GASICS Part 12

Being in Meta, which I was ashamed of, actually gave me an instant advantage.

We had a much lighter first semester as compared to Elec, with only 34 credits compared to their 51. This meant that I got a lot more time to spend on each course as compared to the competition.

Same ol, same ol JEE mode then. Drop events, drop the other college exploration activities that freshmen usually do. The only things that kept me going were running and the gym, which were also dropped in the last month.

Our classes were spaced out through the day, and I couldnt afford to lose even the single hour gaps in between.

Dashing to and fro to the library, pedaling furiously, I would often startle deer, monkeys, and humans as I sped by. Security guards would whistle at me, but I didn't care, every second was too precious to waste.

Out of our 4 courses, the one that scared me most was physics lab. The weekly experience of spending 3 hours in a dimly lit lab, having to take readings just as you're about to fall asleep, was pure distilled torture.

Also, if this weekly session wasn't bad enough, your final grade was completely dependent on the mood of your TA. I sweated physics lab. Even sold my soul to go for extra practice sessions. It was the most mind numbingly boring work i have ever done, but hey, no stone left unturned, right?

After the rush of finals week, waiting for grades to be released was a slow burn. The whole vacation was spent anxiously refreshing the grades page, willing for something to happen.

When grades did drop at the end of the vacation, we found out my physics lab antics had gone in vain. It was the only course in which I got an A instead of an S, dropping my GPA to 9.88. Finally, some good news.