By this point in the semester, I’m sure that we are all ready for it to just be all over for a bit. I for one feel like I am never caught up and am drowning in work that just seems to keep getting thrown at me.

I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that we could use a much-needed fall break. We have spring break roughly in the middle of the spring semester, so why should we be dragged along more during the fall semester?

If we are being technical, we do get a fall break. But by the time Thanksgiving rolls around at the end of November the semester is almost over, and to add to that our break is less than a week.

While I understand why we do not have the Monday before Thanksgiving as an additional vacation day, it is still frustrating. As someone who does not have a car on campus to just go home whenever the whim strikes, I have to rely on one of my parents to pick me up.

Therefore, one of my parents has to take time away from their jobs to come get their child, just because their child’s place of education doesn’t start a break on a weekend.

It is also a pain for someone like myself, who doesn’t have the opportunity to go home on the weekend throughout the semester. I haven’t been home yet, and I’m not going to until you guessed it, Thanksgiving.

It’s just not practical for me and my family and I am perfectly okay with that. It just never allows me to have time away from it all.

By the time this break happens, I am far too burned out. I am burned out as it is, and it is only midterm. I often find myself wondering how I did it in high school.

In high school we would all get up before the sun was even up, go to school for 7 hours give or take, go to extracurriculars, do homework…you get the picture.

That’s just it, college isn’t high school. In high school, if I was too tired to do my homework I just simply didn’t do it.

Often times I chose my sleep over my homework because in the long run I would be able to function better if I got a decent night’s sleep than if I did the 25 math problems I was assigned.

In college, if you miss one assignment you are basically doomed because there are no “fluffer” assignments to balance out a bad grade or two.

The pressure obviously varies depending on major, number and demands of extracurricular responsibilities, and a number of other factors.

It is especially frustrating for me that some nights I am so busy that I either don’t eat dinner until 8 or 9 p.m., which may be normal for some people, but it is late for me, or I don’t have the time to sit down and have a decent meal.

Sometimes a girl just wants to sit down and have a meal with someone and talk about the day or whatever might be going on. This leads me to another point. I can not even remember a time when I had an even-semi relaxing weekend.

While many of my weekends consist of doing things like going to sports events or things like that, that does not make those things relaxing.
Don’t get me wrong, I love taking photos for the newspaper, but this nonetheless adds to the point that my weekends are rarely ever my own, to just sit and binge watch a show.

While I think keeping busy is a good thing, there is such thing as being too busy. Let’s just say that I am far overdue for a much-needed break.  

Lauren is a sophomore Graphic Design major. She is a member of the Program Board and Catholic Campus Ministry, and is a staff writer for The Voice.