The end isn’t near, it’s here . . . finally

Sounds very apocalyptic, doesn’t it? Unfortunately for all you conspiracy nuts out there I’m not going to be talking about some secret alien invasion – sure . . . I totally believe Roswell was a cover-up, too – and I also can’t offer any new insight into why the Mayas apparently foresaw the end of the world as we know it in 2012. Being a student and all, I’m talking about the end of semester.

Every student experiences the end of the semester differently. Some have no idea how they are going to pass all the exams they have lined up, while others are spending their days - and now thanks to an initiative of the student union their nights as well - writing their fifth paper on whatever. Of course, there are those among us who have no idea why everyone is stressed out, because they have no problems passing their three or four courses. Whatever group you belong to and after you have handed in your last paper and sat your final final exam, it’s time to take a deep breath and look back at ‘what went down’ this past semester.

Some of us decide that they will definitely take more courses next semester – haven’t we all said that before – and others intend to scale back on the number of classes in order to squeeze in an internship somewhere. Unfortunately, I haven’t quite reached the ‘meditating-stage’ yet, because I’m trying to juggle two full-time degree programmes and therefore still have exams until the end of July. However, sometime at 3 in the morning, after my tenth cup of coffee, hunched over a text called Radikaler Konstruktivismus und Social Constructivism, sozialpsychologische Folgen und die empirische Rekonstruktion eines Gespenstes and having no idea what it is about, I already did have visions of all the things I’m going to do differently next time . . . and of me hunting down the author of this text and demanding an explanation about what I ever did to him and why he is torturing me so. Deep in the night I came up with my top three resolutions for next semester.

#1 Fool me once, shame on you . . .
The biggest problems I have to face – like usual – are the ones I create myself. One of them is that I tend to take too many courses. I know that we can decide for ourselves just how many classes we think we can handle in one semester, but I still blame PLUSonline. It always reminds me of shopping at Amazon. You always seem to pick up one or two items you had NO intention of buying. PLUSonline is the same for me. I always end up adding more courses to the cart a.k.a. the timetable that I had initially planned. Oh, how I see myself sitting in front of the computer, shiny and new after a long break, excited that I’m going to be so studious this semester.
So why don’t I drop some courses then? Well, similar to Amazon, PLUSonline only offers a two weeks ‘return and refund policy’ for most classes. After that you have to stick with them to the bitter end . . . which is the end of semester – now. If you drop out after that, you fail the course and I don’t necessarily want that on my record.
I will definitely try and hold back a bit next semester even though I know it probably won’t work. A typical New Year’s Eve resolution one might say.

#2 Same ol’ same ol’
Sleep is another thing I have to approach differently next semester. It’s just not possible to always be tired, and getting up in the morning is a daily battle for me. I know everyone has this problem and I already tried out the usual suspects – another ten minutes, setting the alarm an hour early and so on – but nothing worked. I blame my bed on this one. We definitely are what nowadays the cool kids call ‘frenemies’.
A friend of mine is studying psychology and she told me that apparently I’m what they call a ‘visual learner’, so I should simply buy bed sheets with prints of something that freaks me out. I’m not sure how serious she was – beer and other alcoholic beverages were involved – but I started thinking about it nonetheless. The only thing I came up with is that I used to find The Kelly Family rather scary back in the days. However, I’m not sure how that would look like whenever I have friends over. Anyways, I will think about that one over the summer break.
Another friend of mine suggested changing my eating habits and this led me to my next end-of-semester resolution.

#3 Food
The first thing my brother told me when he started to study in Salzburg was, “Keron, food is going to be a problem”. He was right.
There is nothing I loathe more than cooking. My usual diet consists of two things: pizza and “Leberkässemmel”. Maybe this is the source of my apparent lack of energy. I didn’t check, but I guess the 1,5 liters of cola that usually go along with my meal don’t contain that many vitamins.
When I was still living at home I always was fed properly. We had someone to do the cooking for us and every carefully balanced meal came with a salad. I assume my body wants something like that again, so I will definitely brush up on my non-existent cooking skills. Today I even ate an apple. One step at a time.

These are my top three resolutions for next semester. Now it’s your time to let me know what you plan to change.