This is it. The week you've been waiting for. It's Thanksgiving break. Maybe you’re going home to curl up on the couch with your dog and a glass of wine, while mom nags you about your grades and dad watches football. Maybe you’re joining your significant other for their very own brand of crazy holiday drama. Or maybe you're stuck on an empty campus with all that (free!) beer your roommates left in the communal fridge. The joy is short lived. There's no time to kick back and relax with what’s hanging over your head: (several) overdue papers, so many chapters you could cry, a take home test, and a presentation or two. You know you're not touching any of it until you get back to school, when they're all due within a 24 hour period, and you're two seconds away from six mental breakdowns and ending up on an episode of "Snapped."

Whether before break or after, your friends are probably right along with you at DEFCON 1, and there’s only one solution. A library date is necessary to get your sh*t together.

1. The Call to Action

When your best friend sends you the oxymoronic dreaded/joyous text, “Mandatory library date.”

2. Who, What, When, Where, How

You, your bestie, and an arsenal of provisions (Coffee, coffee, coffee). Oh, and snacks. Drake Library. Five p.m. Wear something comfy, because you will be there until 1 a.m.

3. The Arrival

It’s cold. Maybe it’s snowing. There’s no parking. There’s never any parking. Then you walk up that stupid ramp and pray to God you don’t have to try to outrun the wind. We all know we’ve spent more time in Drake this semester than the gym, aka none.

4. Fighting for Territory

Are there any open rooms? Score. If not, you circle the fishbowl while every warm layer on your body starts to suffocate you, your book bag straps start to bruise your shoulders, and you’re more winded than you want to be. Sometimes there’s a table. Sometimes there’s not, and you spend another ten minutes trying downstairs.

5. The Procrastination Part One

You’ve found a

spot and claimed your territory. You spread out at a table, kick your shoes off

and your feet up, and open your backpack. You feel a brief buzz of

accomplishment: you’re here! You’ve made it! You’re such a good student! Then

your girlfriend starts talking about how her boyfriend has been hiding his

phone and you’re immediately off track, catching up on every juicy detail of

each other’s lives since you’ve hung out last.

6. Getting Down to Business

You’ve run out of immediate topics needing attention, and can finally focus on getting some work done. You might crank out an hour…or you might only make it 20 minutes. Hey, it’s all about balance.

7. The Procrastination Part Two

Snack break. Caffeine refill. Battery recharge. Bathroom break. Call it what you’d like. You’ve lost momentum. You’re bored and you’re restless and you need to get out of that awful wooden chair before your head explodes. You take a 20-minute detour down to the café, spend far more money than you have in your student account, or pray your credit card account isn’t in overdraft.

8. Returning to Business

You’ve finished your snacks, emptied your bladder, and are freshly equipped with a piping hot coffee in front of you. Like the most professionally accomplished yoga master, you re-focus yourself on that homework.

9. The Procrastination Part Three

Until you just can’t anymore. The words are swimming together, you’re checking your phone every 30 seconds, and you’re losing your sh*t. You’re in a state of delirium that leads to bad jokes, incessant laughter, and (sometimes) almost crying.

10. The Last Push

20 more

minutes. Woo sah. You can grind it out and get it done; just 20 more minutes

and you’ll feel like you’ve really put a dent in it. You’ve only done the

intro, but hey, that’s more than you had when you got here!

11. Defeat

One of you says it. “I’m done.” It’s over. There’s nothing else you can do and you’ve pushed yourself too far. You’ve officially earned that Thanksgiving break.

And a beer…maybe 9. I don’t judge.