A Day in the life of a student...

Article by Jaide
Meme by Wesley Wyngaard

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Your alarm goes off, you look over at your phone to check the time. You groan because you realize you have first period this morning. The bed feels good and you're warm. You lay there half-asleep, half-awake contemplating whether you should get up and get ready for your lecture or sleep in and tell yourself that you WILL eventually catch-up. Deep down you know that's a lie and that you'll probably put your work off until one of the mid-term tests come up, regretting not getting up that specific day.
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Eventually, you make a choice. Today you will go. Today will be different. You feel proud because you managed to side against the devil on your shoulder. You're off to campus and headed for your class. You check the time on your phone and see that you're late. You walk fast and your stomach sinks as you walk in because the class is filled up and you land up on the stairs of the lecture hall.

It's uncomfortable, but at least you came, you tell yourself to provide some comfort. The class is buzzing and you're wondering if you should have just stayed in bed… but then the lecturer walks` in and starts the class. You look around and some people are on their phones, some on their laptops, some taking notes and look as if they’re paying attention... You wonder, what should i be doing? You came this far, might as well try to pay attention, right? You try. You really, really do but you fail. You feel your mind start to wonder off. Eventually, the word "assignment" from your lecturer makes you come back to reality and you realize you've gotten a task to do that is counting towards your year mark.

You join up with your friends and start to feel a bit better. Your friends make campus a better place. You all go to your classes for the day. You pick up an additional three assignments. One group assignment with people you don't even know and two essays! It's the last period and the day has been long. It couldn’t possibly get any worse. Your lecturer announces a class test that would take place the upcoming Friday when one of your assignments are also due.

You sit there, numb. The dread hasn’t dawned on you, YET, but you know it will come on Thursday, the night before your test or submission or maybe even by Wednesday already. You say goodbye to your friends and make your way home. You get home and log on to social media. You scroll through your feed for what seems like forever and wish you could afford the things you see some people are wearing or doing. You logon to an online store to see how much that cool new item is and your heart sinks when you see the price. You proceed with the 'online window shopping' and realize how pointless this is.

You sit there thinking. You're tired. No, scratch that, you're EXHAUSTED, you're unemployed, broke and living off your parents or guardians, you have assignments to do, classes that you've missed and have to catch up with in order to study for your test.

The dread starts settling in and you begin to question yourself. Why? Why am I doing this to myself? Will this all be worth it? You don't understand, you've gotten through twelve years of school! It's just three or four years they said, it will go quick, they said.

You're tired, you're overthinking, and you feel overwhelmed. There's so much to do, but you won't do it now. Not tonight, not while you're so tired. You eventually get in bed and you're on your phone until sleep starts to welcome you. There's tomorrow you tell yourself before drifting off, there's always tomorrow.