Mornings BEFORE Fall Break
Wake up 10 minutes before my alarm. Open the curtains as the morning sun cascades across my room and the sound of birds harmonizes with the songs from my soft indie morning playlist. Walk on a cloud to the shower and return to an outfit thoughtfully preselected from the night before. Fawn over a meticulously organized make up selection and carefully place everything back in its proper place. Blow dry hair, put in contacts, moisturize cuticles, and all other necessities for the start of a successful day. It’s 8:30. Saunter over to NDH, grab a WSJ, and claim an entire table. Make an omelet, grab a coffee, learn some French, read, eat, and relax while looking over the material being covered in today’s classes. Arrive to class at a reasonable 9:22, engage in chatter, select a pen from my variety of available working pens, and title/date a page in my notebook. Hair flip and I’m ready to go.
Mornings AFTER Fall Break
Wake up and debate whether or not I should sleep in or go to my 9:30 class. After 10-15 minutes of a foggy pros-and-cons analysis mixed with a snooze button or two, finally roll out of bed. Step across a minefield of shoes on my floor, making a mental note to put them away (later), grab caddy and towels, and head off to the shower. Twenty minutes later, I check the time and realize it’s really twenty minutes later – accidently took a series of short naps in the shower again. It’s 9:18. Leggings, sweatshirt, glasses, hair tie, mascara, and shoes – it’s 9:23. Step out of Cavanaugh – it’s raining, and Toms shoes were a bad choice. Try to avoid stepping in puddles, but the entire sidewalk is a puddle. Too late to turn back now!
Get to class at 9:30, wet shoes and all.
With the weather changing and the schedules becoming more routine, it's a little harder to get through the academic weeks immediately following fall break - the freshness of a new semester is completely gone by now. A lot of us are running on grit at this point! Being so, I'm sure I can toughen up and stick it out like everyone else, because soon enough, winter break will be just around the corner.