The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Eight papers and exams down, one more to go! These last few weeks have been incredibly busy, but now I can concentrate all of my energy on my final task: my Revolutionary America final exam. As I've said in previous posts, that class is one of the best that I've taken at Vassar, but also one of the most difficult. I had taken American history in high school, and thought I understood the Revolutionary period. Boy was I wrong. I always knew the baby version of the story: In the mid-eighteenth century, American colonists became increasingly uneasy with British control, and after getting taxed too heavily, they decided they'd be happier splitting ways. So, on July 4, 1776, they declared independence.

Well, after a semester in this Revolutionary America course, pretty much every part of that story-line has been broadened and complicated in my mind. Even the date of independence is different in my head - July 2, 1776 is the actual day that the Continental Congress voted for independence. John Adams, in his writings, even noted that July 2 would be remembered with "illuminations" (i.e. fireworks). Turns out, he was two days off, since (for reasons unclear to Adams) people decided to celebrate the day that the Declaration was voted on, rather than the day that independence was voted on.

Professor Merrell promised us on the first day of class that, at the end of the semester, we would be far more confused about the Revolution than were were at the beginning. He was right. I do love my American history, though, so studying for this exam will not be quite so onerous as my other tasks during finals period have been.

After all the stress of these past few weeks, I needed a little break. Last night, we went to dinner at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). The CIA is conveniently only about 20 minutes from Vassar, and has the most delicious food you've ever tasted. They make buffalo Monterey Jack cheeseburgers that are out of this world. Plus brownie sundays for dessert. Even though the food at the CIA is gourmet-quality, the prices are pretty reasonable, because it's all made by student chefs. We even managed to sweet-talk the waitress into giving us free gazpacho and cookies - and *almost* into giving us free hats.

Alright, back to studying! I have another section of my notes to go through before bedtime...