Coming back to school, whether this is your first year or your last year, is difficult. Going from mom’s cooking back to dining halls and seeing your family in person to just seeing them over the phone can be a tough change for any student. Especially since the long haul is about to begin: the spring semester. Spring break feels so much further off in the spring semester than Thanksgiving break feels in the fall semester. However, as a student who’s had to already deal with this twice, here are my tips for getting through a smooth spring semester.
Winter Calories Don’t Count
It’s so incredibly easy to splurge over the winter break. Family is at home, holidays are coming around and the food is endless. Therefore, if anyone is like me, it’s almost second nature to plow through plates of food after dealing with Plaza burgers for the past couple months.
Then, in January, coming back into your dorm or apartment and getting back into classes and the gym, it becomes easy to think: “Dang, I should not have eaten that much over break.” It’s important not to take this to heart, though, because winter calories do not count. That’s when and where your fondest memories will be made and in ten years, you literally won’t remember or care about how much you ate because all you’ll be able to think about is how much fun you had.
Concentrate on the New Semester
This might sound simple, but it’s a mental mantra that you have to keep telling yourself. As soon as you begin to think about how much time you have until the sun shines for more than three hours a day and how sand on the beach is going to feel, you’re doomed. Paying attention to just the weeks and months ahead of you is what is going to get you to the finish line. Before you know it, it’ll be May and you’ll either be graduating or getting ready to head home. Taking the days one at a time and focusing on assignments due each week really speeds up the time, and it will go faster than you’d think.
Prepare for the Summer
I know I just talked about not thinking about the summer, but it is also important to plan for it. Especially as an upperclassman, internship applications need to be submitted earlier than you’d think and a lot of places have deadlines in late February or early March. For underclassmen, thinking about what job you’ll want or need is something you should secure before the spring semester is at full swing. There’s no limit to how many applications for jobs or internships you should apply to. It’s amazing (and painful) how much you’ll get rejected (from first-hand experience). However, there’s a wonderful Instagram page that posts about scholarships and internships for girls in high school and college, and below you can see what the vibe is. There are endless opportunities out there for you, and it’s never too early to get connected to them.
After This Semester, the Whole Year is Over
As the warm weather and summer scents draw closer, one last thing to remember to get you through these trying months is that after this semester, the whole year will be over. After all those months of being a freshman, well, guess what: you’re not the fresh meat anymore. After a whole year of being a sophomore, you’re halfway through college. Finishing up junior year: you’re in the final stretch, only one year to go. And of course, if you’re a senior, this is it for you! Thinking of how it’ll feel to start telling people a different title is more rewarding than you’d think. It shows you got through that whole year, especially since it sucks there’s no name change at the end of fall semester.
Final Considerations
Ultimately, it’s a balancing act during the spring semester. Trying not to think about the summer and being home, but also planning for what you’ll do professionally during it, are both vital. Letting the weight of the winter break fall off your shoulders if anything happened that you’re not happy about; it’s never that serious, I promise you. Always give yourself grace during these months and just remember that the sun is shining longer every day.