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The Void Between Thanksgiving and December 17th

by Rebecca Dance 

Somebody asked me how I was doing yesterday and I had to stop and think about it because it had not occurred to me, by 10:00 am on Tuesday morning, that there should be a “how” involved in the “doing”. At this point in the semester, I am simply moving through the motions of trying to get everything done, so there isn’t really a how. I’m just “doing”. With that being said, let’s examine why I, and everyone else on campus according to Yik Yak, are feeling this way. 

Reason number one is that everyone just went home for anywhere from two days to a week, depending on when you got to escape for break and when you came back. We got a quick taste of home: food cooked well, showering without shoes, and not having to pay for things for a little bit. This is the first year I actually went back to my house for Thanksgiving and I enjoyed my time immensely, but I regret my brief taste of freedom just a little bit. 

Reason number two is that everyone is here for two weeks, and then finals, and that’s it. It’s not a whole lot of time to be back, especially if you’re one of the lucky ones who gets to leave closer to the beginning of finals week. Once you get back to campus, the next two weeks feel like swimming through molasses to get to finals, where you want to throw on the brakes because all of a sudden you have to remember things from September. 

Reason number three would be those very finals that you are digging into the depths of your brain to remember things for. Those finals are a drag at the end of the semester, but you have to get through them to see Christmas. 

And finally, after all that, you have to get home again. Whether you drive, fly, or take the train, it can be a long journey. 

(And in a month, you have to shove everything back in that suitcase and come back again.)