In case you’ve been living under a rock and don’t know who Dan Howell is, let me enlighten you:
Danisnotonfire (aka love of my life) is a British YouTuber known for sassy, honest, and entertaining content about world news, viral videos, or just whatever is going on inside of his brain. More often than not he’s quite self-deprecating and can often be found having the same existential crises as you and me, but he does it on the internet for everyone to see. He makes jokes out of it as a way to show people they’re not alone, but also so they can feel better and happier. What a sweetheart.
But, my favorite thing about Dan is how honest he is:
His lack of filter and multitude of facial expressions and eye-rolling episodes are a great way to describe how college is going for most of us at this time of year. It’s currently supposed to be fall, but here in Boston it goes from 55 degrees to 77 the next day and then it’s humid as all hell while raining. I really don’t know how to dress for this weather and my sinuses are not adjusting well. Students are walking around in somewhat of a trance, usually with a large coffee, as most of us are suffering from sleep deprivation because of the wonderful thing we call midterms.
So, here is my current college schedule as told by Mr. Daniel Howell:
I have a midterm this Friday in my women’s studies class. Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying learning about the nuclear family and how society and biology have shaped how we view gender. However, it’s a little awkward when your professor announces, “For the last five minutes we’re going to talk about the female orgasm” and you have to talk about monkey’s mating and ovulation habits.
Next up we have my sociology class which involves a 51 page reading to do over two days. But don’t worry, I only have to focus on the first 37 pages. It’s an interesting class but I can only read tiny font for so long before I want to cry. But, hey, that’s college for you.
Let’s talk about the classes for my English major. I’m taking two classes, one of which is taught by a Scottish professor so at least that keeps things interesting. Honestly, I’m not too mad at the class, despite having (you guessed it!) copious amounts of reading. It’s usually pretty interesting. Having not read Shakespeare since high school, I forgot how humorous he can be sometimes. I’m also a big fan of poetry so a number of sonnets we’re currently reading is music to my ears.
But there’s this one little annoying detail about the class. My professor was selected for Grand Jury duty which means my class got moved from 3:30-4:45 to 5:00-6:15 on Thursdays.
Quite irritating when you have a job, but it’s not working out too badly at the moment. The bigger issue is that it’s my last class of the day so when I’m super tired and sitting opposite my professor, I look a little like this:
Yikes… sorry Professor Burnett, I promise I’m liking British Literature, I’m just not getting enough sleep.
In terms of my other English class, I have a presentation this week which is totally fine if you don’t have anxiety about talking in class. Lucky for me, I do have anxiety! So this should go about as smoothly as trying to bike down Comm Ave:
Wish me luck!
Also on my list of things to do is start my study abroad application, which is terrifying and exciting. Catch me in London attempting to find Dan… might be a little hard since he is very adamant that he doesn’t enjoy leaving his apartment (something I relate to). But nonetheless, if I see him out and about I’ll try to get a picture with him. I mean, come on, who could resist that smile?
It’s going to be a busy week, but at the end of it my roommate and I are going out to dinner in the North End, which means good bonding time AND I get to eat good food.
I also get to sleep in which is going to be heavenly because exams will be over and I don’t have another paper due for a couple weeks… life will finally be calming down.
But, on a serious note, as much as I complained and was sarcastic in this article, it was all in good fun. Classes are hard, exams are annoying, and the New England weather is about as predictable as how they’re going to spell your name at Starbucks — it changes every day. But I love BU, I love Boston, and soon this midterm slump will be over and we can all enjoy the beautiful foliage, wearing sweaters, and get excited about the snow (until it actually starts snowing and we all get annoyed… you can’t win with college students).