry-cleaned.

- I made a comment about blowing my wad on a halfhearted kinship question yesterday when there were two awesome questions on it on today's exam, and then was very embarrassingly forced to explain the etymology of the phrase to everyone in my kitchen. Between this and 'balls to the walls' (which is surprisingly not at all crude, but has to do with fighter jets), I'm not sure I'm contributing a lot to the slang in this country. (The question yesterday was sort of kinship related, but I was like, '...while that is an interesting question, one might also look at something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT' and then answered my question instead. We were explicitly told not to do this, although I thought it made sense at the time.)

- I washed my shirt, because I only brought one white shirt and I have to wear it to all four exams. I only wear it for three hours at a time with rotating undershirts underneath it, but it still feels horribly wrong to put a shirt on four days in a row. It's washed, and I realized that I should probably not audition for Survivor.