End of Term approaches

I don't know how we got here this fast, but we're getting to the end of term. We seem to have three end of terms - Dec 3rd is 'end of lectures', Dec 12th is 'end of term' and by Dec 22nd I have to hand two essays in.

Of course, those nearest and dearest to me latch onto the earlier date, but the reality is that the gaps between those short Cambridge terms are quickly filled with other stuff, especially for those of us who are only here for two years and have to fit lots of non-lecture based training requirements into our holiday slots. I've already had to start thinking about which church I'll spend a month in next summer and where and when I will do a mission trip. The family calendar is getting filled up in advance like never before, and the trick is to reserve family holiday time first! I have no idea when I'll get back to Ferndown - the family Christmas is going to be in Cambridge, and there isn't much time spare.

With end of lectures approaching there's a change of focus as individual subject courses are coming to an end. We've 'done' the New Testament, and by Monday I will have re-read through it all since starting in September - mostly by reading through whole books in a single sitting - you ought to try it. We've covered Church History from 0 to 1000AD, I've learnt the basics of the ancient Greek language in the last nine weeks and I have a formal test on it on Monday - and I've never felt less prepared for a test.

After lectures finish it's time to turn our attention to other areas: First Years have a half day session on Child Protection, and my staircase has a Prayer Day for which we'll be visiting Coventry Cathedral - the new hangout of former Principal of Ridley, Bishop Chris Cocksworth. Also there's an opportunity to find out about a mission trip for next Easter, and an 'end of first term' tutorial with my tutor.

Around all that there's reading to do in preparation for those essays. I have to write one for New Testament, and one for Church History, each of 3000 words (that's about 6 pages of A4). The preference seems to be for you to have read 4 or 5 books in researching each topic - that might sound a lot, but actually you're not reading a book from cover to cover, just skimming through for the relevant bits. The danger of doing this is that you'll mis-read something and get the point wrong.

I handed in a formative essay for New Testament this week and got good informal feedback on my writing style, and we have a Study Skills session coming up to coach us through essay writing, so things aren't looking too bad in the essay department.

However, with the upcoming lack of structure comes the potential to be mightily distracted. My reading is a bit behind to the tune of 3 hours or so, but my new Bible has beautiful tabs marking the location of each book. My laptop is a valuable tool for writing, but also for Facebook, and writing blogs when I could be revising Greek. And there are so many interesting books in the library, but unless I'm writing about those subjects I haven't got time to read them!

Must go - I have to read through Acts of the Apostles in a single sitting before Monday.