It’s easy to feel the countdown to Thanksgiving Break in the air on campus. For many students, getting to Thanksgiving Break is cause for celebration because it means getting through midterms and paper assignments that always seem to stack up this time of year. Unfortunately for some, Thanksgiving Break will be the time when they will slog through take-home exams and papers.
I remember the exhaustion of this time of year and that it becomes survivable because you can countdown to Thanksgiving. Plus, this break really marks the beginning of the end for Fall Semester. You return from feasting with family with only a week and a half of classes remaining and then that strange other-world of finals and then a magical month off for Winter Break. I remember the exhaustion of this time of year, and yet I miss it.
The feeling of walking out of an exam knowing that the professor will find it easy to grade because you rocked it or turning in a paper in which your thesis could be described as sophisticated (or some other fancy term)–those are good feelings. While professional life has its moments of accomplishment, they can’t compare to flipping open the inside cover of a Blue Book to see a grade that quantifies and exclaims that you got it, you did it. Before coming to William & Mary, I didn’t even know what a Blue Book was (it’s a small notebook to write exams in) and now I find myself missing them. I find myself missing the thrill of academic success–knowing that you know what you are talking about–that shows up in the professor’s scrawl of your grade across that Blue Book cover.
As a Senior, I wrote about how at William & Mary you will find success—and I am appreciating that experience even more now that I have graduated. Attending an institution that challenges you and then finding your own way to success in (and out of) the classroom is so satisfying. Those moments of success can often get lost in the stress of the next paper you have to write or meeting to attend, but now that I live a life without Blue Books, it is those moments I flashback to when I need motivation and reminder of my own capacity to succeed.
So to all you tired undergrads, go home and get some rest, but I also hope you can savor this feeling.
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