This still exists?

I paid for this, so I should use it.

What's happened since the last time I posted?

• I've finished school
• I've started my exams
• I've been on a short holiday to Cambridge

And probably a lot of other stuff I can't remember right now.

Finishing school was quite strange. Right up until the last day we just went around like it was completely normal, and on the last day itself we just came in as usual in the morning. Everybody had shirts to sign and etc. from our year, and nobody did any work!

It only really dawned on me that a part of my life was ending in the final assembly. While I'm not sad that I won't see people in the future (well, I've seen them all through the exam period and most of us are going to 6th form at the same place) I did realise I was sad that I wouldn't have the same school life anymore.
It's funny, really. Everyone spends their whole life complaining about how much school smells and they don't want to go, but after that final assembly, where you were free to go off into the world and do whatever you want, nobody wanted to go. The teachers had to usher us away in the end because we were distracting everyone else (who weren't leaving school).

Since then, I've realised I need to own some more trousers than just jeans, as that contravenes the 6th form dress policy, and it's going to be very different from now on. Apparently the holiday from the end of GCSEs until I start again in September could be the longest I ever have until I retire, which is kinda scary.

Speaking of holidays, progress towards the Iceland trip is going well. I've been reading a lot about the country and while it seems boring on first look - cold, desolate, hardly anyone there, etc - it's actually got a whole bunch of pretty amazing things there. During the summer months of May - July the temperature regularly goes up to 20° C and it's not nearly as windy as some people say. I could go for a swim in the pools of geothermally-heated water, or walk on warm rocks heated by magma underneath. Apparently there's also a place where you can walk along a boardwalk surrounded by molten lava, which sounds rather scary. There's also spectacular waterfalls, glaciers and mountains not far from where I'm staying!

It's come slightly later than planned but a load of us are also planning to go to Soul Survivor again this year, to Week C down in Shepton Mallet. There's a lot more than last time who have been enthused by our reports after last years', which is great, and our youthleaders have just bought a caravan, so they can come down and enjoy the fun as well!

As for the exams, I think they've gone pretty well so far. French Speaking was the very first one, which was very nerve-racking, but I'm definitely glad I got it out of the way. Maths was next, which I was also nervous about, but that also seems to have gone fine. I was scared that out of the 20 or so topics, it'd test me on the 2 or 3 that I was worst at, which thankfully didn't happen. English Lit is something I don't think you can revise much for, as the ability to write well is either a skill you have or you don't have. ICT was predictably simple - although the final question, always the longest and worth the most marks - proved difficult, and I had to sit and think about it for a while. Biology's my weakest science, and I think I did as well as I did last year (I remember coming out of that exam worried about some of the questions - but the grade at the end was fine).
Finally, the Systems and Control Core exam (mainly about mechanisms, manufacturing processes etc.) wasn't too bad, but the last question was rather confusing and involved designing a pedal-opening system for a bin.

This week's a bit of a breather over half-term before I get plunged back into Electronics, Maths 2, English Language, Geography, Chemistry and French... which means I need to do lots of revision! I can't wait until June the 18th, when it'll all be over.

All that remains is to ask; if you find anything that's suddenly stopped working on this site, send me an e-mail at me@jontysewell.net - the domain's been moved to a new server recently which seems a whole lot faster than the old one. (Well, Yoda is more agile than Dumbledore, isn't he?)

Phew, that was long.