The most dreaded week of the semester is finally upon us, and as always, the stress and pressure of turning in final papers and taking grade-saving (or grade-ruining) exams causes many people to question why they're in college at all. While finals week is far from easy, there is something about looking around and seeing others struggle too that makes students' hearts go soft.

A few days ago, I was in the dining hall waiting to get food, and a girl in the line that I did not recognize approached me and began to make small talk. She asked me about my exams and we joked about how busy we were. When she got her plate, she started to walk off, but she turned back to say "Hey, good luck with your finals!" The whole conversation may seem like an insignificant gesture, but there is something comforting about receiving sympathy from a complete stranger. Unlike friends or family members, strangers have no obligation to you, so typically if they offer well-wishes, they really mean it. I kept the kind stranger in my thoughts all day, but I felt certain that if we had met earlier in the semester she wouldn't have had as much to say.

I had a similar experience yesterday, when I took my last quiz in my last class of the semester. It was an oral quiz, and we all had to wait in the hall and enter the classroom one by one to complete it. My class was fairly large, about thirty students, but only a few students seemed to know each other, and most people kept to themselves even during group work. It seemed as though we were all strangers. However, when I came back out into the hall from taking my quiz, everyone was studying and talking together. I noticed two girls who sat on opposite sides of the room and seemed to come from very different backgrounds laughing about mispronouncing a word. A few guys that were standing by the door pressed me for information, and I wished everyone luck. I was amazed by the camaraderie that had developed between us all simply because we had a common enemy: academic stress.

There is not a time on this campus when I feel safer or more at home, because even if I stood on the sidewalk with my wallet in my hand screaming "Rob me!" I don't think anyone would have the time or energy to do it. I also think that if someone were to collapse in the library from exhaustion, strangers who normally would keep to themselves would approach with concern. I gave away my last granola bar to a guy studying statistics yesterday, and I think he would have done the same.

I think the bottom line is that when people are under great stress and notice that those around them are, too, they have more compassion. I certainly don't want to be as stressed as I am now every week, but if the campus could always be as friendly and tight-knit as it is right now, my campus would be a better place.