Persistence & Cole Hall Emotions

It's only my second quarter at UCSF, and I have already developed a love-hate relationship with Cole Hall, the place associated with extremely fun times (like Skit Night and Mr. Pharmacy) as well as two pretty excruciating experiences so far with the fire alarm. When the fire alarm blasted off this morning during the middle of our CP112 midterm exam, I immediately remembered how the same thing happened during our White Coat Ceremony, when I was already grouchy for some reason.

My first reaction was of course to cover my ears in order to remove the source of annoyance. However, I had an exam to finish, and seeing that no one else had moved out of their seats, except for those who had already finished the test, I decided to free my hands so I could finish the rest of the test. By that time, the professor in charge had already said: "There is no danger in this building. Someone at Long/Moffitt Hospital (right next door to us), must have pulled the alarm. Obviously, I can't stop the exam right now, but I will give you extra time to finish." I was wondering if it was a patient who had done it, but was too annoyed by the forceful and constant vibrations in my ears as well as being too occupied with trying to finish the test to pursue the thought any further.

After about five minutes of trying to desensitize my ears to the vibrations, I finally found a solution to my distress: covering my head with the long coat I had beside me. That did the trick and the alarm stopped just as I was finishing up with the rechecking of my answers.

Ten years from now, I will probably look back and remember how annoyed I was in having to endure about 15 minutes of the eardrum-blasting beeps during a midterm that I was not totally prepared for due to the long two-week of midterm marathon. However, what I will remember most is the power of perseverance my classmates have shown over and over again. They have amazing ability to not only withstand adverse situations, but to do well on exams despite adversities. We had a code blue team in the classroom during our biostatistic exam last quarter when a classmate passed out. Nonetheless, most of my classmates were able to focus and did well; the mean was a high B. My classmates' intelligence, hard work, persistence, and qualifications continue to amaze me.