finals survival guide day 2.

This may not be what my mother wants to hear (sorry in advance-hehe), but I love distractions.  Okay, maybe a better term to use here is "study breaks."  There's nothing quite like a distraction to get your mind off of something and take a well-deserved break from studying.  In the last three days I have been working hard to finish two papers that totaled up to sixteen pages.  It doesn't matter what subject, major, or class you have-sixteen pages is a lot.  So today I took a well-deserved break and began packing up my room because I officially move out in less than a week.  Crazy, right?

Back to the main topic here-study breaks.  Today during my break day I found these cute baby ducks walking across a green pathway.  Adorable right?  Too bad all of the other ducks on campus are so horribly ugly and chase you down when you come out of the dining hall with ice cream or any food really.  But seeing them just made me really happy for a minute.  Also it just so happens to be the 10-year anniversary of Mean Girls coming out, which just happens to be my favorite movie.  So tonight I'm going to be lazy and watch it in bed during its last day on Netflix.  An optimal study break in my opinion.

But if I was my little right now who has six exams, or my friend who has a ten page paper due a week from today, I might be using my study breaks more.  The dorms here often have late night study snacks; tomorrow mine is having a chocolate fountain in the library; one night last year we got cookie cake, and then there's the typical ice cream sandwiches, espressos, and candy.  Student Orgs have even set up tables in front of the library this week-last night Student Government had ice cream and all-you-can-eat candy and Panhellenic had milk and cookies on Monday.  Free food is always a wonderful thing, and having it with friends provides good time for socialization during a stressful period.  Going to the gym is also wonderful, even if only for half an hour, and even studying there is good too if you can focus while running on the elliptical or climbing the stair machine.  Plus, here at Miami we are lucky enough to have beautiful weather and good temperatures, so the school puts out hammocks by the library and heavily trafficked buildings (cough cough the science department) for students to relax in between exams.  The other night I took a break and found myself in a hammock for about an hour.

Outside or inside, productive or not, study breaks and distractions provide just the right balance of relaxation and time to keep you focused during a stressful finals week.  Good luck to everyone completing exams and projects, and happy end of the semester.