Week Seven.  Far enough into the term that you feel like you should really know what you’re doing, not far enough that you actually do, and the holidays still distant weeks away.  Tensions have been running quite high as the reality of the work ahead, heretofore avoided or qualified with a comforting ‘formative’ (unassessed), begins to set in.  Phrases like ‘summative’ and ‘35% of your final mark’ have begun to hang heavily in the campus air.

I had a bit of a rough week this week, as a combination of circumstances conspired to leave me feeling exhausted, upset, and nervous as the week drew to a close.  I’ve addressed the first problem by sleeping – quite a lot, in fact – this weekend.  I’ve addressed the second by planning various outings with friends, and visited the British museum and a rather wonderful Korean barbeque joint this afternoon.  And I’ve addressed the third by going to get a haircut.  (I’ll admit it’s not a direct connection, but it was necessary.)

There’s a great quote by the American baseball legend Tyrus Raymond Cobb, known to his friend as Ty and his enemies as “that bastard”, that baseball is “something like a war”: long periods of boredom interspersed with moments of tense action.  While I am by no means suggesting that the LSE is routinely boring (sacré bleu!), the nature of assessment – which tends to come in chunks, especially at the end of the year – means that weeks go by in which the only thing you’re required to do is a bit of reading.  And then suddenly, an exam appears worth 100% of your grade.  Or a presentation, worth 35% of your final mark, arrives on your doorstep in week 7.  The moment is elevated, and the mood tightened.

It’s the time of the season: the tension goes up as the mulled wine finds its way into pubs across London.  Soon, Remembrance poppies will be replaced by cheery wreaths and sparkling lights, as London turns its attention to the holiday season.  That time is not quite yet.  We’re almost there …

*All those who laughed at the picture at the top of this post have spent many hours, real or imagined, in the 1960’s.