School's Out!...well almost....

Finally did my final paper and oral for my Swedish classes today and such a relief! I must say that the 3 written tests and especially the oral test was so difficult! But the last written test I had to do today and the oral were the killers. They really were killers! Even Berit, my D class teacher, commented that the papers this semester are tougher than for other semesters. They seemed to have changed the format a little and upped the level a notch. They got that right. I'll know my final results next week which is the last week of the semester as well. So nervous for that!

Imagine having to learn a whole new language and within 5 months (in my case anyway), my written test requires me to write a letter to a newspaper commenting on someone's opinion that had been published on the opinion page of the newspaper. I don't even do that in English and I'm expected to do it in Swedish?! What the f**k? Had to give my opinions on some guy who wrote that ALL Handphones should be banned cos him encountering people talking on the phone all the time was getting on his nerves. And we had to put in our opinions and talk about the pros and cons of that and whether we agree with the writer.

UGH! Took me almost an hour to make it sound semi decent.

And the ORAL! Oh my goodness!

There I was sitting in the room with Berit, who was informing me of my results for my first 2 written tests (tell you about it later) and how the oral is gonna play out later that day. There are 2 parts to the oral test, one is where the teacher gives me a topic and I have to talk about it. The other part, which is more terrifying to me, is that another student who is also taking the oral test at the same time and I are given a topic and we have to debate about it and hopefully come to a consensus or mutual alternative about the topic.

What??! Debate? Like..what??! Debate??!

I honestly don't do well in debates unless I feel very very strongly for something. You can't just throw me a random topic and expect me to debate about it...in SWEDISH!! And then just as a secondary slap to the wartorn face, I get paired up with some guy who had just come to do the tests and damn was he good. That really threw me off balance and confidence levels plummeted to new lows. Suddenly the mind went blank, words come out in the wrong order, I spoke so slowly it was like a turtle with a broken leg and I basically left the exam room feeling like a moron on Xanax.

So that of cos brought down the whole morale and whatever high spirits I had felt barely an hour before were left broken. But some time later (as they say time heals all wounds) I realise that it was just the Singaporean in me that is making me feel so down and thinking constantly about my idiotic performance on the oral test and refusing to be uplifted by my grand results of the 1st two written tests. I mean how can I let such sick, pathetic expressions of me in Swedish ruin the fact that I had scored an excellent 100% for both my written tests?!

100% procent! My eyes almost popped when Berit showed me the test results. And I still deigned to ask if I could look through my paper just to see. Ha ha! Another idiot moment in action. But what to do when the kancong Singaporean in me bursts out in full colour come exam time. Like I always say, you can take the Singaporean out of Singapore but you can't take the Singapore out of the Singaporean. So of cos I will celebrate that with Mathias this weekend with a nice Chinese buffet and possibly a shopping spree or movie (guess who wants movie and who wants shopping?).

Scoring such results does not make me safe though. Oh no, far from it. In order to graduate, one must pass all 4 sections of the exam. It doesn't matter how high you score for the 1st two written, you HAVE to pass the other 2 in order to graduate. Hai...but I think I will do well enough to pass. But the Singaporean in me (coming round the mountain to bite me in the heiny) wants to get good results for all 4. But I also know that it doesn't really matter. What is important is that I graduate. Uh huh...

As a form of celebration (I think), the school has organised an excursion for the whole school. So all 4 classes are going by boat (YAY!!) to the nearby castle for a tour. After that, we shall take the boat again (YAY! YAY!) to a beautiful little town further south (a place I LURVE to go with Mathias for the grocery shopping and eating...what else?) called Motala.

In Motala, we shall visit the car and radio museum and have a little picnic if we want. Of cos at the word of PICNIC, I come alive so I have planned with a few other girls in my class to cook a couple of dishes so that we can all picnic together since there is a nice lake in Motala as well. Actually that lake is the same lake as in Askersund, just a different shore.

So it will be fun and exciting and since unlike many people in my class who have not done the oral, I have totally finished with ALL my exams so I AM FREE!!!!