You moved back to campus, blinked, and it is already the end of October. Where did the past eight-or-so weeks go? If you are staring at your calendar in disbelief and constantly have the urge to nap, you probably have a case of the Mid-Semester Blues: Side effects include...
Weird Weather:
You need three layers of sweaters, a hat, a scarf and some gloves to walk to class in the morning, yet on your way home you need short sleeves and a pair of flip-flops.
Working naps into your schedule:
You actually plan out when you can squeeze in a nap because by now, you need one to make it through the day. Before class, after class, sometimes during class —it needs to happen.
Calculating meal swipes:
“So if I skip lunch every other day, I can make it to Thanksgiving with a few swipes to spear” — more than likely your internal dialogue at this point. Desperate times call for desperate measures…like eating cereal for dinner.
Piles of laundry:
It’s Wednesday and you have one pair of socks left. How obvious would it be if you wore your pj's to class? How many days can you get out of a pair of leggings? All valid, necessary questions. Laundry is, at the minimum, and hour and a half affair and let’s face it, that is valuable library (and/or nap) time, so…
Catching some type of cold:
If you make it through homecoming without catching a cold, you deserve an award. At this point in the semester pretty much everyone has the sniffles, a cough or another type of unattractive illness that makes you feel crappy enough to want to give up on all your responsibilities.
“Now what?” feeling:
Homecoming came and went, Halloween will be gone before you know it so…now what? What else is there to look forward to this semester, besides well, the end? Sure, Thanksgiving is in another month, but that is really just a tease.
Increased stress levels:
Coming to the realization that your to-do list is longer than you would like it to be and includes “study” and “finish paper” rather than “shop” or “watch Netflix” is rough. Stress levels are high.
Decreased tolerance:
With the added stress, your tolerance is at an all-time low. Any little thing can set you off: the kid who shakes his leg during a lecture, the fact that your roommate forgot to take the trash out, your computer being annoyingly slow. Everything and everyone is irritating.
Utilizing absences:
It's about that time to take one or two of those “unexcused absences” professors grant. Is taking both in one week a little excessive? Maybe, but sometimes a personal day just isn’t enough and you need a personal week to catch up on everything…especially sleep. And sometimes, you just aren't going.
Midterms:
If you thought you didn’t learn the stuff you see on your finals, midterms are a cold, hard slap in the face. How is it possible you got through six chapters of information when you started classes basically yesterday.
