On Having Motivation During Finals Week, Avoiding Hangovers, and More Advice from a College Grad

Could that blog title have been any longer? Honestly, I'm traversing into Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco song title-esque blog post names and I'm only slightly not okay with it. Honestly, I'm just living out my teenage emo dreams. Throwin' it back to what, 2006? But let's bring it back to now, the good ole year of 2017. The spring semester is coming to a close, which means my unofficial last semester of college is over. Honestly, it didn't feel like I was done this semester, so I feel like an honorary member of the class of 2017 and not 2016.

I would call this some parting advice, but we all know I can't help but give unsolicited advice whenever I want to, so, here's my last college related advice post for this week.


How do you keep up motivation during finals week when all you want to do is hang out with your friends and ignore the mound of flashcards and study sheets and textbooks?

Dude, it's easier said than done, but you just gotta fake it 'til you make it sometimes. Finals week blows, especially if you have both papers and exams and final projects that you have to worry about. Throw in packing if you're moving out of the dorms and your apartment and you've got a quadfecta of sh!t. Sometimes you have to mix work with play. If your friends are in the same classes, study with them or make a study group within your classmates. Use the buddy system and that whole "we're all in this together" mentality. Synchronized dancing is optional, but encouraged.

Honestly, if all of your motivation has dissipated by finals week, you have to do one of two things: force yourself to study or trust that you remember every little thing from the semester and wing it. I can almost guarantee that the latter will not play out in your favor, so my advice is to go with the first choice. Besides, just know that after you hand in your last final, you're free for the summer and you'll have all the time in the world to watch every single episode of Chopped while you sit on the recliner chair in your living room covered in six dogs.

How do you avoid waking up the morning after a night of drinking without feeling like you want to simultaneously vomit while smacking your head to make tHE SPLITTING HEADACHE GO AWAY?

Simple, don't drink. All jokes aside, if you're going to drink, do it responsibly (after you turn 21)(drink after you turn 21)(not decide to drink responsibly when you're 21). Or whatever your drinking age is. I'm looking at you, you lucky Canadians with 19 as the magic age and the rest of the world, probably, with 18. Okay, seriously, I digress for the second time...if you want to avoid waking up feeling like a groggy mess or a shell of who you used to be that's now been replaced with knotted hair, wretched breath, blurry vision and a stomach that's tumbling like Simone Biles on a gymnastic mat...you gotta put in a little work. First things first, drink your dang water. I mean, you should be doing this anyways. Staying hydrated is uber important in general, but like, be super conscientious of it if you know you're going to drink. Drink water before, during, after, whenever you can get it. Yeah, you're going to have to pee a lot, but who cares when you can wake up not feeling like a monster the next morning.

To go with your water, have some food, too. Something hearty that's going to fill you up. Also, keep snacks, because you're inevitably going to be hungry later and you're going to want something to help soak up that alcohol a bit to keep yourself propelling through the night without taking a lil snooze on the couch while everybody else is dancing to a trap club remix of the "Cha Cha Slide."

Another piece of advice...don't mix, guys. If you're going to do it, start with liquor and end with beer. You all know the saying. I'm not going to say it, but you know it...And if possible, avoid the sugary drinks as much as possible. It's going to make your teeth feel gross and your tummy do weird things. I know, the sugary drinks taste so much better, but want to know what tastes worse? Your vomit. IT'S THE TRUTH. And make sure you have water and ibuprofen/your medicine of choice by your bedside table for when you wake up in the morning.

How do you make it through a group project without wanting to fight literally three-fourths of the group?

You don't. Honestly, group projects are absolutely horrendous, even if you seemingly like everyone in your group. It's hard to be collaborative, no matter the environment or the people surrounding you. There's always going to be a clash of ideas. There'll always be a ring leader who wants to take on more work than everyone else and then will complain when everyone else is doing less. There's always inevitably someone who doesn't show up half the time and completely wings their portion and pisses you off to the point where you consider taking their name off of the project, but instead you just report back to your professor and are so frustrated that you don't care that you're snitching on them because they don't deserve the same grade. Truly, the best way to do a group project is to have a group text, an editable Google Doc, and to kind of, well, nag. Divvy up the work, outline together as clearly as possible, and then make sure that everyone looks over the final copy and double checks their work. Sometimes you're going to have to get together outside of class, but if that's impossible because of differing schedules, that's where the constant communication within the group text and all accessible Google Doc come into play. And then when the project is over, never talk to those people again because every time you see their name in your phone, you're going to get flashbacks of how miserable that project was.

How do you wake up for class and have the will to get dressed in normal clothes and put on something other than tinted moisturizer? 

First things first, there's nothing wrong with wearing athleisure to class. I never liked when people dragged themselves for not getting ready for class. But dude, if you don't have any place to go after that, you rock those leggings and that messy bun and those undereye circles. Who gives a *bleep*, right? But if you're really looking to put on a pair of pants that have pockets on them and want to put a little bit of time into your look, you gotta sacrifice a little bit of sleep. My advice to expedite the morning process is to plan out one outfit and then keep a few more in the back of your head, just incase you change your mind in the morning (or the weather changes its mind). Keep your look simple and streamlined as to not add extra time to your morning process. Make sure that all of your work is done ahead of time so you're not rushing around to add some blush to your cheeks all while you have twenty pages of reading to finish.

How do you know what you want to do for the rest of your life? 

NEXT QUESTION.

What comes after college? 

Oh damn, looks like we're out of time! Gotta jet!