You have just finished your Thanksgiving feast and you are sitting there basking in your food coma when it hits you: you are going back to school soon, and you will once again be faced by the horrible two weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas break where you will be slammed with what seems like millions of papers, projects and tests. You question whether your professors are actually trying to kill you, or whether they are truly oblivious to the fact that they are all giving their assignments at the exact same time.
Here are some common struggles that all college students know to be true during this dreadful period:
1.) Do I even have to study?
It’s the time in the semester when you are just mentally done. You have spent the past three months slaving over assignment after assignment, and you have pulled so many all-nighters that you start to question how you are still sane.
2.) Will I get a spot in Beeghly?
If your library is like mine, you know that in the weeks leading up to finals, the library is equivalent to the mall on Black Friday. People that you never even knew existed end up sitting at your table, and you begin to feel betrayed. You’ve been a regular at the library for months and now these randoms are going to come invade your space?!
3.) Do I have time to sleep?
If you are like me, whenever I go to the library all sense of time seems to come to a halt. I can spend one hour or six—either way, the time just tends to drag on and on. One minute you look at the time and it's 6 PM, and the next thing you know it's 2 AM. Sleep just isn’t your first priority when preparing for finals.
4.) I hope the workers at Thomson don’t judge me for all the food I’m about to buy.
Stress eating is real. Stress eating is a problem. When finals week rolls around, chocolate and junk food is where all my food points go.
5.) Do you think I can live off of caffeine?
I hate coffee, but caffeine is a necessity during finals week. The line at the cafe seems to multiply x 1000, as stressed college students order ENDLESS amounts of coffee. Caffeine can be good for you, right?
6.) I hope nobody notices the permanent glare I have on my face.
Lack of sleep combined with endless tests, papers and projects is just the recipe for an angry college student. I promise I’m not a mean person, I just hate school and life right now.
7.) What happened to my social life?
The weeks leading up to finals tend to be the time when you can really tell who is dedicated enough to actually go out on the weekends. If you are like me, the thought of going out all night and sleeping until noon the following morning when you know that you have a load of finals to study for gives me anxiety. I seriously applaud the people that go out during the two weeks before finals—keep doing you.
8.) Is Christmas really so close?
The one thing I absolutely hate about finals is how it makes you forget about all the cheer of the holiday season. You are expected to study for finals and do well, but once you are finally done, you basically have one week until Christmas. How are you expected to buy gifts for people? Not to mention that instead of mentally preparing for the festive holiday, you’ve been memorizing chemistry formulas and psychology definitions.
9.) I hope no one notices I’ve worn the same outfit for the past three days.
Finals week is great in the sense that you can look like a complete hobo and everyone just understands. Leggings, a sweatshirt and a messy bun is basically your uniform.
10.) Why do we still have class?
The fact that we are still expected to show up to class all while preparing for these dreaded finals is just plain torture. No offense to my professors, but I really don’t have the time to sit through an hour class when I have a billion other things I have to do—there’s just not enough time in the day to get everything done.
11.) Will I even be able to survive?
Every so often, you will experience a freak out attack in which you really question whether or not you can make it. You may experience an existential crisis and re-evaluate every aspect of your life, and you may even consider dropping out. No worries, you can and will make it through.
12.) I can’t wait to go home.
As stressful as finals week may be, you can get through it. Just think—before you know it, you will be home for the holidays, and you can really relax and treat yourself for making it through first semester in one piece.
