I noticed a trend lately — a sleepy, tired and sad trend.
We're growing, slowly but surely, more impatient and grumpy as the year progresses. I'm calling this phenomenon the "Spring Semester Slump."
It's common sense, really. We start out the school year relatively excited to be back on campus, with friends, possibly even excited to be in class. Fall break comes, and while it's well-appreciated, we can come back to school without much coaxing. School has yet to get truly difficult — our professors appear to still retain their humane capabilities.
This goes out the proverbial window, however, after Fall Break.
Professors, all seemingly working in tandem, decide to assign every possible assignment at one time. Yes, they might all give three weeks off before or after, but that one "Hell Week" will set the mood for the remainder of the semester. This may be repeated once or twice, creating "Hell Weeks" or even "Hell Month."
Winter Break cannot come fast enough.
Those three beautiful weeks are the shortest three weeks of my life. Einstein's theory of relativity is proven correct — those three weeks feel like a minute, but a minute in a final feels like three weeks.
After that brief respite, spring semester begins. However, this beginning doesn't go as smoothly as fall — nowhere near close. There are several reasons:
One — there's no sunshine. Yes, I may be a townie, but the perma-cloud brings me down, too.
Two — I'm just not rested enough. Fall semester finals are fresh wounds that have not been healed by three weeks of forced family fun and horrendous sweaters. The three weeks of Christmas break are no match to wondrous summer, filled with warmth, bonfires and long days.
Three — applications for jobs and internships start to take over any time you thought you had for movies, friends or even your homework. All the rejection letters ("Sorry, but due to the horrendous economy, we can't afford to pay our own employees, let alone a college intern.") take a toll on the psyche.
So, what's a girl to do? How do we beat the "Spring Semester Slump?"
Be spontaneous. Run around South Quad in the middle of the night screaming your heads off for fun. Eat a ton (yes, an actual ton) of chocolate with your roommates while watching chick flicks — boys, I'd recommend trying this, too. You are also hereby forbidden to do any homework on Friday or Saturday nights. I've seen you, library lurkers — doing homework when you should be making friends. I have proof that you should put socializing first:
In ten years, what are you going to remember — that C+ paper that made you cry or that time when your friends had an impromptu snowball fight — indoors?
Just remember to wear your mittens.
