FINISHED!
I don't think 5 weeks have ever passed so quickly.
Monday was our last day of actual lesson and she presented us with our oral presentation topic. It was actually a really cool set up. The class was divided into two teams, the defense and the crown, and every person was assigned a role as either a judge (3 people), witness (9 people including the doctor who performs the autopsy, the police investigator of the crime scene, the neighbor, concierge, two secret witnesses, the best friend, a bar employee, and the person who discovers the body), the accused (1 people), or a lawyer (8 people). In its own way, it was a brilliant idea for an oral examination; not only did it allow us to practice material as we memorized our stories and learned new vocabulary, but on the day of the presentation, a lot of improvisation was required. By doing this, each student had a chance to really shine if they put the time into it or if they were naturally good speakers by nature.
I was assigned to be a witness and thankfully got a really easy role. As the doctor who performed the autopsy on the victim, I had no story to keep straight and merely had to answer questions relative to the facts that I was given for my character. It was probably pretty strange for Steven though. I used him as my consultant the night before and he got a handful of texts asking about being stabbed in the lung without being given a context. In my role I was a member of the defense.
All day Tuesday was devoted to preparing our final oral examination in our teams and it took us the whole 3.5 hours. The twist in the case is that each team has a secret witness that they get to create the story for and that doesn't get revealed to the opposing team until the witness is on the stand. It was actually more difficult than expected to create a story that didn't clash with the statements of all the other witnesses while creating a plausible alibi for the accused.
All class Wednesday was the court case itself. I'm pleased to say that the defense got the accused off by establishing a lack of distinctive evidence and a lack of valid crown witnesses. We got pretty lucky though. One of the crown's witnesses did an absolutely abysmal job of his story; it was as if he didn't read over his statement at all and decided to freelance it. Oh man did it blow up in his face. His team was of course pretty choked and tried to recover but the damage was done. What was particularly interesting though was the comment our teacher made. I guess every year she has a problem with people getting disrespectful with each other (one year someone even stormed out and slammed the door) but this was the first year that both teams kept it together. Kind of a compliment but hard to imagine how worked up some people can get over fiction! Mind you, it is fiction that is worth 20% of your grade... it is a little understandable that if someone is making you look bad you'd be upset.
Thursday was a double exam day. We had our course exam in the morning and the program post-test in the afternoon. As far as the morning exam went I was surprised by how easy the grammar section was and was surprised by the vocabulary and expressions. Especially because I studied in inverse and felt really well prepped for the vocab/expressions and was ready to accept my fate with the grammar. For the second exam, it is for the program to perform comparative analysis of our progress, hence it was the same exam as the placement test. It was kind of neat to the see the test again and recognize and be able to apply the concepts we've been learning. At the same time it was difficult because now that you're aware of the concepts, you're aware of how you don't know them as thoroughly as you would like. Regardless, it was relatively short (1 hour) and relatively painless. And that's it! Courses finished and credit transfer applied for.
Last night they actually held a little certificate ceremony (they called it a diploma ceremony but let's be real... they were participation certificates at best) for the students. Everyone dressed up nice and got called up on stage individually to be given the certificate by the program director. It was a nice touch and a little tedious as any of those ceremonies are but it was nice to sit together as a class one last time. And then of course, with it being the last night, people went out, partied, stayed up fairly late, and of course regret it today. I'm feeling my 3 am bed time right about now but am looking forward to the nap I can take on the bus from TR to Montreal at 12:30 pm.
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| Group S - looking fancy at the diploma ceremony |
This morning has been spent finishing packing and cleaning in preparation for our departure inspection and deposit return. Wish me luck on getting back to Calgary. When I flew here the gate attendant let the fact that my bag was 9 lbs overweight slide but now I'm sweating it out thinking that my next check-in won't be so lenient. I've managed to whittle down the weight be a couple pounds but not nearly enough. Fingers crossed that Ryan as some extra room and can help me out!
See you soon!
Jacqueline
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