Next week, as the weather continues to get better and summer vacation starts to creep up in all of our minds, we will not be outside.

We will not be sitting by the pool, enjoying a cold beer with our friends.

We won’t be hiking, playing sports outside, or listening to music with the windows down. Instead, we will be cooped up in every nook and cranny on campus, studying our lives away as we prepare for yet another round of final exams. Doesn’t that sound fun?

No. Of course it doesn’t. It is one of those things that we simply hope to come out of in one piece, or at least for our brain to come out in one piece. Finals don’t help us learn. They simply melt our brains to the point where we need an entire summer to recover. They are a time when an entire semester’s worth of work cumulates into one make or break exam, a couple of sheets of paper that could ultimately have a huge impact on our GPA’s.

Luckily for us, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And this is not just any light. It is the light of summer. It is the reassembly of high school friends, the chance to work at your dream internship, or simply the chance to relax and spend time with your family and loved ones. How can we not be distracted when thinking about summer? How do professors possibly expect as to regurgitate all of the information acquired over the course of months, when in mere days we will be on the highway out of Columbia? It is a tough time for us all, but we have to push through it.

Whatever your light at the end of the tunnel may be, it is time to temporarily shut it off. Try to forget about all the ensuing fun and focus on the work in front of you. I know that reading this may not be the best start, as I have probably reminded you of all that is to come for you this summer, but you can do it. Think about how much better of a time you will have if you don’t have to worry about your grades after finals.

It is only a week. Your reward for working hard next week will be months of freedom, and the prospect of a fresh start as we roll into the fall semester. I wish everyone the best of luck as we enter into finals week.