Okay, we’ve reached that point: it’s the final weekend. If you’re like most students, you still have a few days left to go; if you’re like me, you’ve already left campus! It’s a great feeling, knowing that you’ve completed three more terms and that summer’s almost here. But there are a few things you need to do before you go!
1. Turn in those last few assignments. As tempting as it is to just let everything go and embrace the warm weather, music festivals, and water-balloon fights, your future self will thank you for not forgetting that you’re still in school. Honestly, no one—not even your professors—want to be in a classroom right now, but it’ll pay off. And if you’re lucky, you can have class outside!
2. Study for your finals (and then show up for the tests)! This goes along with the last one, but don’t forget to set your alarm for test day, eat breakfast, and wear comfortable clothes! And then just relax. You’ve been studying this stuff for ten weeks; you’ve got this, and no amount of stress will make you more prepared on test day. So calm down, sharpen your pencils, and just do it! It’ll be over before you know it.
3. Pack. This is my favorite method of procrastination. I tend to get started early and then, still with a whole week left to go, I reach a point where if I pack any more I might as well just move into a hotel room. It’s great to get organized, though, and it helps me reconsider whether or not I really need all of my clothes (and after a certain amount of packing, there’s not much left to do, so it makes me more productive with my schoolwork too).
4. Clean (after you pack)! One of the requirements of leaving your dorm room is making sure everything’s the way it was when you got it. That means de-lofting your bed, sweeping the floor (or vacuuming if you have carpet), and making sure there’s not a ton of dust on the surfaces. If you have a sink, clean that too. It sounds like a lot, but it comes in handy when you don’t want to write your final papers! And it’s pretty satisfying to look around in the last day or two and see everything looking nice.
5. Hang out with your friends before you go! Don’t miss this last chance before everyone goes their separate ways for the summer (or, if you’re friends with seniors, before they graduate). The perfect way to relax amid the stress of finals is, like I mentioned, a water-balloon fight, or maybe going to the canine therapy sessions that crop up as the term winds down.
There’s more, too, like shoving everything into a car (or into storage if you live farther away), but the important part is to finish the year on a strong note and get to enjoying the summer! For all the stress the school year can cause, there’s no better feeling than looking back and seeing how far you’ve come, and looking ahead and seeing how far you’ll be able to go.