A report written after the exams

This popular term looks for the most part like this: the entire college is full of signs asking the students to be quiet, we hardly ever leave the spots where we study and from time to time the college staff send us an e-mail inviting us to yoga lessons or recommending us to devote at least twenty minutes a day to an activity we enjoy (!). Thus, it is hardly surprising that students who have just finished their exams resemble a dog that has just freed itself from a chain.

Our senior tutor made a desperate attempt to convince us that massive post-exams celebration are a recent invention of our spoiled generation and that students used to be much more well-behaved. However, nobody bought this, because the magnificent celebrations undoubtedly reflect a number of ancient traditions. It all begins at the very moment when a student who has just finished his last exam is leaving the examination hall. His friends are waiting behind the door with a bottle of sparkling wine, which they spray on him. The student pretends to resist but, in reality, he is very happy, despite the fact that he will have to develop a lot of effort when washing his soaked clothes and cleaning his sticky hair. The tradition is already a bit too well known. For example, one of my friends was already prepared for it and while we were waiting for her behind the door, she prepared a bottle of sparkling wine herself and ambushed us. When this ritual is over, all there is left to do is drinking, sleeping, having picnics, punting and talking about topics which have nothing to do with exams.

If I am to write about the post-exam times in Cambridge, I definitely have to mention the famous May Week. It is week in June (which is paradoxical – the reasons for its name originate in the past when the exams used to finish earlier) which is meant to be a symbolic highlight of the entire year in our university. Its consists chiefly of the renowned May Balls, which are organised by many colleges and which contain a lot of attractions, games, shows, concerts, food and drink. I did not attend any of them this year because I had already been to the one organised by our college in February, but we at least went to see the gigantic fireworks of the St John’s May Ball, which is considered one of the best parties in the world. Throughout the May Week, the events are regularly reported on by some of the large English newspapers like the Daily Mail, which likes to publish pictures of partying students (which mostly fake the partying mood specifically for the shot) which allows them to present Cambridge students as rich slackers. The May Week also includes many garden parties and similar events, often organised by student societies.

My friends and I decided to celebrate the exam’s end with a few days’ trip to the continent, to Amsterdam. Due to its liberal policies, this city has earned the reputation of one of the best places for rest after work strain. One of the most remarkable things we experienced there was the unexpected 5:1 victory of Holland over Spain at football. I had never seen such a football euphoria before. The whole city had been decorated in orange colours, people in the streets were wearing orange t-shirts and their faces were covered with orange paint. After the match, a massive spontaneous celebration broke out during which people were hugging each other and giving each other high fives. We had no choice and were forced to join in. People were singing and dancing and all bars were bursting at their seams.