Surviving student life: December
This week, I committed the ultimate and most mortal sin of any college student...
DECEMBER
Words from SpunOut.ie Student Blogger Extraordinaire, Gill Greer
Quote of the Month:
“Wait, college has exams?”
(The identity of this friend should probably remain anonymous...)
This week, I committed the ultimate and most mortal sin of any college student – I declined the end of semester party for studying. Truly, I have hit rock bottom. December, it seems, means two things in Uni, and that’s partying, or the great exam-cram. The rare few who can balance both are regaled as divine beings among us puny mortals. Oh, how I long for the days when Christmas exams were just an unpleasant formality before the wonders of the holiday season. Now, it seems, exams actually mean something. No more dossing about, professing: ‘I’ll study for the mocks, I swear!’ and so, I resign myself to the great UCD library in the hopes of seeing that beautiful ‘pass’ grade on whatever the college equivalent of a report card is.
Now, just to find the books. Buying them is out of the question – we’re students! Poor as church mice! We don’t buy things, not without the promise of a healthy student discount or other such bargain to sweeten the deal. So, we resign ourselves to the wilderness that is the library. Whether it’s stalking the elusive Bordwell and Thompson’s Film Art: An Introduction or leaving your student card somewhere in the classics section, college libraries are scary places. I’ve heard tales of students chucking books out the windows, hiding the only copy of the Riverside Chaucer on the Engineering floor (we Arts students don’t venture to such places), even ripping out pages so your competing students can’t find the little gems of answers you have discovered. Like I said, scary. As for going back to my local library – let’s just say there’s a price on my head for that Sharon Osbourne autobiography I neglected to return back when I was fourteen. Last resort? Well, asking Santa for a copy of the latest edition of Literature in Context isn’t entirely out of the question...
Even if you are lucky enough to uncover the weighty stack of information you’re expected to stuff your head with before crunch-time, procrastination rears its ugly head. Suddenly you’re appalled by how disorganised your iTunes library is, dying to watch every episode of Skins you ever missed on YouTube, or curious as to what all the fuss is about Farmville anyway. For me, I remember how fun blog-writing is, suddenly have an urge to finish that half written novel I started over the summer or even consider cleaning the house. Trust me; it’s all downhill from there. The only thing for it is to employ the least interesting person you know to come hit you over the head when you get distracted (don’t pick someone interesting, it will somehow descend into a rant about how God awful the new Twilight movie looks or planning the exciting post-exam blowout you’re both going to.) As for the exams themselves, being confined to a giant hall in the RDS for two hours is bound to be distracting enough (my thoughts will constantly float back to that My Chemical Romance gig), without thoughts of Christmas, tickets to Dara O’Briain, presents you’ve forgotten to buy and sudden cravings for chocolate plaguing your mind.
And yet, despite it all, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Three days of hectic examinations and suddenly, it’s all over. Next semester is a new semester. No more Hamlet or Math 101 or whatever crazy modules you took at the start of the year. The dragon has been slain, and you’re still standing. Bring on Christmas.
Songs for the bus journey:
- Space Oddity: David Bowie – It’s been a lousy day, you’re soaked, you’ve finally crawled onto to last bus home and are very close to falling asleep on the man next to you. Add some cynical Bowie and everything gets better. It could be worse; you could be Major Tom...
- Heartbeat: Scouting for Girls – For those mornings where a 6am bus has made you realise that God must really hate you. So ridiculously upbeat you’ll be singing at the other passengers.
- Last Christmas: Wham – The ultimate in Christmas cheese. Well, when in Rome...
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