End of terms are fairly terrifying in England. I was faced with about a week-and-a-half of exams and paper writing before being pardoned for a 4-week holiday break. This was one of the most intense weeks of school I can ever remember. You see it’s more than just the amount of what you are expected to complete, but it’s the worry of how much all these things are worth.

For one of my courses I had to write a 4,000-word paper which in itself is scary. Even scarier however is the fact that this would be the first and only assignment I would be actually turning in for this class. My grade for a whole semester of work/knowledge is being determined from this paper and from a 4-hour exam to be taken in January. That’s a lot of pressure as you can imagine, but the most terrifying thing of all about it was the fact that even though I knew about the paper some weeks ago I waited to the last minute to actually start writing it. I mean I’ve been reading related books, and articles, for sometime now, but actually taking my ideas and thoughts from my mind and putting them on paper was… well… put off. I kept meaning to, but just like joining that procrastination club at University, I never got around to doing it.

So fast-forward to a week-and-a-half of sleepless nights of research, writing, coffee, more research, more writing, and an ungodly amount of more coffee. These nights were met by baggied-eyed mornings in which I still had to fulfill my normal schedule. I still had all my classes to attend, other assignments, teaching, service, meetings, and all the other nuances. Thankfully though I am happy to announce that not only have I survived it but I’ve completed all my assignments and exams. My novel of a paper was finished, double checked, and printed off at 4AM a mere 6 hours before it was due. I am pleased with it actually, probably because I did enough background research that you would have thought I was writing a book, not an assignment. It was a great feeling to turn it in for this reason, but also because it marked the last of my exams and assignments before coming back in January. It was the last box on a long list to tic and I ticked it with great relish,

Now I have a day to finally think of all my travel stuff. I leave in less than 15 hours and I’ve still got to figure out how to get to/from the airports, what to see and do, what to pack, and a million other things I should have thought about weeks ago. There is nothing quite like waiting to the last minute! Does this make me a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of guy? Or just the stereotypical college student, I can’t tell?

One thing is for certain however, the first thing I’ll do in Dublin is take a long, well deserved nap and reacquaint myself with my old friend… sleep.