December is probably the most beautiful month of the year. There are still a few days of actual nice fall weather before the beauty of early winter comes in and bundles us up in ugly Christmas sweaters and scarves. We have traded in the baseball caps and iced coffee for knit beanies and Peppermint Mochas. The permacloud couldn’t be anymore present, but the constant layer of snow on everything in sight makes everything much more bearable. It’s Christmas time on the Notre Dame campus, which means snowball fights, Christmas lights, peppermint Schnapps patties, and of course, dreaded finals.
My excitement for finals and Christmas at the same time.
Sorry for bringing up stale thoughts, but we all know it is time to open up that textbook you haven’t seen since syllabus week, or maybe actually buy the book in the first place. It’s time to trade in Club Feve for Club Hes. But the reward of all this is three weeks of uninterrupted bliss before getting back at it again.
If you are lucky like I am you will only have one actual final. But unlucky for me, it’s literally on the last day of finals. Hooray for an entire week of doing nothing but waiting to go home to beautiful Southern California (lol, Peace, South Bend. Hello, 60 degree weather)! But, if you’re not as lucky as I am, and you have a pile of Stats, Orgo, and Finance books to go through, or whatever other nasty classes are stressing you out: don’t fret, young one. You’ll make it through.
My motivation throughout finals.
I entered college with unrealistic expectations of attaining a 3.8 GPA at the end of my first semester. Instead, I came home for winter break with a GPA just below 3.0, and I wasn’t even that concerned about it. Instead of comparing myself to my peers, I realized that what was done was done. As cliché as it sounds, the next semester was a fresh start. I chose classes that I actually liked, instead of ones that my adviser forced me into, and things were much more enjoyable.
Sure, I maintained a steady 4.3 all throughout high school, but it’s a different playing field now. The key to my acceptance of my new subpar GPA was the fact that I remembered that I am at Notre Dame. And so are all of you. Further, I understand how excessively competitive we are as Notre Dame students, which can be very dangerous. We’re borderline perfectionists, some likely are. Most of you have likely never received a grade lower than a B+. Anything lower was failure. But that’s not the case anymore. Even if I completely bomb a class or two, in the end my degree will be from Notre Dame, which speaks much higher volumes than a C+ I got my freshman year in college. We have something like a 98% guarantee of job security upon graduation. The odds of my being a part of that percentage is looking pretty good right about now. Don’t worry, be happy.