After a three month long break of being separated from your best friends nothing is more exciting then returning to campus and knowing you get to participate in the infamous syllabus week.
The first week of classes is the only week where you are guaranteed to get out of class early, rage every night, go to fraternity rush parties and not have any stress in the world other then how to get rid of your 7 day long hangover. Sadly though, as all other weeks do, syllabus week must end. We go through the seven phases of grief as any normal person would after a break-up or death of a family member, but in this case it is the sad ending of syllabus week. Here is a guide on what to expect when experiencing post-syllabus week depression.
1. Shock and Denial
When Saturday night rolls around and you realize it is your last night to go out in total freedom you cannot believe it. You will have sappy conversations about the end and you will have screaming conversations about how tonight you have to go the hardest of the entire week. You will get so drunk that you and your friends will be convinced that you will just carry on syllabus week for the entire year, that you no longer care about your classes and just want to party.
2. Pain and Guilt
Then Sunday morning comes and you feel the pain in your head, stomach and heart when you realize it really is over. You may cry(and/or puke) whether it’s from your hangover or because you remembered you have homework for your 9 am class on Monday. You will begin to feel guilty about the Wednesday night you decide to stay in to catch up on your sleep because now you can never get it back. Deep down, now that the alcohol has worn off you realize that syllabus week cannot carry on forever because your parents would fly you home before you got through even half of the semester.
3. Anger
At some point in the following week you just become plain out upset. You hate all your teachers for giving you homework. You hate the fraternities for not throwing parties on weekdays. You hate your friends for refusing to go out on a Tuesday. Nothing seems to appease you. Even if you try to go out it upsets you because it is no longer the same as syllabus week.
4.Depression
Now you are at the point where you just “literally can’t even” go out anymore. You are just depressed that your favorite holiday (yes, syllabus week is a holiday) has passed. You have to wait another 18 weeks to experience it again and it breaks your heart to think about it. You lie in bed eating a gallon of ice cream, sipping on wine and watching Animal House while you reminisce about what once was.
5.Returning to somewhat normalcy
Enough time has passed that now you can start to go out on your normal 3 nights a week schedule. You still miss the first week but have begun to enjoy the steady schedule of classes, football and partying.
6.Coping
No longer do you miss syllabus week but instead love that you now get to add on to your family and meet all of the new pledges. You realize that as the year goes on you are getting closer to more exciting football games. Now you can actually move on with your social life.
7. Acceptance and Hope
The best part about post-syllabus week depression is when you experience it in the fall semester because you have hope for next semesters syllabus week. You have accepted that one syllabus week has past but it has convinced you to make the next one even more “less” memorable.
Good luck this year!
