I think it’s about mid-way through the semester. Although, no one really knows without fall break to schedule and plan around. Mid-terms grades are due the 21, I took one mid-term two weeks ago, another isn’t until next Tuesday. Please send help.
Our fall break was taken away when we all thought we would attending classes in person. It made sense at the time, but now we all wish we still had it. Even though it is literally only two days and weekend, and generally I spend most of it working, I wish we still had it. Without this “break” we are going from September 30 to the Friday before Thanksgiving with nothing but weekends off. Keeping in mind, that for most of us weekends are spent on homework, jobs, and tending to other responsibilities.
Other schools are starting to announce that their students are not going to have spring break during the spring semester. At my school this would literally mean from the third week of January to the middle of May, there would be no breaks, or three day weekends. The thought alone of that stresses me out.
I know that “in the real world” you don’t just get a week off in the middle of March, or a four-day weekend in October. Here’s the difference, in pretty much every class I have ever taken, I have been allowed three absences without penalty. Some have even counted being late, as half an absence. No, you don’t have spring break, but you are allowed to take more than three days before in a 12 week period and it not impact your pay.
Seriously, I just kind of want a break. But the thing about attending Zoom University is you never really get to stop. After class there’s homework. You’re always getting emails about things getting posted or graded. Not to mention it feels like everyone is doing better, cooler things with their newfound free time than you.
And as I have said before, there are not more or fewer distractions there are just different distractions. It’s not just you’re schedule, its your schedule and everyone else around you schedules, most of which are on different time zones, and all of which are operating under different ideas of what work-life balance looks like.
When I take a step back, I am grateful. I am grateful for this time with my family. Grateful for the growth I have experienced through this. Grateful for what I have learned about myself and others through this time. Grateful for the creative pursuits that I have been able to jump headfirst into because I am at home and not working.
At the same time, I perpetually pissed. I want to be working, I want to have an income again. I want to just be able to focus on what I need to do and not be distracted by what everyone else is doing. I don’t want to do Zoom call group meetings. I want to feel in control and like I have the freedom to do or not do things again.
I knew this semester would be a mixture of emotions, and I still don’t know what I want my spring semester to look like. But I do know that I am kind of done and over this. I would like my old life back. Please and thank you.
