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4 Stages of the Third Week Freakout as Told by The Office

Royall Bryan
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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at CNU chapter.

I am officially into my second/third year of college (don’t ask why, it’s a super weird explanation), and I am going into this year with a completely different ideal than I did last year.

I’m going to kick major ass this semester.

How, might you ask? Simple. I’m going to focus. I’m going to do my assignments, read my textbooks (well, really ethnographies since I’m a Soc/Crim/Anth major) like I actually care, and make six milkshakes in less than five minutes – maybe all in the same day.

Except, it’s a lot harder than I thought.

By the third week of classes (aka rn), I’m pulling my hair out between all of my responsibilities. And – get this – half of it isn’t even school related! Something so simple as remembering to rinse out my coffee mug from earlier in the day has me bursting into tears because I. Don’t. Have. Time.

So, I’ve created a term – complete with 4 stages – for this phenomenon I (and so many of my peers) seem to be experiencing. It’s called The Third Week Freakout. So, read on, fellow Captains, as our favorite characters from The Office help me explain just what this is.

Excitement.

During the first few days of classes, there might be some trivial stuff (I had a quiz in my Race Relations class), but for the most part, you’re pretty excited to get to see all your friends again and learn all the awesome material.

Confusion.

Wait, when were we supposed to have ordered the textbook by? How many pages is this reading? Why am I even in college, again?

Anxiety.

There’s no way I’m going to have time for lunch if I have 20 meetings to go to in between my classes. I’m not possibly going to be able to take a 40 question quiz in less than an hour in this elective class that all the freshmen are in so we have to have three week grades in.

Death.

Okay, maybe not that extreme. But you can guarantee that you’ll have a moment – or 50 – where you just curl up on the couch and binge watch The Office for six hours. Maybe you’ll be rested.. Maybe you’ll need another six hours.

It’s okay to experience this, friends! Fall Break is in a month – we can do this!

Stay classy, Captains!

 

You can categorize Royall as either Leslie Knope when she has her color-coded binders: or Hyde whenever Jackie comes into a room before they start dating: There is no in-between.  Royall recently graduated with her B.A. in Sociology & Anthropology from CNU and now studies Government & International Relations at Regent University. She also serves as the Victim Advocate and Community Outreach Coordinator for Isle of Wight Co., VA in Victim Witness Services. Within Her Campus, she served as a Chapter Writer for CNU for one year, a Campus Expansion Assistant for a semester, Campus Correspondent for two years, and is in the middle of her second semester as a Chapter Advisor.  You can find her in the corner of a subway-tiled coffee shop somewhere, investigating identity experiences of members of Black Greek Letter Organizations at Primarily White Institutions as well as public perceptions of migrants and refugees. Or fantasizing about ziplining arcoss the French Alps. 
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