I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I will defend it until the day I die. Finals week is the best week of the semester. Sure, we’ve all got a boatload of work to do, and that work typically weighs significantly on our final grades. It’s stressful! I’ll give you that. But you can’t ignore all the finer things that make the week magical. For example:
Free Food
SGA sponsors a Finals Feast on Reading Day. The Chidsey Center serves a pancake breakfast that morning. Fraternities and eating houses get exam snacks from their cooks. Campus Summit will reduce prices on coffee drinks if they get 500 followers by Thursday (@SummitCoffeeDC, hint hint). If you’re spending much money on food during Finals week, you’re doing it wrong. Don’t forget that the free food is usually sugary, carb-y, trans-fatty goodness that makes your brain happy enough to forget about your studies for a minute. Plus, it’s not like eating free junk food for a week is going to lead to the Finals Fifteen – and even if it did, your sanity is much more important than your beach bod anyway.
Puppies
God bless the Pre-Vet Society. Seriously, praise the Lord. Could there be a sweeter, cuddlier, friendlier, cuter treatment for finals week stress than dozens of baby dogs? I submit that there could not. This event is a real game-changer in terms of morale boosts. Do you know how many endorphins and serotonins and methamphetamines your brain produces when you snuggle a puppy? ALL OF THEM. And it only happens during finals week.
Massages
Again, only during finals week. Commons typically hosts a de-stress fest during lunch one day this week, during which they have a few massage therapists come in and dole out five-minute massages, free of cost. Speaking as a person who carries all her tension in her shoulders and back, even just five minutes could make you feel like a whole new individual, and exams suddenly seem much more bearable. When your muscles are relaxed, your brain tends to follow suit…at least for a little while.
Games
There’s no better way to relieve stress (other than puppies, yes, agreed) than a bit of irrational competition. Props to Commons and the Klub Libz for setting out games like Connect Four and Battleship to encourage us to exorcise our pent-up aggression and bond with other students in our time of need. Nothing brings Davidson students together the stress of exams.
Self-Scheduled Exams
I get it; we all think we’re at our wit’s end. Seriously, though, just imagine how much more anxious everyone would be if the administration told us when we had to take our exams. You could have two or three in one day! And one at 9pm! With another one at 7 the next morning! But (hallelujah) that’s not the case – we can schedule our finals for whenever we want. Not a morning person? Take your exam in the afternoon. Want to leave early? Take all your tests in the first few days. Or put them off until the end of the week; that’s your call. Everything is on YOUR time. Thank you, Davidson, for helping us live out the phrase, “You do you.”
The End
I contend that this week is better than all other hell weeks throughout the semester for this reason alone: once you finish your work, you’re done. Your professor isn’t going to keep assigning work for you to keep up with once you’ve finished his exam but are still working on a paper for another class. Your workload gradually diminishes. And when you’re done, you’re free! Well, you’re free for the next seven months until you get to do it all over again…