Here we are.

It's the last week of the semester and you have one more thing that holds you back from leaving for Christmas Break. The problem is this "thing" has a huge impact on whether you'll have a good GPA or a bad GPA for the semester.

Why do they do this to us? We've already mentally checked out. We've just finished stuffing our faces from Thanksgiving Break, and now we have two or three weeks to refocus ourselves to finish the semester strongly.

Cold weather is coming in, and it reminds you of how nice it is to be at home with family, sitting in front of the Christmas tree next to the fire. You're so close to holding a hot chocolate at the ice rink. There are Christmas lights EVERYWHERE, and everywhere you turn, you hear Christmas music. It's almost like they're taunting us. "HAHA you're almost done, but to make you suffer, we're going to dangle your favorite things in your face!"

So here's my advice: Work Hard Play Hard.

Sounds simple right? But if you focus super hard on your finals and try to push the distractions aside, it will make your break much more enjoyable. You won't worry about getting the final grades back and being disappointed.

Just set the goal in front of you. What's that goal? NO WORRIES.

This has been a very long and stressful semester, and all you probably want to do is go into hibernation and think about nothing but eating good food and being with the people you love.

My point is that if you focus and work very hard for those two or three weeks you have left, you'll enjoy your break much more.

So here's what you should do:

1) Wake up early

EW! You just went out last night and drank your sorrows away. How on earth are you going to get up early? Well... grab a coffee and find a place to study that makes you feel content. What's more important? Getting drunk for a night or getting an A on an exam?

2) Reward yourself

We've all read articles and heard on TV that giving yourself breaks between studying subjects is important. But, what we really don't hear is that you should reward yourself. You just got two hours of history studying done... GO GET SOME CANDY AND DO TWO HOURS MORE. You can do this!

3) Bring some friends

You know who will distract you and who will help you. Don't bring the ones who will only talk about what they want to buy their boyfriends for Christmas or how cute their butt looks in the tight santa costume they bought for a Christmas party.

4) Keep a smile on your face

You can call these few weeks "hell week" or you can call them "Christmas prep." Now, I'm guilty of the former, but you HAVE to keep your outlook positive or it will drive you CRAZY.

5) Finally, don't burn yourself out

You've had a hard day. You probably haven't left the library all day besides to grab food. Go out, eat dinner with friends and watch Netflix. Tomorrow we'll do it all over again.

Happy Holidays and good luck with finals!