COLUMN Musings and Mishaps

Author: Lindsey Whitton

College life is one desparate leap from days of caffeine-fueled production to days of rest and recuperation. If the Middlebury credo is work hard/play hard, then there seems to be very little fusion of the two extremes.
For me, Sunday through Wednesday are my grueling, sleep deprived, Diet Coke and coffee days and Thursday through Saturday are my DVD watching, partying, sleep-till-noon-then-take-a-nap days.
Of course, when Sunday rolls around and magazines get buried under history books, I immediately regret my lack of academic focus and initiative during the weekend. Repenting from my frivolous ways, I lock my door and pound away at my computer. I become determined to get the most out of my work. After all, I remind myself, college is about getting a good education.
But inevitably, when my last class is over on Thursday and The Campus is finally in print, I crash. I can't help it. I know I should do thirty pages of English reading and outline one of my essays, but my motivation is shot, my body is exhausted and all I really want to do is take a shower.
So the cycle is perpetuated. It is not, however, just me who lives this bizarre Jekyll and Hyde existence. Every week, when I open my door on Thursday afternoon and stumble into the light, I find many other students also emerging from similar bursts of effort and energy. Not all our schedules are the same — many of the athletes I know crash Saturday post-game, spend all day Sunday sleeping, eating and watching football and don't start working again until Monday — but the routine is consistent.
My friend Katie, however, never seems to get herself into this rut. I always marvel at her unswervingly spotless room, her papers that are consistently completed a day early and how she manages to go on a long run, make herself breakfast and relax for a few minutes before the rest of us stumble out of bed for class. And she always fits in nine hours of solid sleep!
I am not even going to bother hypothesizing on how such students have balanced their college life. They stand as enigmatic exceptions in a mess of overlycommitted, over-achieving students who try to fit three weeks work into four days and then burn out for the remainder of the week. But tonight, like most Sunday nights, I watch longingly as my friend brushes her teeth and climbs into bed at 10:30 p.m. This week, I vow, I will be more like Katie.
But truthfully, I know that when Thursday afternoon arrives I'll inevitably choose uninterrupted relaxation over time-management. After all, by then I'll deserve it!