For the majority of November, all I could think about was Thanksgiving Break. Eating incredible food, seeing family and friends and perhaps most importantly, getting a break from the constant stream of work that Duke presents. Thanksgiving came and brought everything that I had hoped it would—but then it ended. For some reason, the three weeks after this break always seem to go by the slowest. Maybe it’s the looming prospect of final exams or maybe it’s the memory of being totally stress free that makes these weeks so difficult. This year, however, I am trying to focus not on the stresses of Duke, but instead on all of its aspects that make me love being here so much.
There are so many great things that Duke has to offer and I’m going to spend these next few weeks making the most of this semester instead of waiting for it to end. I will spend time with my friends before we go our separate ways in December. I will finally go to the WaDuke to spend all the food points that I’ve let accumulate, afraid that I would repeat my freshman year and run out of food points halfway through the semester. I will take a few hours to check out the Nasher Museum and look at some of the exhibits there. I’m going to put everything I have into my finals so that all my hard work this semester accomplishes something.
It’s so easy to spend all of my time at home wishing I was at school and all of my time at school wishing I was at home, but my New Year’s resolution is to stop this cycle. And I’m going to start mine early this year.