Campus THEN and NOW Series – Part 7: My apartment floor

Caitlin H.

October 21, 2009 - 11:23 PM

Well, I can't tell you any interesting facts colorfully demonstrating the rich history of my apartment floor specifically, except to say that I imagine it is the same for most college students... its week four and my apartment is a mess. I'm lost on the floor somewhere in the middle of it. I look around and my once gorgeous fall arrangement of flowers is left wilted and dead on the coffee table. Dishes are stacking up in the sink. A confetti of research papers, course readings, and drafts of recent assignments are hanging from every surface.

This term has been intense for me, with challenges coming in all shapes and sizes. From what I can tell it is the same for most of my peers. And based on the handful of conversations I had with my family, things haven't changed for college students since at least the 70s. Sometimes, college life just gets crazy.

I thought it would be impossible for my course load to get any more rigorous, but midterm week has proven me wrong yet again. I still have work responsibilities, and I have mounting pressures to decide what to do after graduation and beyond. After some heavy investigating work I had a very serious (and I assure you by no means short) conversation with my parents. It appears that I will be able to finish up my two undergraduate degrees by the end of next term. And while I've already been on the hunt for graduate school programs and meeting with graduate school advisors, thinking about the GRE exam I'll be taking next month, and trying to make some serious "where-am-I-going-in-life" decisions, I now have reminders to apply to graduate next term and make arrangements for the spring and summer. At the end of today I was about ready to have a melt down, walk to the edge of a cliff and scream into the horizon, "What am I suppose to do!?" Oh, did I mention I also had midterms this week? And a huge project due Friday. And a field trip this weekend. And a 5K race to run. No wonder my apartment is a mess!

So that's where I am now. I'm currently sitting in a growing sea of papers, (struggling to maintain an understanding of what each pile is supposed to be), stressed trying to keep all the pieces of my life together. And then someone wonderful told me probably the best bit of advice I've heard all day: "Life is what happens between all the other plans you make." After a day like today, I couldn't agree more.

To be entirely honest, this has happened before. If I'm sure of anything in life, it is that this feeling will happen again. College is a time of self discovery and ambition, making large decisions concerning where the next turn will take you. There is a lot to think about. And there is a lot to think about while juggling school assignments, part time jobs, friendships, clubs, and if you're like me, remembering to eat and if there is time, to do the dishes. Just when you think you've got it figured out and you have chosen a top candidate for a graduate school to go to, you realize it isn't the best choice for you as something else unfolds before you. In that sense, college is tough. Unfortunately my recognizing my stress doesn't make it go away any, but I'm assured in part knowing that plenty of others have gone through this process before me. I'm certain at least a handful of them turned out alright.

Eventually my apartment will put itself back together, my midterms will pass (hopefully with amazing grades), my graduate school applications will be submitted, and one day I too will graduate. It will happen. And tonight maybe I don't know all the answers, but I'm working on them...in the midst of completing some other assignments. The great balancing act of college continues. Assuming one has at least a few time management skills and the desire, things will come together, and life will happen along the way.