"Capen, caffeine and crunch time"

You know your life sucks when getting hit by a semi seems preferable to beginning another Monday, and another week of class.

Heading home to let her dog out before 8 a.m. class, after working a ten-hour overnight shift, my friend almost had her little Ford Contour sideswiped by a huge oncoming truck. She told me she wished she had been hit, just so she could have a legitimate excuse for a few days off.

Welcome to the hell that is mid-semester crunch time.

We all know it. It's the time when going out and getting obliterated three times a week is no longer an option, and when you start to spend more time in Capen then in your bed; when about 18,000 undergrads begin to pop Adderall and No-Doz like candy, while simultaneously drinking coffee by the gallon.

Struggling to stay afloat while drowning in a sea of midterm exams, papers and reading is not an easy feat, especially amidst the social and financial worries facing every college student. It's frequently too easy to slide into a state of depression, where giving up and avoidance seem like the only way out.

Unfortunately, this is what college is about. All-nighters are a right of passage.

The key to avoiding this image of a typical college student, overworked and overstressed is obvious. Most students start off the semester with confidence in themselves and their abilities to achieve a high GPA, stay organized and to accomplish all their work. However, that's easier said than done, and after a month and a half have gone by, many face the realization that the afore mentioned ideal semester has already gone down the tubes.

Personally, I don't have that option this semester. After one miserable year as a pharmacy major, and two years of discovering myself and what I want to do with my life, I've come to the conclusion that my future depends on my performance this semester. As a senior with goals of getting into graduate school next year, this fall is my "bring up the GPA, get some great references and ace the GRE's" semester. Oh the price you pay for three years of procrastination, partying and putting off the inevitable.

The problem with procrastination is that everything you put off will eventually catch up with you. And when it does, it's like getting hit by a semi, only figuratively of course.

While it's easy to feel sorry for yourself, the truth is that everyone feels that way. Sometimes you just need a little reminder that you're not alone in your worries, and that you may in fact be a lot better off than most.

One of my best friends from high school recently called me in tears, depressed and suicidal. A failed art student at a tiny school outside of Boston, she now attends SUNY Cortland, in a major she hates. After two semesters on academic probation, she is over a year behind in her coursework. The problem is not that she lacks the intelligence or motivation to excel; it is that she has allowed herself to become so absent from reality that it is almost impossible to recover at this point.

Now, I'm not saying that listening to my friend's predicament made me feel better about myself. It did however succeed in putting my problems into perspective.

It's impossible for countless sleepless nights spent in Capen not to get to you, and there will, as usual, be many days when the alarm goes off and all you want to do is stay in bed, curl up in a ball and forget that the world exists. Remember to take things in stride. We will all make it through this semester alive, for better or for worse. Procrastination gets you nowhere, and if you do your work, before you know it, the semester will be over.

That being said, you should take a night off, schedule some time just for you and put off work for at least a night. You can afford to lose a little time. Even just a few hours removed from stress can give you the boost you need to get through the seemingly endless semester.

So the next time you're coming to terms with the fact that you will most likely never catch up on your sleep, and questioning whether or not it's possible to overdose on caffeine and nicotine, keep in mind that everyone else around you is thinking the same. Take a trip to Starbucks, smoke a cigarette and then get back to work.