This Week In School: Cross Country Race 2011

So another long and tiring Week is finally over, thank heavens. Last Week I suffered through two endurance Tests (one of them being the big Cross Country Race of course), a weird French Breakfast with the school and amongst other things a lecture in front of my entire year. So without further ado, let me begin:

English: I got a lot of recognition last Week for my fake article on 'Muse'. You basically had to make the document look like a fake Blog Post and describe a night you had going to one of the band's concerts with a few of your mates. I leaped at the chance to write it of course, I always feel like my inner-writing talent in this School is wasted on countless grammatically flawed essays in French. Naturally my work got a flawless 20/20 and the Teacher even said that I should be a journalist, so try that on for size. She was so impressed with my article describing 'a night out with Muse' that I was allowed to do my Homework for the remainder of my lesson, which is quite literally the equivalent of winning the lottery right now. Unfortunately I had to hand my precious work of art back to the Teacher so it could be hung up on the wall of my Class, so unfortunately I can't scan it and post it on here for the time being. Oh well. Shame, still my work is up there for all to admire now, not that I'm boasting or anything.

Music: Last Week we studied digital sound mixing, and how new technology has granted us the power to distort, slow-down, speed-up and just all around tamper with everyday music. We kept on hearing the same generic 80's 'disco' music over and over again but each time the Teacher would add in a new effect, like slowing down the song and putting the same sound on an endless loop which just kept droning on and on and on... The new Teach then did some weird synthesizing sh*t with the track and made the bad song even worse. Basically he was trying to show us all the different ways you can experiment with music now by altering them artificially through technology. Interesting (if very painful to the ears) stuff. 

French: You know what? I've counted the amount of Tests we've had in French vs the hours of French without a Test we've had so far, and literally EVERY OTHER LESSON is a bloomin' Test! Last Week saw another one creep up behind me and we all had to write a short story on something that scared us as a child (real or non-real). I wrote something based around Halloween, and when I was young (a fictional 'me' of course) me and a bunch of my friends decided to sneak into a local cemetery and got scared by a creepy looking statue reflected in the moonlight. Naturally my skills were hindered by a limited French vocabulary, and I can only hope for the best. The remainder of the lessons was one big Grammar orgy, which failed to spark any sense of non-boredom in me. No more Rousseau sadly, but the Teacher assured us that by the time this Trimester is over we'll all be sick of him.   

Maths: I enjoyed Maths last Week, mainly because I was so god damned good at it. At one point I was the only one to get a complex Maths calculation right. And if you want an example of these calculations we had to do then take a look at this: A= 78 x 5 x 105 x 8 x 10-7 x 100 x 10-4 . Also my Test from last Week really paid 

                                           108 x 10-5                                   off, earning me a 7,5/10 which (so far) is the only good Maths Test Result I've had! Well a long bloody time coming I say. 

Civic Education: I was the subject of much debate last Week as we mainly focused on nationality and what it means to be a European citizen. My Class all thought I was French for some reason, which to be honest doesn't surprise me one bit seen as just moments before they all thought New Zealand was a part of Europe! This lead to a half-an-hour discussion on how people from other country's can become French and what rights everyone is entitled to ect... To be honest I've found it all a bit dull this Week, hopefully we'll be getting back into World War I soon. And speaking of World War I, my Test from last Week scored an impressive 17/20 (highest in the Class, may I add...). In hindsight I wasn't at all sure on how it would do but I'm relieved with the outcome.    

Science: Because of the Cross Country Race taking up all of Friday afternoon, we only had one hour of Science this Week. We're now studying ions by the way, and how Scientists like to tamper with electrons. It was okay, we were mainly just writing down stuff so it wasn't that intellectually stimulating. Ah yes, and no 'embarrassments' last Week so that's always a plus... 

S.V.T: We're talking about DNA and genes now, and it was a  bit boring despite the Teacher's best efforts at 'waking us up'.  If you're wondering, S.V.T is normally first thing Monday morning, so we can't really be considered awake at this point in time. Heck we could be studying video games and I'd still be asleep!  

