Friday 7 am, back at your house

After a crazy night out, the next morning starts with a loud bang. Of course, there is some construction going on right in front of your window again. Right on time. At 7 am. Woohoo. You slowly open your eyes and reach out to grab a bottle of water as if it were your last lifeline. You start reminiscing about last night and all those crazy dance moves you shouldn’t have tried. The 9 am lecture which seemed so far away just a few hours ago, suddenly becomes an imminent reality. While you hit the snooze button for the 5th time in a row, you slowly fall back asleep thinking of all the reasons why you hate being a student…

No money

It’s one of those cliches that are actually too true to even be considered one: Students are notoriously broke. The reasons for this may be numerous but mostly are grounded in (a) having a relatively constrained budget and (b) complete and utter monetary mismanagement. This misuse of funds is usually characterised by over excessive spending at the beginning of the month which leads to the acquisition of a semi-luxurious lifestyle, even if it only lasts for 3-4 days. The following three weeks then consist of noodle soup, regrets and a battle to survive with 2€ per day.

Study stress

Every student knows the dreadful feeling of being faced with a seemingly insurmountable amount of exams, assignments and papers. Add a part-time job and some anxiety about the future into the mix and you end up with a cocktail of tears, frustration and self-pity. Of course this student version of David vs. Goliath could have probably been prevented by just starting on time, but in such a situation it's mostly already too late to look back on what could have been. A wise person I once encountered told me that exams can be repeated but parties can’t. And after all, they say diamonds are made under pressure (or in the next semester).

Living an unhealthy lifestyle

Just as little as Kanye is known for acting modestly, student life is little known for its positive health aspects. Its a fact of life that going out 4 times a week and owning a Dominos Gold card clearly leaves its marks. And while it surely is an accomplishment of sorts to fill a subway stamp card over three times in a semester, it is not necessarily something to be proud of. It is not all that bad though. As long as you still manage to bike every now and then and involuntarily fast at the end of the month due to your equally unhealthy financial situation, you should be able to ward off most of those extra kilos.

Knowing that it will all end sometime

As with everything in life, all good things must come to an end at some point. After years of dodging deadlines, pleading with profs and forming friendships, each student life eventually passes by. Having to accept this can be incredibly hard and sad. Add some anxiety about finding a job and other concerns about the future into the mix and you'll feel burnt out before even starting to work. On the other hand, you have to move on because you really don’t want to end up like that 35-year old dude who just started his 7th Bachelor and says ‘rad’ all the time. What remains are wonderful memories, a lot of knowledge and friendships that will last a lifetime.  

….Your sleep is interrupted by a ringing tone which gradually creeps into your dreams. What seems to be a part of the song you are listening to backstage at a festival with your favourite DJ, eventually turns out to be your phone's alarm. When you pick up your phone to turn off the annoying sound, you have a look at the time. The clock reads 14:05, which means that you are 5 hours and 5 minutes late for your 9 am lecture. “Ah well, could’ve been worse...”, you think to yourself before turning around again and continuing to live in the dream-like state called student life.

Read Part 1 of this blog series discussing the benefits of student life here.