As the end of each school year approaches, everyone begins to feel it. In High School I thought it was the absolute worst, but college has taught me otherwise. The end of the year is always just so difficult because you've gone so long doing work with fewer breaks than during Fall semester. Here are a few ways you can tell that it's almost the end:

1. Once you stop getting sleep

Obviously, the first sign is the lack of sleep. My Fitbit's goal of 8 hours of sleep per night is completely impossible to achieve more than possibly 2 nights a week if I'm lucky. I've consistently gotten less than 6 hours of sleep for a week or two now because suddenly everything seems to be caving in on itself and due dates are catching up to me.

2. The smell of coffee and caffeine

Going off of number one, coffee and caffeine are the only things keeping everyone alive. In the mornings, I've begun noticing more and more people carrying around mugs of what keeps me going. During the Winter term and Fall, I managed to limit myself to about 5 cups of coffee a week, but now it's more like 5 cups a day. Not to mention the beautiful discovery of Mountain Dew Kickstarter energy drinks that help give me that boost that I need when I get tired of the taste of coffee.

3. Needing a hug/animal to love

Sometimes it just reaches a point where you feel a need to have a hug or to pet some animals. Thankfully, the Pet Smart in Lexington is near enough that my friends and I are able to go over there and see the puppies and kittens on Saturdays.

4. You feel stressed 90% of the time

Once April hits, you suddenly feel the pressure of every assignment that you have due in the next month on your shoulders. Suddenly all of your professors reach the point where they get serious with work and begin setting more and more deadlines at the exact same time as every other class you're in.

5. When you relax you feel like you're forgetting an assignment

Once you've reached your stress level, you occasionally have a day where you realize you've done everything you need to do that's insanely pressing. However, this always trips me up and makes me rethink the assignments I have because this so rarely happens.

6. You tune out more frequently than usual

At the exact worst time during the year, the sleep deprivation begins to catch up with you and you start to tune out during class. Once this happens, you know it's nearing the end of the semester.

7. You turn in assignments that you're not sure are correct

Sometimes, you just have to let some assignments take second place next to others, so you are forced to BS your way through them and turn them in.

8. You start stress eating

I begin stress eating within the first month of the semester, but I always notice that I see more pizza delivery cars around campus more frequently than other times of the year.

8. You realize you're only halfway done with your exams

That moment after you've taken a few exams and you just need for the semester to be over, but you still have that one last one left.

9. But then you're finally done!

Yay! We always make it through to the end, but it's a continuous struggle each semester to make it this far without going a little crazy.