So this week is the final final week for seniors. Wow. Usually I wanted the final week to be over as soon as possible, but this time I hoped that it could last longer. Once it’s over, it is time to graduate! Bitterweet moment.
What does the final week look like at Middlebury? Most people will say it is pretty crazy and stressful, especially if you have three exams and two papers clustering into one week. However, Middkids usually manage it pretty well. There is a lot of work during final week, but we won’t usually be running in nude, screaming at plants, or staying up every single night ending up having a panda bear face. Middlebury is a rigorous school, but the workload is still managable. The key to be less stressful is just to start early.
Many seniors were struggling with their “babies”– their thesis. An undergraduate thesis at Middlebury is usually a two-semester-long project, ranging from 70-120 pages on a specific topic within the department. It is not required by every department, but a large portion of seniors still do a thesis because it is a great learning process and it could be a nice summary for the entire college career. Thesis are often due at the beginning of the final week. It is so much fun to see how seniors react after submitting their thesis– Here are some quotes:
— “Thesis Free!”
— “Thesis IN!”
— “I just gave birth to my 100-page baby after 10 months!”
— “DONE! Time to go sleep”
— “Oh no I just found a typo in my thesis– I wrote ‘chemical shifts’ as ‘chemical shits’…”
Cute isn’t it? 🙂
Seniors also have a lot to do during their final final week other than completing their thesis and exams. Send gratitude to professors and friends, arrange meals with friends, prepare for commencement and leaving, and try to accomplish everything on the Middlebury Bucket list (some must-dos before graduating from Middlebury). Even cuter, crush lists were covering the entire walls in front of our two dining halls, Proctor and Ross. Students were crowding in the dining halls, eagerly trying to find their names on the list of the people they care about. Once in our youth, we were flipped by someone iridescent. As time goes by the innocent little crushes will be fading away but our great memories with these people will last forever deep in our hearts.
The final final week will be over soon and it is time to say goodbye. It will be a new start. Middlebury has taught us so much: deal with challenges, share our passion, and hard work will be paid off eventually.
Let’s wish our seniors best luck in their life after Middlebury!