We’re entering the month of April and if you’re like me, this is the month where zombies become a real thing. Where just getting through the semester is biggest goal among others, like waking up on time, staying awake, not mumbling your answers in a manner that even you can’t seem to decipher, remembering that you have a life outside of the piles of homework, papers, exams and projects (*gasp*), and reminding yourself that your only method of identification isn’t your school username.

April is the point where you daydream about the brains that you seemed to have misplaced somewhere between holiday break and realizing that you’ve still got over a month after spring break. Hence why you’re suddenly craving other people’s brains. But FYI, theirs are mush too.

April is what leads you to believe that you’re on a downward slope, but then you realize that really it’s an upward slope that’s akin to climbing Mount Everest without stopping, regardless of how much pain you’re in because you can’t. Because there are no excuses when your money, GPA and pride are on the line.

April is the month where you begin to wonder if maybe you should start working on your swimsuit body, but then promptly remember that you have absolutely no time for that because, duh, you’re a college student and that in and of its self is a full-time (and I mean full-time) job. Plus, there’s a lot of leftover chocolate from recent holidays that you need to drown your sorrows in, so that way you can remain sane for the rest of the semester.

April is the month where you see warm temperatures and get excited. You wear dresses or shorts, you slip on flip-flops or sandals, and you break out your toe-nail polish, only to realize that there’s wind and have a full-on Marilyn Monroe moment in the middle of campus. Or the sky opens up and reminds you just how unpredictable April is by drowning you like a rat.

April is the month where you eagerly place new classes in your registration cart because you’re just so darn eager to be done with this semester and the classes you’re currently in. You even wake up at 6:00 a.m. in the morning just to make sure you get a seat and you feel something shimmer in front of your pessimistic, zombie-like state: excitement. You see a new beginning after a relaxing summer, not realizing that by the time September comes around you’ll already be anticipating the end of that semester too.

April is the month where you get invited to do things, you get awards, you start to think about the next year, about your future, about your goals, and about a shiny, bright future. It’s the month where you start out in a "The Walking Dead" about to face Negan and wake up in "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt," because although you’ve never seen it, the title sounds promising. You can relate because you’ve survived the apocalyptic doom of spring and feel invincible.

April is the month where you realize that you’re going to have to say goodbye to some of the friends you’ve made, whether it’s only for the summer or because they’re graduating. You hope that you’ll keep in touch, but if graduating high school has taught you one thing, it’s that sometimes you just don’t.

April is the month where your backpack begins to get lighter. The month where you earn some cash from selling back your books. The month where you begin to make summer plans and summer reading lists and summer trips and just plain summer fun. The month where you get excited about not having to deal with crazy parking. Where you start to miss all the other months that aren’t April; the ones you won’t get back. Where you start missing the classes you actually liked. Where you realize that you’re another year through college and another year closer toward the part beyond class, even if you’re not sure how to get there yet or even where you’re going.

Mostly, it’s the month where you feel so many emotions, that by the time May comes around you can’t tell the difference between up and down, Einstein’s and Starbucks, closed parking lots and open ones, and school and home because school is home. Or at least, sometimes it feels like it.

The best way that I can think of describing the month of April is in the words of "Ten Things I Hate About You:" “I hate it when you make me laugh, even worse when you make me cry. I hate it when you're not around, and the fact that you didn't call. But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you. Not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all.”