Aromademics Moment of Truth

So after what seems like an eternity (10 months to be precise), the moment of truth has arrived. It's aromatherapy exam time! A reader once told me that she's living vicariously through my aromatherapy studies because she always wanted to study aromatherapy but didn't have the funds. Yes, *sigh*, it ain't cheap. Now after shelling out all of the dosh, giving up 43 weekends of my life, and spending almost 100 hours massaging people (for free!) it's time to show what I know and make an honest aromatherapist out of me on this exam.  

With less than 2 weeks to go, I am holed up in a cheap resort on Tenerife where I can focus on my studies with no distractions (except the shrieks of children coming from the pool and the rumbling of the wheels of one particular child's scooter as it goes up and down the corridor past my door like an overzealous cleaning cart on fast forward). With the cool breeze, 17 degree celcius temperature, and overcast skies, it is the perfect place to study. If I was actually here on holiday I would be pissed off.

I've devised a daily schedule through next Thursday (at which point I will reassess the situation and give myself a break for Friday's Royal Wedding) which is another reason why I'm glad I've fled London so I don't have to put up with the chaos that will be the Royal Wedding. So the plan is 3 hours a day, each day 1 hour each of aromatherapy science, essential oil studies, and traditional chinese medicine. I take substantial breaks in between each 1 hour segment 30-60 min so I can do things like eat, go to the toilet, take a shower, watch tv, so that I'm relaxed and fired back up to come back and hit it for another hour. (This blog posting is my break in between essential oils and TCM for today). After my next hour of studying, my boyfriend and I are going to visit Puerto de Santiago and Los Gigantes, two small but upscale resort towns 30 min north of where we're staying in La Caleta. Conveniently my boyfriend disappears on his cycle for hours at a time while I'm studying so it's a sort of studying/training "holiday" for us both.

Do you see how I keep getting distracted from talking about my aromatherapy studies?! Today is my second day of studying and I'm not sure that 3 hours per day is really going to be enough (would equal about 30 hours in total for the 3 hour exam) so I may need to re-evaluate the plan sooner than Thursday. I carefully scrutinised the multiple choice science section and essay sections of the exam to try to devise a way to study as efficiently/as little as possible. However, the exam is carefully crafted that you can't really get away with not studying almost everything and although I could chose which essay questions I answer selectively (like skip the one on essential oil science), I decided that that wasn't really the point of why I took the course and that I should learn as much as I can. I only wish I applied myself this much when I studied for my BA or MA but this course is way more fun!