It's not uncommon for small colleges to have a January term or a May term, a sometimes optional one month "semester" where students are enrolled in only one or two classes that meet every day. At Luther College, we have January term, or J-term. I have compiled a list of things I have learned from this year's J-term.
1) "J-term, play term!" isn't necessarily a myth. It all depends on what class you're taking. Most freshmen at Luther have a heavier load of coursework than they expected from just one class, but for upperclassmen, the classes available can be much more lenient with homework.
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2) You don't practice anywhere near as much as you said you would. Maybe this only applies to me, but the amount of time spent practicing whatever needs to be practiced (in my case, the trumpet) is devastatingly lower than what you promised it would be, whether you have the time or not.
3) 95% of free time is spent watching Netflix. Even if your friends are on campus, there's something extremely satisfying about binge-watching your favorite show at school. It's as if you know this opportunity won't come up again for another four months. You don't have to be watching it alone, though; your friends are there at least half the time.
4) Tonsillitis is very, very uncomfortable. After being very healthy my entire life (no serious illnesses, no surgeries, only one broken bone), I knew I was racking up some serious health karma, and it decided to be cashed in this month. The second week of the term, I found myself unable to swallow anything without a massive flinch. At one point, there was only a centimeter of space between my poor swollen tonsils, and I was legitimately afraid of them closing off my throat entirely. Luckily I got my hands on some antibiotics before that happened, and it went away. And then came back a week later.
5) The nurses in Health Services are very nice. They have had the pleasure of seeing me four times over a three week period and each time they did their best to try and figure out why my tonsils were blowing up like balloons. The first time I went, they sent me home with some soup, jello, and applesauce when they heard I didn't have any soft foods in my room.
6) It REALLY sucks that Health Services is not open on the weekend. Round one of the tonsillitis started on a Saturday night, which meant my Sunday was spent in bed drinking water, wincing, trying to eat a banana, and wincing some more. It wasn't a serious enough issue that I thought I needed to go to the hospital, but it still would have been very nice to have that extra day to start fighting back.
7) Having blood drawn is not as painful as expected. Fairly self-explanatory.
8) Gilmore Girls is an amazing show. While I was missing a total of five days of class between the two rounds of tonsillitis, I managed to get through four of the seven seasons of Gilmore Girls, and I have decided that it is my new favorite show. The wit, the humor, the characters, the relationships... Perfect. All perfect.
9) I am capable of adding a lower bunk to an already lofted bed entirely on my own. I have very little arm strength, so this was already a very difficult project. It was a lot of shifting and scooching and sliding and propping heavy things on other things that are really not built to support heavy things. No one was hurt and everything turned out fine.
10) Whittling is more difficult than I imagined, but also more fun. The class I took this J-term was titled "Scandinavian Fine Handcraft", and was taught by the amazing Harley Refsal. It was the most relaxing and enjoyable class I have ever been in. We would carve all day, for four hours a day, and that was it. No homework, no tests, no stress. Just spending the day chatting with classmates and helping each other with projects. For those that also attend Luther College, I strongly recommend you take a class with Harley sometime before you graduate.
11) I'm actually not that great at woodcarving, but boy do I love decorating spoons. That's it. No explanation.
