September 24, 2000
Hello All,
I just took my first full length test this morning at 10:00. It was over Cell and Molecular Biology and thanks to another Saturday night study session I think it went fine. We have this entire week to schedule tests whenever we want to take them. Some of my classmates say they are going to take exams at 2:00 am in order to have a quiet testing room. But I didn't have any problems taking it during the day. All of our exams are on computer except for the Gross Anatomy practical, Histology practical, and the Histology written. I have put off the Gross Anatomy written (the hardest test) until the last day of the testing week so I will have more time to study. It was tempting to schedule all of my tests at the beginning and have a week of vacation, but I guess I need to be more responsible than that.
We had to have a professionalism committee meeting for the first time this past week (there are three of us in each class and we only meet when there is a problem). It seems that in one of our tests (the Embryology test was available to take the week before our official exams) one of the students took a call on a cell phone and talked for several minutes in the middle of the computer testing center with other students taking their tests! I thought that the honor council might get involved since it seems like an easy way to cheat on an exam, but they said it was our deal. So instead of singling anyone out we made a general reminder about common courtesy regarding cell phones and pagers. Hopefully we won't need to do anything more personal.
Nola and I are official Memphians now; we have been exposed to Memphis crime. I bought Nola some baskets and flowers to hang on our patio and the other day I noticed that they were missing. It turns out they were stolen. I thought it was rather funny that somone would actually go to the trouble of stealing hanging flowers, but Nola failed to catch the humor and she was rather upset. We have to sleep with our patio lights on now. Oh well, if that is the worst that happens I will be relieved.
I hope everything is going well on your end. Thank you for your prayers.
Take care, Brent Reading
