IU students get to consider themselves lucky because, unlike most schools, we get a week off for Thanksgiving break. We get an entire week. A heavenly break from classes to make up for the sorry excuse for "fall break" we were given just over a month ago. Finally, the majority of the student body gets the chance to go home, see their families, sleep in their own beds, snuggle with their pets, and smash excessive amounts of Thanksgiving delicacies, of course. This week-long vacation is such a nice break from reality, until it hits you that you still have three* full weeks left in the semester.
Two* weeks of classes and then finals week…excuse me while I slap myself in the face with my three-inch thick biology textbook. Now, it’s not the whole education thing that I have a problem with, especially considering that I’m spending more limbs than I have on my body to pay for tuition. It’s more that the motivation that has been slowly dissipating throughout the semester has disappeared much more quickly after being given a lovely taste of what winter break will be like once this semester is finally over. My motivation is the gas powering the car that is my lifestyle, and the fuel gauge is dangerously close to ‘E’.
For the past week, I, like many of my friends, slept in obscenely late on week days, worked to put just a little bit of money in my pocket, and spent a LOT of time binge-watching Netflix (a luxury that I usually can’t afford during regular weeks because I’m too busy juggling other things). I’m not the type of person to be able to lay around doing nothing for weeks on end, but after attacking my first semester of college as best as I could, my brain is screaming for an extended break. The best part of this break, however, was how many friends I was able to see. I got to see so many of my good friends from high school that I haven’t seen in months and I couldn’t have been happier about any part of that. Of course I love all of the new friends that I’ve made at school and miss hanging out with them regularly, but these are friends that I have history with and therefore more of a connection with. Since I’m still new to this whole college thing, I haven’t quite reached that point with my new friends.
By far the worst part of college is having to leave pets behind, and after spending a week with my cats, I honestly don’t know how I’m ever going to leave them again. As I write this, one of my cats is curled up next to me, adorably sleeping the night away as she does. I can’t imagine having to leave her until winter break and, quite frankly, don’t really know how I’ve survived so far this semester without my cats. Ironically, this is going to be the least amount of time that I’m going to be spending away from them this semester. Maybe it’s just premature stress about having to leave them after winter break for another full semester.
Disclaimer: I love and feel very fortunate to be attending school and pursuing a bachelor’s degree. However, I am only human and therefore am prone to the effects that real life can have. But, of course I plan on powering through until the end. Gotta get good grades now so I can provide for my cats in the future, right?
*By the time this article is published, we’ll only be down to two full weeks: one week of classes and finals.
