It is the most wonderful time of the year, no it is not the holiday season, it is fall break. The time of the year when the two days that Kenyon gives us, is for many, our saving grace. Whether you’re homesick, need to catch up on work or both, it seems to always fall at the right time. Because fall break generally falls halfway through the semester, this tends to be the busiest time for classes. Everyone seems to be stressed out on campus, and every student has something due in every class and even more things that they need to complete once they finish the things that are due tomorrow. The end of the semester feels far away and your beginning to at this point, question why you chose such an academic school in the first place. All of your other friends are at football games or going out to parties and you are locked inside studying for the foreseeable future.
For me at least, this time is always when I wonder why I “did this to myself”. I love my classes, professors and major, so I am very interested in what I am learning, but it does not mean that I am not burnt out. I think social media often makes me feel like being at Kenyon forces me to do way more work than is needed to get a college degree. It always seems like what is considered busy work times for my other friends at other schools is just a regular everyday walk in the park at Kenyon. It is even harder to have to tell friends and family who I miss dearly throughout the semester, but especially during the time around fall break that I cannot talk because I have too much work.
Fall break is certainly great to go home and see family and friends for students who are close to home by means of car or a short flight. However, often I feel like I still am in the same tug of war of trying to make everyone I love happy, by seeing all of them and at the same time needing to start or catch up on research for papers that are worth most of my grade in multiple classes. However, now that it is my junior year, I have really started to look at fall break for its positives.
I cannot control the Kenyon workload or the fact that I am not able to do as many of the fun college things like my friends at other schools. Yes, I knew Kenyon was going to be hard getting in but it does not mean that I am not human. It doesn’t mean that I don’t need a break, too. It is impossible to be a machine every day for months on end; I am human and was not meant to work from sun up to sun down studying all of the time. I know that I have a ton of work to complete in these next four days, but I want to try and stop and smell the roses when I am hanging out with those I love back home.
I think everyone, no matter how busy they are, just wants support. Just knowing that others are supporting you gives me a pick me up. I love my college friends dearly, many of them I considered family and would do anything for, but there is something to be said about those who have been there since day one. Some of my friends and family back home have been in my life since the day I was born or since I was elementary school age. They know me better than myself at times and always remind me of how I have always gotten through hard times and make me believe in myself when I am under an unbelievable amount of stress.
At the end of the day, they are the reason I work so hard. I want to always be in the position to help them and to give back to those who have helped me along the way. This fall break, I am taking a positive approach and recognizing that the time I have with family is short. Next year is senior year, then hopefully the following year I will be a 1L in law school. Every year gets busier and busier and the work is not going to stop, but my love for family, friends and the little school breaks that I get every year. Thank you, Kenyon, for the fall break, like every year, it is much needed.
Image Credit: Feature, Margo Minor, 1