The end of classes is always a mixed blessing. Part of you is always totally thankful that for several weeks/months you won’t be forced to get up at some obscene hour like 9:00 to go listen to someone drone on about a topic that you assumed would be interesting when you registered for it, but now fully recognize to be intellectually lifeless, morally bankrupt, or otherwise just plain useless. Meanwhile, the half of you that remembers a little further ahead knows that in the next week you still need to take three exams, find one cure for cancer, and write about a zillion pages proving that you have, in fact, mastered the art of bullshit.

I think part of my nonchalance also has to do with being old. After a few of these last days, you realize that celebrating the last day of class is like a hamster celebrating getting the wheel around for the first time… and the second, the third, the eighth, etc. Not really much point.

The campus more or less shuts down during reading days and finals. This makes no sense whatsoever. Everyone you know–including yourself–is busy procrastinating, and would love nothing more than an excuse to procrastinate more. Yet, somehow as a group you have decided that no one will ever want to do anything during reading days, so everything shuts down. Since there’s nothing productive to do but study, I usually just stare at the wall for the next two days, then wonder where the time went.

I’m sure that tonight will find many merry revelers, drinking away their memory of arcane corners of academia just in time to have it bite them. For once, however, I will not be among them. I’m going dancing.

Posted on March 9th, 2005 by Lee
Filed under: Uncategorized