During the last few months of any semester a few things can always be counted on. Homework will pile up, meal points will dwindle, and the souls of students will fade until they are resigned to sit in a desk in the library staring at nothing.
The semester always starts out with high hopes- my classes are so interesting, I'm going to work so hard, my social life is great, the marche is finally serving good food, etc. Then classes load on the work, the assignments, the extra readings, the required workshops, the group projects, the semester research papers, and life seems to stop. Meal points go toward coffee and whatever is leftover at whatever cafeteria is open when you finally drag yourself, half starved and twitchy from caffeine, out of your study hole. But coffee only works for so long, and you still need to be awake for classes, so redbull it is.
My desk is covered in papers, books, coffee cups, flashcards, and triscuits. I picked up my room some time last week -I think- and my trashcan is overflowing with redbull cans and burrito wrappers from New World. I can tell you exactly how many sticky notes are on my wall and how many tack holes are in my corkboard, but I couldn't tell you when the last time I did laundry was if my life was on the line.
I find myself people watching. When my work isn't going well I stare off into space, and accidentally stare at other people working in the library. They are just like me. Staring at nothing. Jumping at sounds, or when someone passes by too close to them and startles them. Reaching for coffee cups with shaky hands, and clicking pens. I could start a study on the relationship between coffee consumed, and overall sense of wellbeing. Spoiler: it's not good.
It's times like this, when I'm watching other people work and my brain is working so fast my body can't keep up, that I realize we're all zombies. We stand in lines to spend our meal points on coffee, we stagger to our desks- you know, the one you always go to and if someone else has taken it, it just throws you off for an unhealthy amount of time- and stare and stare and stare at our computers and books, until we need to find more coffee.