1. It starts on a Wednesday. What? You didn’t even have to endure a Monday or a Tuesday–you gottta skip straight to hump day without even working for it! Which brings me to #2…
2. You don’t have to feel bad about going out 4 nights in a row because you don’t have any homework to blow off. During Syllabus Week, going out isn’t as much a form of procrastination as it is just a way to fill up your spare hours of free time. Wow. What a world.
3. The last time you were at school, you were in finals mode. Walking around campus without that familiar feeling of shoulder tension (from craning your neck over a desk for hours), achy eyeballs (from prolonged staring at a computer screen), caffeine jitters (from 6+ cups of coffee) and malnutrition (from your steady diet of coffee, No Thai takeout and protein bars) just feels different somehow.
4. You Uber unreal amounts. When it’s 2 AM, 3 degrees below zero, and you’re wearing a tank top and a hoodie, it’s worth it. Ditto for Pizza House.
5. Your nights end in ridiculous stories. Maybe you left your driver’s license at Panchero’s. Maybe you hooked up with someone and it started some drama. Maybe you ended up at a house on Packard playing champagne flip cup with guys on the curling team…whatever. Either way, you’ll laugh about it in the morning.
6. You see people around who you straight up forgot about over break. This goes out to the lovable randoms who you know and love but wouldn’t necessarily hit up. Wait, is that Rachel from freshman year Soc 100 discussion? I totally forgot how much I love her!!
7. Your classes last 35 minutes. And all you have to do is watch a PowerPoint about how your professor went to undergrad at Dartmouth before coming to Ann Arbor to get a PhD from Michigan and is now never leaving. Throw in some dog/baby/spouse pictures and a joke about Michigan sports in some capacity and you’re out of there.
8. You don’t set foot in the library unless you have to print something. Even the second floor is almost empty. It feels like one of those western movies where a tumbleweed blows through the streets.
9. You’re not really in a rush to do anything or go anywhere. Gym? Yeah! Sit in Espresso Royale for a few and catch up? Sure thing! Stay in bed until 4 PM? Hey, nothing’s stopping you!
10. Your discussion sections completely consist of icebreaker questions. Get used to telling a group of strangers your name, hometown, intended major, and IF YOU WERE A KITCHEN UTENSIL WHICH ONE WOULD YOU BE??
11. It’s over in the blink of an eye. Early January somehow became mid to late January, and you’re back to hogging a set of outlets at Amer’s while you do Psych readings and fire off emails. You reminisce about those fleeting days when you were a free bird–then, you chug a cup of coffee and get back to work. You know what they say: work hard, play hard.