It’s about a month into the semester. We’ve settled in, had some fun, maybe made a friend or two in some of our classes, and been reminded of how little time we have. There are days where we sacrifice sleep and there are days where we sacrifice studying, and it seems that every day we're sacrificing our social lives.
This isn't a surprise to me, I expected "college life" to include sacrifices. There are a few things, though, that I never expected us college students would have to sacrifice, simply because there isn't enough time:
1. Eating
Unless you remember to pack yourself a snack before leaving for the day, you’ll be starving until around 6:00 at night. When your classes run back to back, there isn’t enough time to sit down for a real meal. Granola bars must suffice.
2. Sleeping
Either you stay up until 1:00 a.m. or wake up at 5:00 a.m. to finish your homework, there is no in between. Somehow you run on 20 hours of sleep per week which, honestly, should be illegal.
3. The Little Things
Want to watch your favorite show on Mondays at 8/7c? Sorry, you can't. You have meetings on Monday nights, one at 6:00, then another one at 7:00, and sometimes one more at 8:00. (You also can't afford cable, despite the fact that all of your free time is spent working, but that's a whole other story.)
4. Homework
When you have to juggle up clubs, internships and your minimum-wage job, classes almost seem like the last priority. You find yourself finishing assignments in between classes, listening to the audio version of your textbook while in the car and desperately trying to squeeze in that 20 question online assignment ten minutes before it’s due.
5. Cleaning
Correction: cleaning is the last priority, not classes. This definitely makes its way to the bottom of your list of priorities. You're constantly compromising with yourself, claiming that you'll start to, "do your dishes as you go," but who has time to clean every dish right after using it? Not you.
6. Going Home
And when you finally miss the place where you could eat, sleep, watch your favorite show and do your homework (or even clean when you really had to), you can’t sacrifice the time. The many obligations you have as a college student sometimes keep you from doing what you want to do. Instead, these obligations force you to do what's best for you, so you don't go home. This makes you sad, but that's okay, you'll make your way back home another time.
