Week 6: Stardew Valley Study Sessions

Hey folks! Happy finals week.

Well, the train is pulling into the procrastination station, and friends, I am climbing aboard. 

I’ve been a chronic procrastinator for all four years I’ve spent at UNC. I like to say that I’ve learned how to make my procrastination work for me, and that’s sort of true- I need the boost of adrenaline that comes from a swiftly-approaching deadline to produce my best work. This method has resulted in some papers I’m really proud of, and also in a fair few all-nighters.

This has been much the same here at home, with the added bonus of my parents judging the finals-week routines my brother and I have sunken into. (Yes, mom, during finals week it is normal to wake up at 2:00 pm, watch a movie, then take a nap; it’s also normal to drink coffee all day long and forget to eat lunch. Respect the process.)

I have a grand tradition of finding a time-sucking activity to procrastinate with just as each finals season approaches — my binge-watch of seven seasons of “Game Of Thrones” in the week before spring finals last year is the stuff of legend — and this finals week, my last finals week, I have chosen to sink hours into “Stardew Valley.” Stardew Valley is a video game where you move to a small town to begin a new life as a farmer. I have potentially spent more time studying the efficiency of my digital crops than I have studying for my exams. 

It’s kind of comforting to know that no matter where I take my finals, I still keep up my ridiculous finals-week routines. I don’t think any student really enjoys taking finals, but I kind of like the sense of community you can feel on campus during those weeks at the end of the semester. Sharing nervous smiles across a lecture hall, compiling study guides in Davis, even uniting with my fellow studiers to glare at someone being rude in a quiet study hall. I’m not sure I miss it, exactly, but finals weeks at Carolina are just as communal an experience as watching a Duke game. You take the test on your own, but pass or fail, you know that we’re all in this mess together. 

I hope everyone’s finding ways to study this week! Personally, I’m forcing myself to study in between Stardew Valley sessions; whatever it takes to get the work done.