If you are freshmen approaching the end of your first semester of college, then you are feeling several different emotions. Relief most likely being the strongest (unless you think about next semester for too long, which I don’t recomend). Another thing on your mind is finals. You have heard about them all of your high school career from you colllege friends, and the way they talk about them you could consider them the bringers of the apocolypse. Honestly though, you’ve survived this first semester without dying, being kicked out, and getting arrested. You should definately consider that a win. However, you will soon find yourself on this path to the end of finals.
1. The Confusion
If this hasn’t been your face when watching your friends that are farther along in their collegiate careers preparing for exams, then you haven’t been paying attention. We both know that Joyner has been the place to be since Halloweek ended. It has been a little confusing for me. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why everyone was so panicked. However, as finals have been approaching, and my professors have been revealing little snippets of what to expect. That is when the panic set in. Then there’s that surprise exam that you didn’t even know existed…
2. The Panic
At this point you have become overwhelmed with your mountain of work. You have dreams of notecards and highlighters attacking you in your sleep (just me?). This is the point when you contemplate your reason for first attending college, and consider how much money you can make as a hobo (again, just me?). You respond to this stage in one of two ways. You either try and overcompensate for your lack of preparation, or you lay in bed for nine hours bingwatching The Crown on Netflix.
3. The Resolve
If you reach this stage, and don’t get stuck in the Netflix pit, you develope a resolve. This resolve is exactly what you needed to carry you towards the finish lines. No more are there nightmare about notecards and highlighters, but those things become your friends. You develope an intimate relationship with Joyner, and the baristas at the Starbucks located in Joyner. You find your spot in the library and become furiously protective of that spot. With this burst of energy, you march towards the finish line.
4. The Finish Line
The finish line, or as mere mortals like to call it, the end of the semester. Once you start taking your exams, you’ll find that you are lulled into a sense of routine. You study for an exam, you take an exam, you might eat if you remember, and then you repeat. Lucky for you, you only have 5 of these to complete, before you are riding santa’s sleigh all the way to your parents house, where you fall into a three week coma. But hey, don’t feel bad about that coma. You earned that coma. You have finished your exams.