Well its hard to believe that the first semester of the final year of my degree is over and that by the end of May I will be finished with it for good. As I stated in The many returns this year hasn't been as enjoyable as the previous two, with an increase in work load and not seeing my friends as much as I would like. I finished my first semester exams a couple of days ago and I think they went ok but it's always hard to tell especially with exams solely consisting of essay questions. It was quite good that I only had two since I only had two taught modules this semester as well and the fact that they were so spread out was good as well because it meant I had more time to revise. That said the extended period of revision is tough especially with the added pressure that comes with the final year and I'm definitely glad to be finished even if I only get less than a full week before having to start the second semester.
I'm a bit nervous about this upcoming semester, while I'm sure the behavioural ecology and sociobiology module will be interesting I'm rather dreading the marine processes module. Unfortunately I am forced to do this module due to the limited choices in second semester modules, when it came down to it I effectively had three choices and I had to pick two and one of them required me to do a specific module in the first semester which I didn't want to do as I had already chosen two modules that I really wanted to do in first semester. There is also the aspect that this is the end of my degree and that I will have to work hard without the cushion of having further years to boost my marks if anything goes wrong. As well as the final exams of my degree and whatever work we are assigned for the two modules there is also the honours project which I will have to finish the practical work for, complete a rather large report on as well as do a ten minute presentation in front of lecturers and fellow students without notes on it. The presentation is hard enough for most people, but I have the added worry of whether or not people understand me.
With the end of my degree coming it's getting to a point where I will have to make some major decisions about my future. I will have to decide what I want to do next, do I want to do a masters then maybe a PhD or skip the masters and just do a PhD, do I want to look for a job or maybe it might be I decide to take some time out. This is also the first time that I've had a potential long free stretch ahead in which if I decided to have surgery and that's a very big if then I could do that without disrupting my education.
Overall I have lots to think about and lots to do and while I'm sure 2013 will be challenging I'm sure it will also be rewarding.
Thanks for reading and sorry for the lack of updates.
