Peanut Butter and Jelly

Living in landlocked Stockton can be tough on beach bums. While it is beneficial in an academic sense, it is detrimental to the sunshine spirit.  Luckily, the cure of the coast is not far. Many students of University of the Pacific cruise out on the weekends to get their beach-fix, as I have done for Thanksgiving break.  This upcoming beach-fix, however, entails a new adventure: surfing! Surfing and I have met once before; it resulted in a bloody nose after the board did a nosedive. Albeit I have high hopes for today. My sister and I will be heading to Malibu for Sarah vs Waves round two. Let’s hope for the best! Ahh the life of a college student.

It’s that time of the semester;  the time when planners become mass mazes of ink, as assignments and due dates flood those little planner-lines, thereby spilling into days previous and prior.  It’s the time of the semester when students turn from functioning humans, to crazed, mindless wanderers who once resembled students, and who walk around campus muttering nothings, trying to coordinate schedules and cursing the mere 24 hours allocated in each day.  It is the time that Starbucks stores see a 50% soar in sales as students flock to fuel their bodies via caffeine. It is officially crunch time.  Crunch time, despite its close proximity to the end of the semester does not emit any such sense of success or conclusion.  The light of the end of the tunnel is obstructed by a thick haze of stress and pressure.  No matter how diligent one may be throughout the semester, the chaos of crunch time is as unavoidable as parking tickets.  Suddenly, a once manageable workload becomes overwhelmingly impossible.  ”Where did all these assignments come from?” Many students ask.  No one can catch a break during this dreaded time. If one project is due Monday, another one is due Tuesday. Once Tuesday’s project has been completed, on Wednesday there is a test.  The test on Wednesday ultimately leads to a poster presentation on Thursday, bringing everything around to Friday, where students are reminded of all the assignments due Monday.  How do students around University of the Pacific cope with the crunch time fear? Holiday cheer.

“I keep my Christmas movies readily at hand in the library,” one student said.  ”Sometimes when my brain needs a rest from studying, I’ll pop “Elf” with Will Ferrell, you know, like,  into my lap top and just watch a few minutes, get a few laughs and then hit the books. But then I feel guilty for spending time watching movies and that stresses me out more.  I guess that’s a little counteractive to what I was trying to achieve.”  He added pensively.

“If I have a lot of stuff due right after Thanksgiving break, I’ll just try not to think about it too much.  Like, I’ll organize in my head what I have to do, but I’ll mostly just sit back, have a few beers, and enjoy the family time. I don’t let the crunch time fear get to me too badly until it’s full on freak out mode like right before stuff’s due.” Another more laid back student replied.

“I listen to my Holiday Music Compilation CD’s that my mom got me last year.  I downloaded them onto my ipod and those songs just put me in a good mood and remind me that it’ll all be over soon. But, as much as I the songs help, they don’t prevent the all nighters and the constant struggle to keep up with the work.”  Said another UOP student in the library, with one headphone in her ear.

So there you have it; holiday cheer, Thanksgiving cheer, and crunch time fears.  These students do it all.

Recently I claimed that togas, black lights, and highlighters comprise all that is holy to college students.  While this is true, I must refine that statement, for I failed to mention one vital component of college life; and that is the classic, timeless, priceless, experience of a ROAD TRIP! This is what occurred in my life as a college student from October 16- October 18, 2009. As a fifth year college student, I am no novice to road tripping.  In 2008 my friends and I did tour-de I-5 and drove from Sacramento, California down through San Diego, all the way past the border and straight on to Mexico. It was an epic event, to say the least.  That said, I recently had an experience of close caliber.  My roommate and I were talking one Thursday evening about how fun and spontaneous it would be to head to Los Angeles for the weekend. The next morning, after our classes, we were en route. What began as somewhat of a lark, resulted in an epic adventure. We stopped by Bakersfield to visit a friend, had pizza near a haystack, climbed a haystack, ran out of gas near Magic Mountain, stopped and went on rides at Magic Mountain, got gas, blared music, made music videos, went to Huntington Beach, jumped in the ocean despite frigid temperatures and used a whole ton of money neither of us had.  We went to the city of Whittier, which apparently is hippie central; it resulted in somewhat of culture shock, coming from University of the Pacific.  There were dreadlocks and bon fires and guitar playing.  It was an excellent weekend, and encompassed everything a road trip should.