As I sit here writing this article I fade in and out of consciousness and my eyes struggle to focus on the words before me.

It’s a brutal scene; some sleeping anywhere they can find space between exams, others crying while trying to finish their final papers. Everyone is rushing to maintain their desired GPA, doing whatever it takes to pass their classes. That they may or may not have been working hard in the entire semester. My head is pounding and I can’t tell you whether or not it is due to my lack of sleep or the amount of caffeine in my system which I prefer not to disclose.

Talking to others gives me no further information or motivation; my friend is sitting across from me staring at pictures of potatoes instead of studying because she can’t remember the last time that she ate. It’s strange because as I pass others on the sidewalk who are crying or angry or look like they haven’t slept in days; I can relate. Not on a physical level per say, but on a spiritual level- an emotional level. We may be all different people from different walks of life, taking different classes and graduating at different times, but we all have one thing in common. We ALL hate finals week. Hate may not even be the right word, but I don’t have the concentration or willpower left to think of something more accurate.

I remember back in high school scrolling through twitter and seeing finals week posts and assuming that they were all over exaggerations in a desperate attempt to get likes and re tweets. I have never been more wrong in my life. If anything, the tweets were an understatement. The LSU community has always been generally strong, but it is a whole different type of strong during finals week. We are all in this together. I’m probably about to fall asleep on my keyboard, so I’ll end this article with a quote from my friend previously mentioned (the one who was looking at potatoes): “I walked in here (the bookstore) this morning and I was fine, and I left with this zit. That is the definition of finals week”.

Good luck out there everyone.