reminiscing about the GRE

a friend is due to take the GRE tomorrow, with hopes of entering a master’s program for library science. it got me thinking about the last time i took the GRE…

we had just moved to north carolina and i was working full time on unc’s campus. i knew that unc chapel hill’s library school had a great reputation/ranking and so i thought i’d apply. i told myself that if i got in, i was meant to be a librarian. if i didn’t, well i’d be happy being an artist. but first i had to take the GRE. no sweat, it’s just a test. enter: WINTER.

we moved to north carolina from florida and were unaccustomed to the annual ice storms that hit the triangle area where we lived. unfortunately, an ice storm hit one week before my scheduled GRE test. the ice storm was so bad that it exploded transformers, split trees down the middle, and obviously knocked out the power to our house. we thought we’d be fine sleeping in front of the gas fire place but learned on the first night that it was ornamental. we stayed huddled in the house for two more nights, until the crown molding started to pull away from the walls. we brought the dogs to dave’s office and slept for three nights all sacked out on the floor, on top of couch cushions that we borrowed from the center where we worked. we would drive the dogs back to the house in the morning and then hike to the gym on campus for hot showers. i have no memory of what we did for food during that time. on day seven, we woke up in dave’s office, ate something (?), loaded the dogs into the car and car-skated across town on the icy roads to another campus where i took the GRE.

it was so nice and warm in the test room, and the lights were low and soothing, and i hadn’t slept well in days. i nodded off during the exam, several times. i have no idea how i got through it, yet somehow completed the exam well enough to gain me entrance into the library science program at unc. after i finished that program we promptly moved to southern california. i’m done with ice storms.