BLOG: The exciting life of the pretend-a-freshman
Winter break can't come soon enough
By Aisha Stern, blogger
November 20, 2007 | 12:25 p.m.
It’s the end of the quarter, and I’ve found myself wondering where all the weeks went--you know all 10 of them. I’m wondering if I’ve really gotten the “college experience,” or if I’ve just managed to get by. It would help if I knew what I thought the college experience actually is. My observations of college have always been through the eyes of a townie irritated by the girl who takes up two tables at Donkey with all of her books and notes and is flipping between them, taking new notes. Now, I am that girl.
I’m also wondering what classes to take next quarter, because my time to schedule finally came this morning. I’ve barely given it any thought and would like to continue to give it as little thought as possible, at least for a few more hours.
Since this quarter started, I’ve stayed up until three in the morning studying for an 11 a.m. test and regretted it. Sleep is nearly as important to me as knowing when the Pax Romana was and why it was important to the development of the Middle Ages. In fact, it’s probably more important, because my eyes dislike focusing when I’ve only gotten five hours of sleep. So I’ve almost pulled an all-nighter, which is something I’d put on the list of things you figure happen in college (unless television has lied to me). I’ve also gone to bed really early the night before a test, all of my studying done and too exhausted to study anymore. I imagine my brain is like an iPod, and I’ve almost filled it to capacity. It’s getting a little slow now because it has so much to process and review before it can do anything. I wonder how you upgrade that…
I’ve spent most of this quarter studying or working on various little projects that seem to take up all of my time. I actually went out last weekend, to the Southeast Engine CD release at Baker. Which, if you were not there, you missed out. Go pick up their album and plan to see them as soon as possible. It was probably the third weekend since the start of the quarter where I’ve not been at home, taking notes or doing math on a knitting project or something else equally time-consuming. I used to go out every weekend, usually to catch a show at Donkey or Baker (back when it was in the future home of Scripps, and the Front Room was cool). Since the start of the quarter, though, I haven’t even had the time to look in the paper to see who is playing over the weekend, let alone go and actually see a show. This is really sad, as there are a lot of great musicians in this town, and I suspect I am missing out on quite a lot of good music by being a good student. DO NOT BE LIKE ME. Get out there and check out a show, if you haven’t yet. It could even be Jimmy Eat World at Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium next week, but give Athens’ music scene a chance, too. You won’t be sorry.
I think the biggest thing I’ve gotten from the past 10 weeks is that college is as hard as you make it, though I’m not sure if that falls under a “college experience” or not. The courses aren’t easy, but I’ve decided how hard I want to study, or how much I want to throw myself into an assignment or project this quarter. Sometimes I’d rather stay in and watch a few episodes of Firefly and make cupcakes rather than deal with the crowds on Court Street on a Saturday night. There have been moments when I have really regretted doing this, but they are usually when I’m getting out of bed at 7:30 in the morning for class, and not when I’m actually in the classroom. But, just like everybody else, I’m ready for winter break. I just have to get through finals to get there.
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For more from the mind of Aisha Stern, check out her regular blog at http://fusionofme.blogspot.com/.