There are certain things you never think you'll say during a year abroad. Things such as "Oh, I do miss DHT and written exams", but amazingly, this was exactly how I felt last thursday.
In Italy almost all exams are oral, and generally considered a hellish ordeal which can at times involve public interrogations where members of the public can come in and heckle you, if they have nothing better to do with their time. Luckily for my first exam here, I was due an essay/oral exam combo - it was or my english lit course, and I'd had to write a 20page essay discussing feminism in fairytales (yes, exciting stuff I know) which I'd bashed out over the holidays while I was up in Edinburgh. When I got back to Bologna I discovered things wouldn't be as easy as I anticipated - firstly just printing it took 3 days after the copisteria people decided they couldn't be bothered to open the shop, then when I eventually took it to my lecturer's office I got shouted at by the lecturer's evil assistant, and told to get lost. Hmmm.
The "exam" for me was different to that for the italian students - I had to turn up and discuss my essay, so was told not to sign the list to get a slot for the exam. This seemed bizarre, but nevertheless I was there, bright and early on thursday morning. We hung around for an hour before the evil assistant I previously mentioned arrived, and told us the lecturer couldn't be bothered to do the exam that morning, but would possibly do the afternoon ones, if she felt so inclined. I explained to the evil assistant that I was erasmus, so was doing a different exam etc, only for her to look at me blankly, then tell me I'd already done the exam! She barked this at me, then glared at me and flounced off. So I followed her and kept pestering her until she told me to come back in the afternoon and speak to the lecturer, although apparently I shouldn't hold out much hope of being seen.
Duly I returned at 1pm, and settled myself in the corridor outside the lecturer's office. Where I waited for 5 HOURS. It was ridiculous. Eventually the evil assistant came out, seemed furious I was still there and said it was pointless for me to wait and that I should come back on Monday. This entire day having been a complete waste of time, I wasn't in the best frame of mind, although felt somewhat better seeing as even the italians I'd got chatting to were complaining about the ridiculous system too, and generally very sympathetic.
On Monday I turned up again at 9. This time we waited an hour and a half before the lecturer bothered to arrive, at which point I explained myself again and she very offhandedly told me she probably wouldn't have time to see me, but I should hang around on the off chance. By this point I was so angry and fed up, but just had to sit and wait. She saw three other students, then came to get one of the other italians who very sweetly took pity on me and insisted I went first. The exam itself was bizarre, partly in English and partly in Italian, but I managed to get through it.
All went fine until they tried to register my marks on the computer system. It was quite literally a case of "computer says no", at which point the evil assistant (who i now feel is my personal nemesis in life) claims i can't have the credits as I'm apparently not eligible to do the course, and that possibly (at best) I can have 3 credits but no more. This was ridiculous, god knows where she got that idea from but after me explaining every reason why I definately was entitled to the full 9 credits she made numerous phone calls, always snarling "erasmus" under her breath while glaring at me, I got sent outside to wait for another hour before eventually being given my 9 credits. I was very glad it all worked out in the end but it all seemed hugely stressful for no real reason! My next exam is at the end of February, so at least I have time to study, though after this ordeal I am terrified. Watch this space for updates on how that one goes!