As I prepared for my final year at UCLA, I thought that stacking my classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays (those also being the days I have dance practice) would be the wisest course of action. I was wrong. While I was planning my courses over the summer during enrollment, I felt that stacking my classes would free up so much of my time. I would not have classes for nearly three days of the week! In my mind, procrastination brought on by my prioritization of other assignments would be a thing of the past. This decision, however, has done nothing but make me more exhausted than I have ever been in any of my quarters at UCLA.
My free days are now entirely spent doing homework and going to meetings that I cannot do on the days of my classes. Have I mentioned how difficult it is to get to my classes as well? Walking from Boelter to Rolfe in less than 10 minutes is honestly almost impossible. During those 10 minutes, I am speed-walking to get to the center of campus and then flying up two flights of stairs to make it to my class on time.
On some days, it is as if I do not even have time to breathe. Occasionally I will attempt to get more sleep, but then I would not eat breakfast, which forces me to then skip lunch because I had no time to get it. Combine that with a six hour class day, a three hour dance practice and you have yourself one exhausted college student.
As for the days I do not have class, I find myself sitting and reading from my laptop with little to no breaks. Even if I spend the entire day doing work, it is sometimes not enough to fully finish the homework I need to get done. A more spaced-out schedule would allow me to manage my time better and would significantly decrease my stress. Plus, the extra time I in a spaced-out schedule would allow me to complete homework right before class, which was always a positive. All in all, the most important thing I learned this quarter is that stacking my classes was not at all what I expected it to be. Instead of making it easier to fulfill my responsibilities as a college student, it only brought long days and unnecessary amounts of stress. I definitely will not be putting myself through this again next quarter.