This morning I was talking with a friend of mine and since she's having her O' levels this year (for those who don't know what O' levels are, they're just a couple of exams after secondary school) so naturally we talked about the exams and well, the experiences I've gone through last year during the period when I was having my O' levels.

A lot of nostalgia kicked in, even though I was going through a lot of exams (around 20 or so if I remember correctly) and exams aren't really something to be missed, but..

I miss those days when I used to have afternoon sessions the most.. I used to leave an hour before the exam starts, around 3pm, so there used to be minimum traffic at that time.. My father used to give me lifts to the examination center. Something he rarely does, (i.e. give me lifts) not because he doesn't offer but I prefer to use public transport, not because it's more efficient or more comfy, far from that, but I don't want him to be my personal slave so that when I need to go from A to B, I just call him and he's ready to pick me up.

So, as I was saying, leaving an hour early gave us ample time to arrive on time. So as my father usually does, he used to drive really slow, avoiding every single pothole and stalling the car a couple of times because of the low rev count (under 2500rpm). Man that car doesn't suffer under his responsibility. I used to listen to a couple of tunes on the way, mostly dance tracks from the late 90s and early 2000s. That really used to set the mood right.

When I arrived at the particular school where my exam was being held, I used to look out for my school friends since mostly everyone from my school was having the exam in the same class room. I start laughing when I remember that just 30 minutes before the exam commences, most of us were going through the notes and pulling hair! I rarely did this, I just used to sit in the sun, killing time. There's no use going through notes at that time, not because I was 100% sure on every single topic regarding the particular subject, but I used to tell myself, and still do before exams; "what I know, I know, what I don't, I don't".

Afterwards, we used to discuss how the answers should have been answered, and whether it was an easy exam or not, until my father was back so that I could head back home. I remember he always used to bring with him some traditional Maltese sweets, so that I could eat them on our way back.

This time, there used to be heavy traffic since it was rush hour, but I didn't really care about being stuck in traffic.. I was just glad that another exam had gone by, while listening to some kick ass tunes.

Heh, I wish I could go back in time.. Next year, if everything goes as planned, I'm supposed to have my A' levels, so maybe that will be similar to these experiences I mentioned.. but it won't be so easy-going! A' levels are way more difficult than O' levels..