Coming to college, I felt like I’d have a good grasp of the workload I would have. I’d taken college courses throughout the last two years of high school and felt prepared to navigate high-level expectations. The American history course I took last year nearly killed me. The work seemed never-ending and took hours to complete a fraction of the daily assignment. I got used to this fast-paced rhythm and felt like I was prepared for the future. In my list of worries about coming to college, the amount of work was not one of them.
During the first couple of weeks of classes, I was able to get my footing and create a schedule that I could follow each day to get my homework done, while also squeezing in the gym, eating meals, and attending whatever CAB events were going on each night. I managed to fit all of this in and still get to bed at a decent hour.
Now, reaching the midway point in the semester, I can honestly say I was severely under prepared for what was coming. No matter how many hours I spend studying in the library every day, it’s still not enough. The week leading up to, and the days following break have felt like hell. Even though my friends and I set time aside to ‘lock in’ right after the class, most nights you can find us seated in the basement of the library until they close at midnight.
After it closes, we migrate to the study lounge in either Rob or Fal. Who knew it would be such a struggle trying to find a room that wasn’t completely full at 1 a.m. on a Wednesday night? Some nights, I’ve ended up calling my other friends, who live on a completely different floor, hoping they’re still awake just to let me up and use their study lounge when mine is in use.
It doesn’t matter how many times I check my assignment tracker, my email, or text people in my class; I never seem to be done. There’s always one more thing that needs to be done or could be done in preparation for the upcoming week. Only three out of five of the courses I’m taking this semester have a heavy workload; the others are things completed in class time rather than as homework. Still, I’m already stressed out about what my nights will look like when I graduate from Bona 101.
It doesn’t help that I feel so behind, like I just can’t catch up, when I see other people watching movies with their friends every night or doing what appears to be anything but homework. I find myself dragging my feet through the week, sacrificing sleep to ensure I am getting assignments done, studying material, and still making time to work out and get enough sleep. I am hoping that as college progresses, I’ll regain the sense of control I thought I had when the year began.