(You) got to have faith!

Went off to school and learned to serve the state
Followed the rules and drank his vodka straight
The only way to live was drown the hate
A Russian life was very sad
And such was life in Leningrad
-Billy Joel

I woke up at five, drove over 100 miles, waited in line for over an hour, and then found out that the FE was cancelled and postponed to a "later secret date". We will be informed by letter when that date is. So I guess I just sit around and wait for it and keep studying. That has to be one of the most maddening mornings I have experienced in a long time... They could at least offer to pay for gas money seeing as it is so expensive (I paid $3.39/gallon yesterday - or $63.97 to fill my whole car). It was a circus. We had to go to the bathroom before the exam because they said they wouldn't allow us to use the restroom during the exam (WHAT?). We weren't allowed to take anything into the bathroom and there could only be one of us in the bathroom at a time. There was only one toilet. It is held at this national guard armory which is made of stone and looks like a big fortress/prison building. I imagine life in the USSR to be somewhat of what I experienced today at this place. It was deary, dull, and people kept yelling at me to do certain things or to not do other things. We all stood in line quietly with our yellow permission slips of paper, our government issued photo ID, and hard candy (if anyone had food that would take it away from you). They were also making people take off their hooded sweatshirts and checking all calculators to make sure that they all conformed to the standards. Yeah, I'm surprised they were frisking us too. I never got up to the check in desk though, so they might have been. At least I know how to get up there now... I have such fun to look forward to at this later secret date...

Story: I got to this stone armory building and walked to stand in line around 6:45am. After waiting in line forever (excluding a bathroom break from hell - we basically had to stand next to the wall and put all our testing materials down on the ground and file one at a time into the restroom while people were yelling at us), we started getting worried because it was 7:45 and we were supposed to be seated by then. Finally around 7:50 a man sticks his head out the door and says, hold on, we are going to let you in in a minute. Then around 7:55 they let everyone in. They didn't ask for our IDs or check our permission sheets. So we all filed into the main testing room and they yelled at us not to touch anything. Once we were all in this old man gets up to the microphone and says, "I have some good news and some bad news. The good news, you have more time to study. The bad news, you will have to come back to take the exam." You can bet that wasn't met with the warmest welcome ever. ha. I mean, who announces a cancelled exam like that. We have had plenty of time to study! We don't want anymore time to study. That isn't good news to any of us. He then went on to say that they would contact us with a new exam day sometime... This exam is given national only twice a year. So to reschedule is going to be a big deal. I can't imagine having to take it again for at least a month. My best bet is sometime this summer. Woohoo! More studying. It is a good thing I don't really have any summer plans yet.

I guess I'll go start my four projects now or my three sets of homework due next week...

Thanks for your prayers! heh.