University of Dayton - MyLife

A Disastrous Wednesday...the problem with being a senior.

Yesterday was by far one of the most disastrous days of the semester. And it's typical that it would happen when it did...right at the end of the semester when everything is coming at you at once and you don't feel like there are enough hours in the day to complete all the papers and assignments you have left.

The reason this disaster occurred was from a snowballing effect of some sort that had begun over Thanksgiving break. Break was nice, but not nearly long enough. I had a lot to do since I worked at the mall on Black Friday and the following Saturday (gross!), so between that and catching up with friends and family, I didn't nearly have enough time to begin the two papers that I had due the following Wednesday. So when I came back to Dayton on Sunday, I knew I had to get this work done, but my procrastination set in and I knew I'd have all day Monday to do it, so I put it off.

"All day Monday" turned into locking myself in the library from 11pm until 3am to work on these papers. When my friends and I finally left the library around 3:30am late Monday/early Tuesday morning, I still wasn't even close to being done with my first paper. But I knew I needed to get at least 4 hours of sleep to function the next day, so I reluctantly went to bed knowing I was in for another long night the next day.

So Tuesday roles around and of course I'm EXHAUSTED. I didn't end up falling asleep until 4:30am the night before because the anxiety from these papers kept me up for much longer than expected. So I went to class from 9-12, then went to work until 5. At this point, I had been running on three hours of sleep, so I was DEAD. Nothing is worse than knowing you have two eight page papers to write when the only thing you can think about is crawling in your warm bed and getting some rest. But I understand the demands of college, I know I can push through it, and I was determined to finish my papers before I'd get any rest...it's my fourth year of college, I should be a pro at this by now, right?

After I got off work, I rented out a small study room on the 6th floor of the library. They let you check out those rooms the rest of the day, so I knew I could have it until I finished my papers. I quickly ran home to get some food, and was headed back to the library, knowing I'd be there the rest of the night.

Luckily, time went pretty fast and I quickly finished my first paper. It was then time to begin the second paper around 9:30. The night is young, I thought, I'll have plenty of time. Another great thing is that I wasn't even feeling tired at this point...I was running purely on adrenaline...just the way a college all-nighter should be...

So I worked on my paper until about 2:30am when I finally started to become pretty sleepy. At this point I had at least had everything outlined and about 3/4 of it written. The paper also wasn't due until 3:00 the next day, so I figured I'd go home, get some rest, and finish it in between my classes tomorrow.

At this point, everything was running pretty smoothly, especially considering the lack of sleep I had been getting. But that night, I had yet another restless night and didn't fall asleep until after 3:30am. I had three different alarms set for 8am so that I could wake up, print out my first paper, go to class, and turn it in. It was the perfect plan. Once I finally fell asleep (I have no idea what time it was at this point), the next time I woke up, I immediately looked at my clock. It was 10:55! My paper was due at 11:00! I immediately freaked out. HOW DID I NOT HEAR MY ALARMS?! WILL MY TEACHER COUNT MY PAPER LATE IF I DON'T EMAIL IT TO HER IN THE NEXT COUPLE MINUTES?!

There were these constant thoughts rushing through my head. Finally, after I calmed down a bit, I went ahead and emailed my professor the paper, explaining the situation. Looking back, I still feel so stupid...how did I manage to not hear a SINGLE alarm that I had set? Had I been THAT tired to not even hear an obnoxious buzzing sound three different times? After some of the frustration wore off, I could finally laugh at the situation, but my friends still call it the biggest "disaster day" of the semester because I wasn't the only one to have screwed up something big. One of my roommates completely lost track of time at work and ended up skipping a class she had a paper for, as well.

You'd think that since we are seniors, we'd have this stuff figured out by now. But I think it's the exact opposite. We are being bigger disasters than normal due to the fact that our minds are going and after almost four years, we are getting burnt out. All I have to say is, I'm glad I'm not going to grad school right away after graduation. I can't imagine what kind of disasters would occur then. I think I just need some time away from academics for a bit so I can go to grad school in a couple years renewed and refreshed. Until then, let's hope I can finish this semester off pretty smoothly without too many more disasters...

Dec 5, 2008 1:43 AM Permalink