“Hold onto hope if you’ve got it
Don’t let it go for nobody
They say that dreaming is free
But I wouldn’t care what it cost me”
- “26,” Paramore
After an eventful Spring Break in Florence, the past week has been comparatively quiet.
On Tuesday, I had my last class of the semester (and, by extension, of my undergraduate degree – whoop!). Final exams begin on June 3rd, so I have a full month to prepare. Between now and then, I have absolutely no plans whatsoever . . . except to study and maybe go on a few picnics.
With no classes to attend, I’ve tried to add some structure to my everyday routine. I like to go running in the morning, and then I study for a couple hours with a huge cup of American-style coffee (espresso just doesn’t cut it).
I’m nervous about the upcoming exams, especially since the finals often count for the entire course grade. In the US, students usually complete various projects or assignments for a percentage of their final grade. It’s possible to fail the final exam and still pass the course. However, in Italy, professors don’t usually give assignments or homework. Student just have to study really, really hard, and hope that they do well on the final exam. Essentially, a “B” on the exam would be a “B” in the class.
For someone who’s accustomed to having ample opportunities to prove herself, this “Hail-Mary” approach is absolutely terrifying. It’s the final quarter, the clock is ticking, she tosses the ball and it spins through the air across the field, the crowd holds its breath . . .
I’m hoping for a touchdown here, but I’m studying like crazy just in case. The Italian grading scale is very unforgiving – to earn an “A,” I need to score either a 29 or a 30 on my exams.
And the scale is out of 30 points.
So, basically, I’m studying like crazy an absolute maniac. The gigantic American-style coffee really helps here. Espresso just doesn’t cut it -- I don’t care how cute it is.
But, it wouldn’t be fair to just study all the time. I’ve also had some fun this week!
On Friday, I went to my friend’s 20th birthday party -- a few of us got together, played games, and then enjoyed some cake (which I helped to decorate!).
There’s a lot of hope in birthdays, I think. As we blow out the candles, we hope for another successful year. We hope that time has made us wiser, and we hope that we can fight through the challenges ahead.
In addition to celebrating a little, I also helped the planet this week. Yesterday, I went to Pesaro with a group of other study abroad students and helped to clean up the beach. We picked up litter and other bits of trash that were lodged in the sand. We found lots of cigarette butts, a wine bottle, and some abandoned lounge chairs. All obvious signs that we were in Italy.
Before heading back to Urbino, we played a few rounds of beach volleyball. Thankfully, my volleyball skills are much better than my basketball skills, so I didn’t embarrass myself too much.
The whole event was coordinated by ESN, a program that helps Erasmus and other foreign students connect with their communities. Although I am an incorrigible introvert, the trip was a great opportunity to meet new people. On the ride back to the university, I shared a car with a Russian, a Spaniard, an Italian, and a French person. That doesn’t happen every day, so I felt very lucky to be there!
And, of course, cleaning the beach gave me a small sense of hope. Sometimes it seems like our planet has so many problems and that things are just getting worse. With sea-level rise, droughts, record-breaking temperatures, and a plethora of other horrifying disasters . . . it’s easy to feel a little overwhelmed – a little out of control. So, it was nice to take matters into my own hands yesterday (even if it was just in a small way), and to do something nice for the planet.
I think that hope revolves around possibility – the possibility that good things will happen, that we’ll be stronger, that life will be better. Of course, things don’t always go as we hope, but sometimes that’s okay. We can usually try again and hope that things will go better next time.
