What time is it?

mind = blown

I had a silent 5-second heart attack this morning when I looked down at the time on my laptop and noticed that my midterm was not in an hour and a half, but in half an hour…meaning I don’t have some time to study and drink coffee first, because I need to leave in 15 minutes. Isn’t it only 10:30? Not 11:30? I thought in a minor panic.

I mentally added 6 hours to 5:30 about a dozen times, and even popped up Calculator to make sure my sleepiness was not interfering with this simple addition. Yup, 11:30. What the hell? So I looked up the current time and date on the Internet, for both Florence and NYC. 5:30am in NY, and…10:30am here. 5-hour difference–WHERE IS THE OTHER HOUR?! I was starting to feel relieved that I still had adequate time before my exam, but I was also starting to feel absolutely mindblown. NON CAPISCO PERCHE! DOVE E’ LA ALTRA ORA?! (Yes, sometimes I naturally think in Italian when excited or panicked now…it’s kind of cool).

Then I started panicking again, because it dawned on me that it might be Daylight Savings Time–which yes, restores logic and sense, but also means that I needed to leave NOW for my midterm exam. So I quickly looked up Daylight Savings Time, and saw that it indeed was DST…but just in the U.S.–not here. Our turn comes over the night of March 23rd.

I guess that makes sense…

And I guess I’m only 5 hours in the future now…for only two weeks though…

…I’m really glad this exam has nothing to do with the concept of time.