This is it. The final countdown. Just a few more days until freedom, freedom meaning break and family and my own bed and food that doesn’t come from a dining hall and a general break from school for five glorious weeks. In order to reach that finish line, though, there was one more massive hurdle standing in my way: finals week. Or rather, if you are a USD student, finals week-and-a-half (Why??). With just a few more days left in this period of suffering and struggle, I am reflecting back on the life lessons and interesting facts that I have learned over the last week in my first experience with college finals.

1.This last week will be the longest week of the entire semester

For months you constantly talked about how unbelievably fast your first semester of college was flying by and then, bam, all of a sudden you’ve fallen on your face and finals week is dragging you by the legs as slowly and as painfully as possible through your last week of fall semester.

2. People are actually nicer to you

I know, it seemed a little backwards to me, too. I was planning on keeping my head low all week to avoid the crazed, cranky zombie students wandering around campus, but to my surprise, people were much more sympathetic and kind to each other. Solidarity, I suppose. It was a welcome surprise.

3. You gotta eat

I realized very quickly that forgetting to eat made for a very grumpy and sluggish version of myself that made studying even more unbearable. Furthermore, what I ate played a huge difference. It was easy to reach for the packaged, processed stuff because that was most convenient, but it was veggies and whole grains that made me feel the most energized and on top of my game.

4. Procrastination rests inside all of us

I consider myself to be a pretty good student, but when you start hearing about all your friends going home before you and break is just around the corner, it can be really hard to sit down and bury your head in a textbook or study guide.

5. You need to go outside

One day I realized that I had been sitting in the same place, in the same position, for several hours and could no longer remember what life outside my dorm room looked like. Go outside every so often. It’s good for your brain.

6. Everyone is struggling just as much as you are

It’s easy to get wrapped up in your own finals week doom and lament about how no one understands you and how no one has it worse than you do. This is college. You go to school with several thousand other people who are going through the exact same thing. Realize you’re not alone in your suffering, give a fellow finals week victim a hug for mutual support, and get back to the books. Break is just around the corner.