The school was over the 8th, so I had 12 days to study likethereisnotomorrow. The first test was on the 20th of June, no big deal because it was just the essay so you can't really study for it. We had six hours to write our papers, we had the possibility to choose from different drafts to produce either an analysis, an article for a newspaper or a magazine or a proper essay. I chose the text analysis because I think it was really interesting and I knew what to talk about. It was an extract from the book "Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini" by Bassani, all about racism and the beginning of antisemitism in Italy. I honestly liked it so much than the next day I went to the library and bought the book! I was done after four hours and so I left.
The first challenge was over.
Next day there was Math and oh boy this year the School State Department really topped it with the problems. The test consisted in two big problems and 10 quicker and shorter questions, we had to choose one of the two problems and five out of the ten exercises, and do all of this in other six hours.
Ok so after the first hour I was already done with the five exercises and I was struggling trying to figure out which of the two problem was the easiest one. After multiple tries with both of them (another hour passed by) I finally made up my ind and chose the second one, which was about studying a function and integrals. I worked hard for two hours on that, then I put everything in order rewriting it in a good way and I turned in the test five minute before the end.
Math was done too.
After the weekend we did the third and last big written test, one that involves four different subjects (two or three questions each). We had Science, History, English and Computer Science. In this case we had only three hours to get the work done, so it was quicker and less painful than the other tests, but still really challenging.
Results came out on June 30. I got 14/15 in all of them. At that point there was just the oral between me and freedom. I always wished I could pass the first day so I would be done and bye bye. Well my wish came true, I was summoned on July 2, the third of my class, couldn't be happier.
The days before that fateful day were just horrible, anxiety and bipolarity have been my closest friends and I was desperately trying to study EVERYTHING and remember everything. I think I'll always remember that morning so well, the hours I spent waiting outside the hallway for the teachers to call me in, my classmates asking me if I was ready (which honestly, come on, who was and will ever be really ready for that).
Eventually at 1 pm my turn came. I went in the exam room where all the teachers are seated in front of you, and I delivered my fantastic presentation about Anthropocene and Ecology and then I did all the single kinda interviews whit each teacher (everyone asks one or more questions about his/her subject). This whole thing last an hour or so. You can understand how I felt when I was done only if you went through this too, otherwise you just can't. I literally felt relieved of a huge burden that was on my chest and I now know that it's not the exam itself you have to "fear", it's your reaction to it. I did have some other exams before, but this was the first really kinda big and important of my life (yeah big deal).
And I was free. DONE. Done with high school. I shook hands with the president of the commission while a smile bigger than my face appeared from one of my hear to the other. When I walked out my mum dad and sister were waiting for me outside with a camera and champagne to celebrate. We went to lunch at a nice little restaurant in the city center and then I grabbed my backpack and took the first train to Genoa to go celebrate with one of my friends who passed the same day.
This was it, I'm not going to go into details about Italian high school and its rules because I don't have anything nice to say about it, I personally did't like high school in general (of course with some exceptions) and after spending one year abroad (my fourth year) I had a better and clearer picture of it. I'm glad I'm done and I would never go back and do it again. Not a chance.
A big chapter of my life has just ended, there are things I'll never forget about high school and others I'm glad to let go. It's been a hell of an adventure guys.
Now off to the next one!
Quote of the post:
"It is our choices that show what we truly are far more than our abilities."- Albus Dumbledore
