Exam Week

(by Maria Godsey)

Exam week has passed and sadly, I miss it! Earlier I mentioned that I planned to be away and wondered if it would turn out to be a positive thing or not. Well… positive it was! During the prep and exam days, there was a different feeling in the air. The students were still busy and had to study, but it was different and in an odd way, more relaxed. They had free reign on how they scheduled themselves, where they studied, how they studied… all this gave lots of opportunities for some face time with them which I didn't expect.

Here are a couple of highlights as I look back at the past week:

- Like I said, the students' schedules were up to them to figure out and for us, this meant saying goodbye to the hectic morning rush for awhile. It was really nice having breakfast as a family again. Unfortunately, we couldn't sleep in due to our wonderful alarm clock named Noah, but our morning pace was a lot slower. Joseph wasn't rushing around the house, gathering his items in between bites of cereal before running out the door. Instead, we actually ate breakfast together. Joseph even got to feed Noah his breakfast which was fun to see. :)

- The weather here was FANTASTIC!!! Sun shining, light breeze… Lausanne is so beautiful with the blossoming flowers, leaves on the trees and clear skies to see the mountains. One day, a bunch of us went to the near-by beach to soak up the sun. Ahhhh... refreshing and relaxing!! Best of all, some of the students joined us as well and studied in the sun!

Leana & Sachi, Noah & Maria, Soujanya, Charlotte, Marieke & Daantje

- Exams completed at 1 PM on Friday and it leant the opportunity to some wonderful family bonding time over the weekend. We decided to go to the nearby vineyards to walk and picnic along the Lavaux Wine Trail. It was so nice to spend this time together! I'm already counting down the days until Easter Break!

View of the vineyards and beautiful Alps!

So as a partner, the exam week wasn't bad at all! Not sure the students would agree with me, but I sure enjoyed it! :) If I had to do it over again, I would definitely stay local during this time period! (*hint, hint* to the future IMD partners!)