With the end of the school year looming on the horizon, each day of school seems to drag on. The repetition of each day makes each day feel less important and more like checking a box. Each day began to be less important in my eyes, as if it was a waste of time. 

Thursday (3/24) was a late start day, with the juniors taking an important test. All of the classes for the rest of the students would take place at 12:30, each class lasting around fifteen minutes with a passing period for the next class. Fifteen minutes is enough time to sit down, pull out your iPad, get through typing ten words, then pack up and head to your next class. 

Instead of going to school for two hours on Thursday, I went to Flagstaff to go skiing. 

I hadn’t been skiing in five or six years.

I don’t even know how long it had been—that should attest to how long it had been since I had been skiing. 

I was nervous to go back, especially since it was towards the end of the season; but, as soon as I stepped foot in Flagstaff, I felt instantly better. The crisp air sent shivers down my spine, and not only for the fact that I was dressed for Peoria weather. The sight of snow was wonderful and strange, but something my eyes quickly acclimated to.  

I had a wonderful time. To just get out and do something different was an amazing break in my routine, which seems so rigid and unchangeable. 

I am trying to focus on the good things upcoming about these next few weeks of school to avoid death by calculating how many seconds left. So, to get down to the nitty gritty, here is how I plan to survive these next few weeks:

1. Testing
2. Friends
3. Summer itself

Truly, the majority of the upcoming weeks will be tests, either state testing or the last few quizzes before finals-esque testing. While we have state test after state test, this testing does not have an impact on your grade for the year. It is a benchmark for how well our class is doing with the core subjects. Just knowing that, while I will do my best, my grade is not affected lifts a massive weight off my shoulders. 

Besides this, there won’t be a lot of actual learning in the next few weeks. There will be some learning, studying, a test, some more learning, studying, a quiz, etc. This will probably happen for each class around two or three times. 

As much as it can pain me to admit this—school is where I can be most happy. Notice the can, and that it is not an is. Still, I generally see most of my friends here on a day-to-day basis, which makes creating memories as bountiful as times I have been asked for gum. I won’t see my friends as often or in one place for a while, but we will get to that. Plus, some of my friends are older than me and don’t have as many years here as I do. I can’t be counting down the milliseconds till summer knowing that this may be the last time I see most of these people.

Now onto summer: I know that summer seems like the perfect vacation from school, but I will not be able to see my friends as often during summer. 

Planning activities with lots of people is tough. That’s the bottom line. 

Planning activities with lots of people during summer? Virtually impossible.

Someone will be inevitably out of state, another person will have other plans, and someone will just not show. 

Plus, with all the time I will have during summer, I am going to wreck my sleep schedule and overall feel less productive. Because that is exactly what I will be: less productive. Which sounds nice right now, it sounds like paradise right now, but I know there is a feeling of melancholy that will trail behind. When I do nothing, I almost always ultimately feel guilty for wasting time and doing nothing. Summer makes this happen tenfold. 

And then there is the fact we all turn a blind eye to…boredom.

I will eventually get bored. You will too. It’s as inevitable as the snap of fingers.  

Summer seems like bliss right now—because it isn’t summer right now. Just as winter seems wonderful when you melt into the concrete during summer. The grass may seem greener, but take those green-tinted glasses off to see the reality: it is the same shade as right now. 

I am doing my best to make these last few weeks count, relinquishing these last few weeks where I am guaranteed to see my friends on a daily basis. Even as I type these words out, I know that I am going to struggle with letting go of my weekends and trying to make peace with going back to school. 

As the days drag by, try not to be hard on yourself. Know your limit and avoid burnout. One missing assignment can easily snowball into many missing assignments, which can take much more of a mental toil on anyone. Take it easy on yourself but don’t stop any work yet—there are only 4 weeks, 19 days, and 114 classes left.