Final Exam

Across Penn’s campus, freshman and their families are unloading dorm room essentials onto every available space on the sidewalk, IKEA lamps wobbling in their stands and full-length mirrors reflecting the searing sunshine. Earlier this morning, on my walk to the train, the first bright yellow school bus of the year rumbled by down the streets of Ardmore, a smattering of kids forlornly gazing out the windows at the end of summer.

Although the weather outside doesn’t betray it, fall is here in that the start of the school year is here. Gus also is beginning what will be his last semester of his last year of his last degree for life. He’s now a “Super Senior,” the heroic name for students in the program’s last stretch. Instead of a typical course load, his time is now split between three clinical days and two study days, either structured in a classroom or at home. The focus for the students is now on passing their board exam, which to the tune of $700 gives you one more reason to pass the first go 'round.

A study center has been set up in our apartment. A square wooden table, which I had used for sewing but which had fallen into disuse due to the air conditioner in a very nearby window, has been moved to a corner of our bedroom. A lamp and a Mason jar of pencils and highlighters has been added to teetering towers of books, notes, and PowerPoint printouts to be intensely reviewed and re-reviewed over the next months before the exam is scheduled.