Trouble in academic paradise

By Jane Muhlstein

Gazing out the window of the upstairs seminar room in the Arts and Sciences building, I forgot for a moment that it was well into October. The weather was warm, the sun was shining, the palm trees were blowing softly in the warm breeze. It was perfect beach weather.

Then I snapped back to reality and decided it was time I started paying attention to the class going on around me. The summer-esque weather outside feels like a different world than the one I've been living in for the past few weeks.

For me, and maybe some of you out there, this quarter has been a world of sub-zero classrooms, libraries and offices, with occasional spurts of heat as I walk from one overly air conditioned building to another. Despite the fact that it is still tank top weather, my most common accessories these days are a pair of reading glasses and a big stack of books.

It's just about that time again. Four weeks into fall quarter, we are standing on the threshold of the alarming wake-up call that is the halfway point. And where exactly does that put us? Drowning in midterms and frantically flailing for air. Yes, it is time again for the ritual tri-monthly whining session about all things curricular.

While he was visiting earlier this week, I dragged my boyfriend on one of my late-night, last-minute trips to the Orradre computer lab for moral support while I did battle with a program for a research class.

As I swiped my Access card to open the sliding doors at 1 a.m., he marveled at a library being open so late. While I still feel 2 a.m. is a little late for my night owl study habits, he could not believe library hours have extended so much since he graduated from college five years ago.

"Do you really work that much harder now," he asked. "Or do you just procrastinate more?"

That is an excellent question, I thought to myself. I didn't want to admit it, but I figured it was probably the latter.

Reading my third book in so many weeks for my senior seminar, I figured out that I have read 1,000 pages this quarter. It doesn't feel like I have to be procrastinating to get overwhelmed with the reading, the study guides and the onslaught of midterms and papers.

If you start to go a little crazy during midterms (translation: the second through ninth weeks of the quarter), just breathe and remember this: You can still drop classes until Friday.

*Contact Jane Muhlstein at (408) 554-4546 or jmuhlstein@scu.edu.