Three weeks of smelling like Cup O’ Noodles and dust, over. Three weeks of study groups, flipping through flash cards at lunch, and sleeping on Biology textbooks in the library, finto. With this last exam I completed another semester of college and it felt fucking great. Three semesters down, five more to go. After one last check that I’d written ‘Stephanie Mills’ on the top of my test, I put down my pencil and looked around the lecture hall at my fellow students, the majority still struggling to label a diagram of the human heart. There was a chance I had confused two of the valves, but as a non-major I only needed a B- on the exam to pass the course and complete my general education requirements. The aortic valve did not determine my future—at least not academically.As I handed in my test booklet, I imagined the night of post-finals freedom waiting for me back at the dorm. Most of my friends had exams left to study for, meaning the alcohol-infused celebration I wanted most would have to wait.
