15 Minutes to Go

“Ok, I’ve been here for four hours and 45 minutes…ugh, I have to make it to five hours, at least. Oh, but I want to go home and eat something unhealthy as a reward for doing my work. No, stay here for a bit longer, go home and run for a half hour, then eat cookie dough with the roommates. Then do a bit of studying in my room…maybe.”
This is a typical dialogue that my conscience has while I’m holding my mind and body hostage in the library for extended amounts of time. Though by now I’ve found my favorite spots around campus and move from one to another quite frequently, there is only so much my mind can take. If I start by doing a bit of Spanish homework at my apartment, then go to Grainger to find an empty room for some English writing, followed by poli sci reading in Memorial Library, and a bit more ILS reading on the second floor of Memorial Union, while signing choir songs inbetween, I can usually catch my body’s movements up with my mind’s. But, when I’m sitting here, in the same chair, allowing myself one bathroom break, I get a little crazy.
Now, I’m not saying this as if my brain pain is unique. We are all students at a Big 10 University, and let’s face it: high school homework didn’t quite compare us for this. I’m just writing this as a release for my current state of “Please studying, get in my brain and let me go home!”ness. But, home holds so many distractions, especially for a mind that is looking to procrastinate.
This semester’s Finals Week is actually being pretty nice to me. The week and a half before were a bit rough, but now that’s done. Though I do catch myself thinking that I should read that certain article again, I quickly and happily remember that class is over and if I haven’t reviewed things by now, it’ll be of no use, because I already took that test and did that paper! Sorry, rambling: a common feature of the last week of the semester.
I’ve only been at this particular library for a little over two and a half hours, but for this study stretch I’m aiming for three hours, and then it’s time for a change. It’s strange because as the semester progressed I felt more and more in my college grove; that studying and tests and papers and projects were just the normal thing. But, as finals drew closer, my body decided to let all my late nights catch up with me. Boo that! But there is sleep in sight, for in less than a week I’ll be sleeping in my own big bed and waking up to my mom asking me if I want pancakes or waffles and fruit for breakfast. Ah, the first days home.
But, what about after college? I guess when I’m in the ‘real world’ there won’t be big tests at the end of a 15 week stint of work, and I won’t have a month long break to do absolutely nothing related to my full-time profession, with is currently the statutes of student. Well, I just won’t think about those days too much, because as hard as being a Badger sometimes is, there are so many more advantages of being here with so many crazy cool people. Oh, and will you look at that; I’ve been here for three hours. Cookie dough, here I come!