The Exam Chronicles:

Ok girls, just a 'little' post to tell you that I'm done with high school. Considering that you've been so patient to bear my Maturità talks during the last few weeks, here's a little report of how things went in the last two days. Enjoy!

1ST JULY 2011, AFTERNOON: Ok. Tomorrow's the day and I'm almost ready. I still have to review a big part of the Maths programme and other little things, but I'm relaxed. Or, better, I'm relaxed until 3 pm. At that point, I finally realise that tomorrow is really my last days of high school. And I also realise that, to get the maximum mark, I need to be flawless. Oh. My. God.

1ST JULY 2011, EVENING: My evening before the Maturità exam (the famous 'Notte prima degli Esami') is pretty chaotic. Familiars are calling me on the phone to wish me good luck, the neighbour's kids are playing (and screaming) in the garden, my bedroom is full of mosquitos. The 'sudate carte' ('sweated papers') are scattered all over my table, some copybooks are on my bed, other books are already in my rucksack. I repeat my 'tesina' (little thesis) while hoping I'll be able to say it all in 20 minutes. The chronometer says that it actually takes me 17 minutes to repeat it, let's hope that tomorrow it won't take me any longer.

It's 9 pm, I've just finished reviewing Dante and, to my surprise, I've just realised that I still remember Heidegger very well. I don't have the time to review everything, so I go for the most important things. At 10 pm I finally stop reviewing the Second World War. Stupid Italy, why do you always have to change allies in the middle of the World Wars? Really, that is annoying to study.

At 10.30 I finally put on my nail polish, watch the clothes I've chosen for tomorrow (a blue shirt with jeans) and go to bed. Now, all I hope is to be able to sleep.

2ND JULY 2011: After a good night sleep, I get up at 7 am. My parents look more nervous than me.

I get in the car and think about those Tour riders who say that pressure makes them feel better. Well, apparently it is the same for me. I feel ready to face the test and in my mind I keep on repeating: 'Let's go and kick some asses'. A part of my brain, however, keeps on thinking about the things I don't know: Calvino, the political situation in Italy after WW 2, the most difficult parts of Maths programme, half of the Latin programme. The other half of my brain, however, has the following thought: 'It's impossible to know everything, but it's also impossible not to know anything'. Btw, one thing is sure: I'll play my cards well.

7.50: my best friends are with me, ready to witness my examination. The Italian teacher stops to talk with us and asks us whether we're doing fine. 'Hell yeah!', I'd like to answer, but I can't.

8.04: I walk inside the classroom for the last time in my life. The exam starts. I introduce my tesina and I say 'justifiable' rather than 'right'. This means I'll be surely asked about Hegel, a thing that I wanted to avoid. In spite of that, I keep on talking about the editions of the Olympics that were characterised by boycotts. Most of the teachers remember the facts I'm talking about and this doesn't make things any easier. But still, when I finish to talk about my tesina I'm very satisfied with myself. Let the questions begin!

The first question comes from the philosophy teacher. Hegel, I would have bet on that. I defend myself in a decent way, then he shows me what I've written in the philosophy test. 2 questions out of 3 look perfect, but the third one is a mess. 'I was surprised when I read your answer, I didn't expect you not to understand the question. You always reflect a lot before answering!'. Actually, I'm much more surprised than him when I see that that answer isn't correct. Now I understand why I got a 41 out of 45: at least 1.5 points in my partial result were taken away because of that question. Anyway, enough philosophy for the moment: it's history time now!

'Tell me what happened in Russia during the 20th century', the teacher asks. I start talking about the 1905 Revolution and I try to gain time while talking about the terrible conditions of farmers in Russia at the beginning of the last century. The teacher then asks me two questions and seems satisfied with my answers. Then he looks at me and asks me: 'Listen, I know this isn't in the programme, but...Do you know when serfdom became illegal in Russia?' Dates are a weak point of mine, so I take a big breathe before saying: '1861'. 'Exactly!', the teacher says with a smile. I expect a standing ovation from my friends, but it doesn't happen.  I would have deserved it!

Then it's time to talk about Italian literature. First I talk about futurism, then about Pirandello and Leopardi. Another question has me talking about Verga and Svevo. The teacher looks satisfied and tells me I'm doing a great job. Too bad that there are still 4 teachers who have to ask me something.

The German teacher wants me to talk about Buechner, a writer that my classmates and I had to study on our own. In spite of that, I manage to answer his questions and to pretend I'm much more confident than I actually am. As someone once said: 'Everyone can act, except a few actors'.

Then it's Maths time. Oh man, I'm scared. Luckily I have the answers to my teacher's question, so I can pass to English. The teacher asks me about Miller's 'Death of a Salesman' and about my plans for the future.

The Spanish teacher is the last one to ask me something. She makes me talk about the Spanish futurism and about Lorca's 'Poet in New York'. Then she and her colleagues begin to explain me which results I got in the written part of the exam. I see that one of the two answers of Spanish is good, while the other one isn't. On the other hand, the English essay is nearly flawless, whereas the Italian essay is good. One of the Maths questions, instead, is a complete mess.

At 8.52 the teachers stop showing me the written tests. One of them asks me what I'm going to do next year. I say that I'd love to become a sportjournalist and that causes a lot of comments. 'So you'll be able to go to the Olympics!', a teacher says, smiling. 'Let's hope to see your name on a pink newspaper then', another one adds. Everyone wishes me good luck for my future. The atmosphere is now really relaxed, although someone hasn't run out of tricky questions yet. In fact, all of a sudden my philosophy teacher asks me why Zio Crocifisso ('Uncle Crucifix') is so unpolite with the Malavoglia family. 'After all, they're relatives!', he says. He says it with a very light-hearted tone, as if he was joking, and I reply by smiling and saying: 'Well, apparently there were familiar arguments already at the time!' 

Then, all of a sudden I realise that the other teachers are looking at me and at their colleague. The atmosphere has become slightly more serious, so I understand that my teacher is trying to make me slip on his tricky remark. I realise I must say something to get out of his trap. Before he can open his mouth again, I say: "And then, Crucifix is called 'uncle' just because that is his nickname; in reality, he's not a relative of the Malavoglia at all!". After my answer, everyone in the classroom smiles at me and laughs, my philosophy teacher included. However, I soon discovery that he's kept a special question for the end of my exam.

 'Listen', he asks me with another smile as I collect my things before leaving the classroom, 'who wins the Tour this time?'. 'Andy Schleck', I reply in a very confident way. My teacher pulls a strange face and says: 'But he isn't good in time trials'. 'Well, then I just hope Contador doesn't win', I say with a serious expression. My teacher looks at me, smiles and says: 'Contador will win'. All of his colleagues smile (although I don't think they understood what we were talking about) and shake hands with me.

At 8.56 I'm finally out of the classroom, out of the exam, out of everything. As I walk out of the school, I think about all the things that I didn't know and that the teachers didn't ask me. 'They didn't ask me anything about Latin!', I tell my friends. "Well, do you want to go back in that classroom and say: 'Sorry, but you forgot to ask me Latin?' ", my best friend replies me. We all start to laugh and we start talking about the holidays. My high school career is finally over and, for the first time in 5 years, I'll face a summer without homeworks and without worries. And then, it'll be time for new challenges. But before of that, let me relax a while ;)