Fall semester always seems a lot easier to get through than spring semester. Why? In college, Spring Break is much earlier than high school Spring Break, because in college, summer vacation begins in April. But that stretch of seven or eight weeks is keeping you from sitting poolside on the weekends and having a steady flow of income during the week.
As we scroll back through recent Instagram photos with the hashtag #SpringBreak2K16, we all go through these stages once returning back to campus.
The first day back.
You just spent an entire week on a beach in the Bahamas, soaking up some sun, or sleeping until noon and catching up on some great Netflix Original series, and all of a sudden it's time to go back to reality. But now you're back and have exams right away (because, for some reason, professors think you are actually going to study over break), but you don't want to step back into the routine just yet.
You try to pull strings.
Doing everything in your power, you try to avoid responsibility, schoolwork, and anything that involves concentration or a serious attitude. But when you look at the syllabus for each of your classes, it becomes clear that there isn't really room for extensions or exemption.
You realize you don't really have a choice.
You sort of have to finish out the rest of the semester -- that's why you're there in the first place, right? So after some contemplating, you embrace it openly. You have the mindset that you can finish strong.
You think you can do it all.
Sure, you can stay on top of your classes, tan at the beach, keep binging on Netflix, get your daily nap in, stay involved on campus, and go out to some parties. It won't be too much.
Reality check.
You come to the conclusion that there are only a few weeks left in the semester, and that your GPA isn't quite where you want it to be.
So you have a minor breakdown and order food.
Food is your friend. Ordering Chinese take-out or a large pizza is OK. You're sure you're going to fail the semester, but something about curling up with fast food in bed makes it bearable.
Wine helps even more.
There's no shame. Your roommates and friends are going to join you, because everyone is in that place right now. And popping the cork off a bottle helps you sit down, relax, and reevaluate how you're going to get through the next few weeks.
You call your parents to complain.
After spilling out all your problems and concerns to your mom or dad, they give you some advice and remind you that, at this point, there is less than a month left of school. So you get down to business and power through.
You make it to that last final exam, and it's finally summer.
See? It wasn't too bad! (Yes, it was, don't lie to yourself.) But you've finally finished out the semester and couldn't appreciate summer vacation more.
