One exam down, three to go

As most students in Rome are now wrapping up their exams, those of us in the canonical faculty at the Pontifical Gregorian University are only now beginning our exams. This morning I had an oral exam covering my course on the History of the Sources of Canon Law (which was about as exciting as it sounds).

Since my exam was to take place at 9:20 a.m., I arrived at room L107 - as indicated by my "online secretary" - at 9:00 a.m., just to be safe (sometimes other exams begin early or finish quickly). However, when I arrived none of my classmates were around (unlike last semester's exam with the same professor and the same topic) and I began to wonder if I was in the right place (especially so since I was surrounded by philosophy students and I couldn't hear any sounds from within the room).

On the bulletin board outside the classroom was a paper listing the various classes in the canonical faculty offered this semester with the (supposed) locations of the exams. The paper indicated that the exams for the History of the Sources of Canon Law were being held in room F107, in a separate building altogether.

I quickly made may way of out of the L (for Lucchesi) building and crossed the piazza. Upon entering the F (for Frascara) building, I made my way to the first floor (the ground floor is always 0 in Italy) only to discover that room F107 does not exist. Frustrated, though not entirely surprised (you almost never receive the same answer from two different people about anything in Italy; no one ever really seems to know what is going on), I returned to room L107 to find the door open and the professor gone. Thankfully, he returned momentarily and the exam went well.

Our comprehensive exams - covering all of the material from the first and second semesters - begin next week. On Monday, we have a written exam for which we can take up to an hour. As I understand it, two questions will be presented to us, one more theoretical and one more practical, and we will choose one of those questions to answer. On Wednesday, we have two 15-minute oral exams. After the second of these, our work for the year will be complete.