Photo #1
The fall was beautiful here at Longwood. A sense of security finally settled in as I finished up my first semester. Then slowly all those warm and toasty feelings began to dissolve like the colorful leaves outside my window.
Conversations turned to the dreaded word “finals.”
Finals aren’t something that students really discuss. It’s more like a hush or a dreaded secret— something you see at the end of your new syllabus.
Now that it’s all over I can now give you the truth: Finals week was just the worst!
As you can see by my first picture, I started out feeling super positive (Photo #1). Surely it couldn’t be much worse than finals in high school. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
As I looked out my window at Curry with finals just around the corner, all I could see was the humongous crane hanging outside. (Photo #2) I was ready for it to come smashing through my room and save me from the week ahead. I guess I really didn’t know what to expect. Perhaps I thought I could “wing it” like I had done so many times in high school.
But college is a whole new world. I tried to study, tried to push myself, stayed up all night and crammed like never before. It didn’t work. I felt myself going into a week of no sleep, no food and a feeling of twilight that even Starbucks couldn’t fix.
My third picture speaks for itself. Yes, even a tear might have been shed at some point. (Photo #3)
But you know what? I did it. I made it through my first semester at college—finals and all.
Through all the worry and the tears and the lack of sleep, I learned something:
—I learned that this semester I’ll know what I’m getting into.
—I learned that the next time I want to roll over in bed and skip a class that I’m going to make some coffee and trudge on.
—I learned that you have to take the good with the bad.
Second semester here I come!
