College is a rough time for everyone, but it's also absolutely amazing. As with all of life, college has its ups and downs. It's different for everyone. However, no matter how you spend your college time, you will no doubt experience these 11 moments.
1. Pure Denial
Everyone has those moments when you just completely deny the existence of your homework, responsibility, and previous promises to be productive. Sometimes, the appeal of spending time with friends or going out to dinner is just stronger than that urgent assignment that's sitting on your desk. That is only concerning assignments, but I've been known to deny my physical need for sleep at times when assignments are more urgent. Basically, college students live in constant states of denial because there is always something that we should be doing, but something else usually takes precedence.
2. Falling Asleep Anywhere And At Any Time
Like a cat or a toddler, all college students find themselves unable to get decent amounts of sleep per night, so we all have discovered our ability to sleep anywhere at any time. Exam week is always the worse. When I'm walking through the library, I'll see more people who are asleep than awake! I was the sort of child who absolutely hated taking naps, but now I find myself living for those extra 30 minute naps that I can squeeze into my schedule between classes.
3. Getting Ready To Go Out, But Choosing To Stay In
There are typically a few weekends when my friends and I make plans to go out together, but that we often end up canceling and staying in for instead. Sometimes, staying in with your friends and relaxing in sweats and with take-out food is more fun and enjoyable than going out.
4. Studying In Study Rooms Until 2:00 In The Morning
I remember when last year, some friends and I discovered a great study room that was open all night, so we would spend hours there getting our work done and having fun. Not only are these nights helpful and productive, but they can also be really enjoyable when you're with friends. At other times, though, I've definitely gone and done work alone until the early hours of the morning because I'm usually more productive without distractions.
5. Relying Heavily On Caffeine
As I mentioned earlier, sleep isn't always a priority in college life, so caffeine is the natural back up. Even when I get enough sleep, I sometimes find myself falling asleep in class, so I like to bring coffee with me to help me maintain my participation points.
6. Eating At Weird Places At Weird Times
College life basically means that you're going to have a weird schedule. Due to this, you typically eat at unique times each day and night. It'll be 10pm and my friends and I will decide it's the perfect time to go get food from odd places like Sonic or Taco Bell. Not to mention that times that my schedule has me in class between 11 and 2 so I end up eating odd lunches around 3, which leads to odd dinners around 9.
7. Randomly Dressing Up, But Usually Dressing Down
Of course, I like to spend a lot of time in sweat pants and t-shirts, especially after class when I'm doing homework. However, there are occasional days when I decide to actually dress up! Often times when people are dressed up, they're giving a presentation or they have some kind of interview, but there's an occasional day when I decide to put forth a bit of effort.
8. Figuring Out How To Use the Cafeteria To Your Advantage
It's always a bit of a running joke to say that the cafeteria food isn't good, but sometimes that does hold true. In instances like that, you have to find your recipes that are always available like salads, soup, cereal, or something else. I've also learned recently how to cook some food myself, and so I've taken to going to the cafeteria and sneaking out cups of chopped vegetables from the salad bar to use for recipes later.
9. Stress Followed by Calm
Obviously college students all have those weeks where the stress level just suddenly seems to escalade to intense levels, but immediately after everything is over you calm down a little and can relax.
10. Excitement For Your Subject
Sometimes there are those moments when you're sitting in your major class and the professor explains something to you, or shows you an interesting topic, and you just have a moment of excitement for the subject you've chosen to study. Sometimes those moments are few and far between, but at other times it's an everyday experience. I know that I have certain classes that I absolutely love going to because I find the topic so interesting and exciting, but there are always some that just rarely capture my interest.
11. Appreciation
Of course, appreciation is a very important one. Whether it's appreciation for your parents, friends, professors, or anyone, I've realized that I've been much more appreciative of people in college than I ever was in High School. Often times it's an appreciation for my mom for teaching me how to live well and being there for me when I need the help, or y professors for making themselves so helpful and available when I need it.
College is a busy time for everyone, and each person experiences it differently. I know some people who absolutely love college and others who despise it. Ultimately, whether you love it or hate it, you will eventually experience most of these at some point in your college career. I've been here for almost 2 years, and I've definitely experienced all of these at least once, but often more than once.