Three months ago, summer-break-Evan eagerly awaited a semester-in-review letter from his future self. But, now, writing as his “future self,” I can assure you that this letter is not all sunshine and rainbows. Junior year is hard. Really hard. But, weirdly, this semester has been my favorite of college thus far. Sure, my characteristic overcommitted-ness combined with a startling increase in classwork has ensured that “free time” is merely aspirational and unattainable 95% of the week, but this semester has been a blast. Thus, here’s my advice: prepare yourself — it’s going to be a lot — but have fun doing so.
I approached this year optimistic but cautious, since, if my junior year of college was going to be similar to my junior year of high school, life was about to get real. Is the workload far greater than sophomore year? Yes. Are there days where, aside from attending class and Ole Band or Ole Orch rehearsal, I devote every second to schoolwork? Yes. Perhaps the biggest let-down has been weekends; specifically, the lack thereof. While my weekend routine during freshman and sophomore years of turning on European soccer and college football, brain rotting, and occasionally doing homework was highly unproductive, I do long for the days where I could do that instead of homework for eight hours both Saturday and Sunday.
Fun, however, has not gone away completely. As a junior, it’s fun knowing what feels like 80% of campus. Seeing an abundance of familiar faces walking to your 9:05 class is fun, don’t take that for granted. The MVP of the semester is my car. You have no idea just how much having a car will change your life. After two years of not exploring Northfield, it turns out that there’s stuff to do — not a lot, but certainly some. Going to the Cow, exploring niche restaurants, and going to Target on your own agency makes the overwhelming amounts of homework somewhat bearable, so don’t take your car for granted either.
It’s been a semester. Is this the picture-perfect semester you hoped for this summer? Absolutely not. Junior year is a grind; but, junior year is a blast. So, take yourself seriously, like really seriously, but not too seriously at the same time. If you don’t know what I mean, don’t worry, you’ll have too much homework to have time to worry about it.
