I have a recurring theme to my dreams: and that is being in a classroom with a test being given. And, for reasons that are occasionally mine -- but not always -- I am unprepared to do well. On one occasion the instructor (who's often female in my dreams) spoke in a language that I was totally ignorant of. And all the rest of the students understood her perfectly well. She was giving instructions as to how to complete the test... In others I was simply unprepared. But in both cases, the rest of the class was ready to complete the test with few if any problems.
In this case, the instructor had handed out a paper with a set of challenging but interesting questions several weeks ago. I thought the questions would be fun to work on. Someday. But had just filed the paper away to work on other projects. In fact, we were to have a test -- today!! -- on all those questions. And, of course, all the other students in the class had understood this and had spent time away from class working on the questions.
I felt I had a chance to give correct answers to some of the questions -- possibly enough of them to get a passing grade -- but certainly some of the questions would require significant time and preparation to answer.
I picked a question that required the student (me) to fill in numbers in a Sudoku-style matrix. And the matrix was to be drawn as part of the test. I tried several times to draw a proper matrix, but sometimes the squares were too big and sometimes too small and other times drawn with the wrong writing instrument (e.g. a pen vs a pencil).
I went through several sheets of paper trying to get the right size and shape of a matrix. When I ripped off one particular piece of paper, I found that it had been the last one in the pack. Fortunately, (?) I had another pack of paper, but it was a different size and color from the one piece of paper that had some partial responses to some of the other questions.
As is often the case in these dreams, the teacher called "Time's up! Please hand in your paper." when I was still essentially trying to get started. The class ended and the students filed out, some of them handing in their paper at the last possible moment, suggesting that they weren't done. Whereas I had barely started.
After everybody -- including the teacher -- had left, I realized that I had answered a couple of questions and might at least get a "D" instead of an "F." A friend magically appeared and offered to help me track down the lady (not the teacher) who had collected the papers so that I could submit my meager effort.
The chase after the lady went to a terminal for trains or busses or something. It was quite crowded. My friend and I called out the lady's name -- and finally got a shouted-out response from the lady we'd been chasing. We looked around feverishly to find her so I could submit my paper, but the crowd was tightly packed and we didn't have a fixed idea as to exactly where she was. But we knew that the lady had every right to ignore us and get on her transportation and leave.
I think I was awakened by the alarm at this point.
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