While you're reading this I hope you're involuntarily hearing "Seasons of Love" in the back of your head. And I hope it gets stuck there. Forever. Or at least for the rest of the day because that's exactly what happened to me.
So how do you do it? How do you measure a school year?
Let's break it down into sections of silmitaniously misserable and wonderful minutes.
50,400 minutes.
If you're going to school full time you're spending at least this much time in the class room. You might be one of those perfect students who doesn't have to worry about studying, and who always gets good grades on assignments... Oh wait. Those don't exist... So you're probably like everyone else who, even though they're happy to be able to learn, is counting clock day after day in every class, waiting for it to be over. "Okay. There's twenty minutes left in class so that means there's only two ten-minute sections left. And I can do anything for ten minutes! Fuck. How did the professor say to do that problem again?"
67,200 minutes.
It's recommended you spend at least twice the amount of time your in class studying outside of class. I'd like to say that I get that much studying done. I'm very good at pretending that I've had a productive study session. But seriously, how the hell do people manage that? I don't know about you, but there are very few times of the day that my brain can function well; after I've had coffee. And since I'm on a college student's budget, that's not very often. Therefore any kind of studying usually gets postponed, or blown off all together after about 60 seconds. Honestly, a majority of my "study time" is spent with my book open, my eyes skimming, and then not remembering a damn word I read.
33,600 minutes.
Work. That's really all I have to say. Very few students I know don't work during the school year; most of the time that means mom & dad are helping out. Good for you. And I'm usually a happy person, but when those few people complain to me about how they don't have time for their assignments or how they're stressed out, the little demon inside of me wants to scream. Especially on a Monday morning after pulling two twelve hour shifts the Saturday and Sunday before.
82,320 minutes.
This is how much (or little) sleep you get. Most people are aware that you should be getting 8 or 9ish hours of sleep. Most people are also aware that we don't get nearly that much. After my finishing my first year at university I'm convinced that college students are a separate species entirely of their own that is meant to hibernate in the summer months tough out the harsh, cold, fall/spring semesters. Evolution really screwed our species on that one, didn't it?
23,520 minutes.
Because even though I know I'm going to spill coffee on my shirt again, and I really don't feel like taking a shower again tonight after all that studying.... society says I have to be clean. I feel like I'm in kindergarten again, arguing with my mother about how I don't need to make my bed because I'm just going to come back and mess it up later. And my friends say I should wash out my coffee thermos, but it's literally always filled with coffee that I am actively drinking. (No Coffee Left Behind) Atleast science says I only have to wash my jeans once a month or something, right? I mean, sure they'll smell like stress-sweat, but at least they won't shrink!
25,200 minutes.
This is the time you use to sit, relax, and enjoy some time to yourself for all of your much needed self loathing. And if you're real lucky, you get to multitask by finishing up some lab report that was due two days ago while binge-watching some fantastically lame show on Netflix. But don't worry, if you do get any actual down time, you'll get to spend the whole time stressing out about how much work you should be doing instead of eating or napping or doing whatever it is you need to do to make sure you don't die.
282,240 minutes...
2 semesters. 28 weeks. 196 days. 4,704 hours.
However you want to measure it.
That's how much time you're going to spend loving every minute of it. It's a blissful kind of torture, being in college. Because even though you're sleep deprived, a decent combination of mal & under nourished, your brain is always hurting, and you might not be as clean as you'd usually be... Every single minute is spent working towards the rest of your life; a future you're going to love.