Technology: Thank god I understood something last Week! We had to define all the little details that make up our so called 'exiting' project, which ranged from determining the size of the panels to using 'natural' products that won't harm the environment. Again not really anything to with 'Technology' although we do use the computers a lot. We're basing the entire year around putting up panels around the lake and plastering information about different animals/plants  on them.   

D.V.3: Last Week had both Classes in our Year stand-up in front of everybody and present their Diploma's (research was done the Week before remember). And of course I was saved til' last, because we wouldn't want him to go first and have it all done with would they? No, let's just draw it out, save him for last so by the time he actually stands up in front on everyone he's practically crapping his pants in fear! And of course something had to go wrong...as usual. Somehow when I transferred the file from my computer to the main computer the different programs didn't really compute and as a Result my beautiful looking presentation was a scrambled mess of ugliness. Thankfully the Teacher didn't take take into account the presentation, so I didn't lose any points *THANKYOUGOD* We finally got the results from our presentation on the 'MFR' thing-y as well, despite it being nearly a whole month since we did it. I must (correction: my group must) have done well because we all scored 8,5/10.  

German:  We did crap all last Week apart from learn a silly German nursery rime and learn how to say the weather. Another bore-fest I'm afraid, and my Class must have felt the same way too because they couldn't stop talking throughout. The Teacher is still very nice, but she get's into so many arguments with the Class that it reduces the actual time she's spending 'Teaching' by almost 50%. I really don't know why the Class hates her so much, perhaps they like preying on one of the more 'less-strict' Teachers?     

Art: Our objective for the next few lessons was simply entitled 'Define Space'. What the hell does that mean you ask? Well play with the idea of space, basically. To give you an example I drew a stick figure trapped in a comic strip box who found the 'exit' door and just fell out of the square box and onto the comic below, just funny things like that I guess. Of course there are many different ways to represent space in Art, like toying with depth perception (my corridor illusion from the previous Weeks falls nicely into that category) ect... Overall I found it to be a fun lesson and to be honest it was the only thing I actually enjoyed all Week. 

Sport + Breakfast + Cross Country Race: Sport on Monday wasn't as bad as the last time we did endurance, but the temperature was a bit chilly so that would've helped. It's still a gruelling two hours though, and you feel completely wasted by the time you come home for lunch. Still, at least my legs didn't hurt as much this time, I had a hard job thawing them out of ice afterwards though. Friday was a whole other kettle of fish though, with the first hour being a an invite to a 'special' breakfast with the whole College attending and the entire afternoon was basically one big sporting event. For Breakfast I had Apple and Raisin cereal in a bowl of hot milk, an apple, a buttered bit of baguette and a glass of Orange juice so I think I made it out O.K. Some of the stuff on offer though was a bit *YEUCH!*, and most of the Frenchies had black (and I mean BLACK) coffee in their  bowls with cereal mixed in! And they didn't use the spoons a lot, they just sipped from the bowl. The fruit on offer was also a bit WTF?, I mean who has a bloody shrivelled up bit of frozen bat poo for brekkie? Unbelievable some of these French habits. Quite a few of them had plain yoghurt as well, which tastes a bit 'off' for my liking if you're wondering. The Cross Country Race was a nice way of having an afternoon, but I wasn't very fond of that darned 'running' part to be honest. And I might as well just come clean now, YES I FINISHED LAST IN MY YEAR. It's not one of my proudest achievements, but I don't really care. As I pulled my broken legs up this arduous looking hill (for the 2nd time) something in my mind just clicked you know? I came to the sudden realisation that all this effort I was exerting just to trudge up this hill wasn't at all worth the reward. After all, what do I get out of being in 24th place? A Weekend of sore legs, that's what. So basically I relaxed a little and let the few people behind overtake me, and before I knew it I was last! Or before-last anyway, the little git behind me started to run just before I crossed the finished line and beat me to it (this happens every year) so THEN I was officially last. But I don't care, I may have lost a good 5mins just walking but it saved me an entire Weekend of feeling awful just because you overworked your body. And the race wasn't as arduous as last year either, I think it was only about 2000 Meters in all.  

So another Week comes to a very sweaty close, can't say I really enjoyed it. If I'm honest Art was the only thing I really gave a damn about and even then I'm crap at drawing. Oh yes, and my report card should come soon, so hopefully that will be up next Week. Til' next time then...