Around this time last year, I was in the middle of spring semester of my freshman year. It was awful. Now that I’m in my second spring semester, I can attest to one thing: spring semester is worse than fall semester.

Returning for fall semester feels “hitting the reset button” for me. New classes, new people, friends, and new opportunities. Meanwhile, returning for spring semester feels like dragging yourself out of bed on a Monday.

A Monday that lasts 16 weeks.

While winter break is short enough to not lose the “college groove,” it is also so short that I never have enough time to get over fall finals. I return to class in mid-January, normally dwelling on my finals still. Even if I aced the class, the stress of studying still hasn’t left my body. At this point it never leaves. Instead, it is taken over by the stresses of homework, group projects, and eventually midterms. Motivation is a an all time low, and I blame that on the mere three weeks of winter break. The break is nice, but it isn’t long enough to feel fully refreshed by the time I return to campus.

Returning from winter break, the weather is BRUTAL. I am forced to walk in the cold, to and from class. But yeah, I know, “Welcome to college”, right? Snow days no longer exist, or maybe they do and I’m never lucky enough to have one. Either way, they do not happen. The grass is safer to walk on than the icy sidewalks. And, not to mention how much space my winter coat takes up in my tiny room!

Cold weather makes it harder to leave my bed, which is probably a good thing because everyone else on campus is sick anyway.

The long stretch to spring break is what I look forward to. Although planning a vacation is stressful, it is better than writing an essay that is probably due at 11:59 pm. By the time spring break comes around, I will most likely have nothing booked, and I will end up working the entire week instead. Which is probably what I should do anyway, since college is expensive and I am broke most of the time during the school year. Returning from spring break is actually the worst because summer is near, and it’s warm outside. Which means many other ways to avoid studying, besides watching Netflix.

In the fall semester, you don’t really notice how lousy the food is. I actually eat in the cafeteria at least twice a day! Spring semester rolls around and the food gets worse...and worse. There are no “good options”. Even the salad bar has been lacking my favorite vegetables recently. At this point I would rather eat my right arm than cafeteria food. Taco Bell continues to be my main source of a balanced meal.

Healthy eating in 2018 is completely absent.

Despite all of the negatives, we are one day closer to summer. The days continue to get warmer (or that's what they’re supposed to do anyway). We are getting more and more sunlight by the day. I am blessed to be getting an education and have all of this stuff to complain about. I plan to get through this semester, and move on to the next. I am one semester closer to graduating and for that, I couldn’t be more thankful.

Spring semester is still the worst though.