She glanced round the kitchen. It was small and curious to her, with its glittering kissing-bunch, its evergreens behind the pictures, its wooden chairs and little deal table. 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 47 Through the open door you see a red-tiled floor, a large wooden bed, and on a deal table a ewer and a basin.
In my case the 3rd year was definitely more difficult than the 2nd and 1st, though it has to be said that most of the 1st was waiting for some students to catch up to a decent level. Masters year of my Astrodynamics MSci was much, much more difficult though.
The same thing is true of the books. A Game of Thrones, when it initially came out in 1996, didnât hit any best-seller list. None at all. A Clash of Kings, the second book, when it came out in 1999, that hit, I think it was the Wall Street Journal list at #13 for a week and then was gone.