Midterms are an unfortunate part of the college experience. At least after finals there is the promise of a well deserved and long break, be that winter break or summer vacation. Midterms don’t have the same reward but they’re just about as grueling and stressful, not to mention the fact that they are drawn out over the course of an entire month. What happened to October being the month of autumnal beauty and excitement? I guess Halloween is our reward for surviving Midterm Month. After studying for hours in order to get good grades and feel smart, Halloween allows an excuse to dress up and act really, really stupid (in the best way, of course).
The little signs that have been posted around campus in study rooms, most notably in every cubicle in Diana, with exclamations of “Keep Going” and “You Got This!” are nice but the truth is, most of us feel completely bulldozed. No 3”x11” slip of paper is going to change that. It seems like no matter how hard we study, there will always be at least one part of the exam that trips us up. Very few people, at least in my experience, leave the examination room feeling like skipping. The general sentiment is always “Well, that kinda sucked!” I know October leaves me feeling like I’ve been hit by a bus and left for dead. With this in mind, it’s only appropriate that The Day of the Dead be our reward.
As we all hand in our blue books, massage our cramping hands, and promptly forget everything we’ve studied, Halloween shines as a light at the end of the tunnel. We may not get to go home after midterms, but at least we get to dress up like our favorite superheroes/celebrities/animals/cartoons and drink our faces off for Halloween. I think we’ve all deserved that much, at least!