notes from the study dungeon

it is exam time again and I'm momentarily taking a(nother) break from studying... Exams are tough I decided. Even though I have all the information I need to make my study notes, etc. I just seem to lack any motivation, or concentration for that matter. It all seems to be a waste of time - this whole memorising business. Everyone knows that people forget this crammed knowledge as soon as they come out of the exam room - so what's the point? There are obvious positives in doing this course - such as hopefully being able to get a piece of paper and get into a post-grad course to do more study, and perhaps one day (far far far away) be able to work. I know this course was my choice and I am happy I embarked on this journey, but I always get my blues when it's exam time. On the upside, according to my course plan, after this exam period I'll only have two more exams to sit in the next 3 semesters. Assessment for other subjects will be through class work, active participation and homework (ie. essay and report writing)... which is my preferred method. Now I am two exams down (Developmental Psych, and Organisational Psych) and two to go (Theory of Psych. Assessment and Methods of Psych. Assessment)... joy joy joy!

In other news here in Berlin, we've been trying to get back into climbing - now that Jack's finger is better, we're not renovating the flat, we're in Berlin, and we've gotten off our arses to do it (twice now!). Last time we were in the climbing gym a somewhat funny incident occurred. I was about to do a climb and a guy approached Jack telling him that he's using the figure 8 incorrectly. Apparently putting the figure 8 on the carabiner means that it is constantly pulling on its weakest point - over time becoming unsafe and possibly forcing the carabiner to snap (he based this on "new and improved" climbing information that came to light). This didn't go down well with Jack, and the guy got told that we've done it before and that he's better off going away now. Getting home we couldn't find any information to confirm what he's told us, and although figure 8 is not that common, it is not supposed to be unsafe. Regardless, we decided to invest into our safety and purchased a GRIGRI (who comes up with these names?!). It is supposed to be fairly fool proof and is built in such a way that it's automatically supposed to stop a fall... looking forward to trying out this thing tonight.

And last, but most certainly not least - the days have been getting longer and today morning I think must've been one of the most sunny days this year so far. Roofs are covered with a couple of inches of snow and the sun was very intense (almost like in the mountains skiing) - very pretty. I haven't been out of the flat for five days now, so my observations are made purely from looking out the windows.