First Year Focus

Gimee a Break

My advice to you this week: never visit a college right before Thanksgiving.

That is, never visit Duke before break, unless you derive pleasure from seeing a bunch of overachievers wrestle with paper after paper after paper, or expect to see undergrads leaping from the Chapel roof to their deaths.

Oh, okay, it's really not that bad. It's just that while writing this column, I'm anticipating the wonders of another all-nighter spent with Greek History, Philosophy, and my trusty laptop. Ugh. I'm wondering why I bother. What good will a research paper on the representation of women in romance novels do me, unless I decide to become an English professor (which ironically is a big possibility, but... oh, shut up. That's not the point.) Anyway, the stress level is climbing at a rate of 80 million points per second, and it's not good. There doesn't seem to be any way to get all the work done.

Of course, things aren't usually like this around here. Normally, I can manage to sleep, have fun, and work - all in one weekend! But now, it's looking like I've forgotten to include a crucial part of that equation, and I'm suffering the consequences. So is everyone else. All the freshmen have research papers due for UWC (University Writing Course), and the rush is on for the professors as well. For some reason, all of them seem to think that Thanksgiving break is the ideal time to grade assignments. Thus, all of our assignments are due within the next twenty-four hours.

This is the stress you hear about when people talk about college, and it's the reason there are plenty of coffee shops here at Duke. One wouldn't think that going to class two or three times a week could possibly be that bad. Guess what -- it is. That kind of schedule fosters procrastination like nothing else can. And although I have officially proven that procrastination is an art, it doesn't seem to help much when grades come out.

Not that my grades are bad. But my health is probably not too good from trying to keep those very same grades up. It's an insoluble paradox. One of my friends is on the way to having mono, and people have been snapping at each other like crazy. I'm not really sure what to do anymore. I could start my Greek History paper... but "Legends of the Fall" is playing next door... and the bed looks awfully welcoming... oh, the heck with this. I have to go watch Brad Pitt get married to that Native American chick.

Okay, that's over with. Now I can get back to work. But my roommate has a friend over, so it's not the best environment for writing a paper. ARGH! What to do? Perhaps I should just bite the bullet. Okay, where are my Greek History notes? Uh-oh, I've been too busy to clean the room. I have no idea where they are. One more obstacle in the way of my work.

Talk to me next week, when I've just gotten back from Thanksgiving break. That's when I'll really be giving thanks -- thanks that all this work is finally done!