As a first-year here at Union, one of the most jarring changes I have been learning to get used to is our schedule. From the 10-week-long trimesters to the month-and-a-half-long winter break, I’ve had my fair share of confusion with our in-class and out-of-class dates–not to mention my fair share of explanations for my extended family as to why I’m sitting at home in the middle of December. While these adjustments have been confusing, yet immersive and exciting at the same time, as I journey further into this last Spring term, I know it’s not over.
In my discussions of Summer break and vacation plans, I’ve been taking an awful lot of concerned glances at our Spring Term calendar, as pictured to your left. Obviously, being three weeks into the term is definitely overwhelming and, frankly, a little petrifying, but what truly shocks me (and probably my fellow first-year Union students) to the core is our release date: June 14!
As a former high school student, this mid-June final day doesn’t seem too unreasonable, but as a college student, it absolutely does! Yes, I understand that we stay late in order to have that nice, relaxing Winter break…and yes, I understand that I did in fact sign up for this by enrolling here at Union. But am I still going to complain about it? Of course! If you’ve read any of my work consistently throughout my time at Concordiensis (shout out Mom and Dad), you know I love to complain. So I will do as such.
My main qualms with this mid-June release day (as I’ve come to call it) have to do with the fact that no one else is staying in school this late (unless you count the high schoolers, of course). Many of my friends from other colleges and universities get out in mid-May, if not within that first week! By the time May 1 comes around, they’ll be packing up their things and I’ll be studying for midterms.
By the time we do actually get out of school here at Union, we have about two and a half months to soak up the summer sun, which, in reality is only about 75 days.And I’m supposed to do absolutely nothing for about 45 of those? The remaining days are going to be filled to the brim with miscellaneous picked up shifts at work, long-time-no-see catch-ups with high school friends, and probably enough time for one (1) relaxing and romantic date with my boyfriend. After being long-distance for the past seven months, I know that one honest and sincere date night will not even come close to making up for it all.
Regardless, I can’t say that I necessarily dislike the trimester system. You should hear me giving tours for Union—I will somehow manage to work my love for the trimester system into each and every stop on our route (I’m sure the kids love that…). I did choose Union for many reasons, and one of the highest of those was the trimesters. So, while I can complain about our late release date, I can really be too upset about it. Or, maybe I can, but until June 14, I guess I’ll be complaining from my dorm room.
