There may will come a time when your relationship needs to take a backseat and your boyfriend or girlfriend must hop onto the back burner. Yeah, its finals week, again. And whether you have been dating for a month or a decade, both partners have to remember that, as college students, we have certain responsibilities.
It requires understanding and security on both parts to recognize that you need to have at least a little time to yourselves, whether that is to spend time with friends or that thrilling art history textbook. It’s common sense really, that people need space.
“It was easier when we were both in college, but now that my significant other has a masters degree and a real job, he is ready to be done with work at 6 o’clock,” said Shannon Craig, a senior from the Savannah College of Art and Design. “And for me 6 o’clock is when my work is at a halfway point. So half of the time I have to wait for him to fall asleep before I can get back on my computer and do work.”
If both halves of the relationship are equally busy, it doesn’t really matter that you don’t have that much time for each other. But when one half has time for you, and you aren’t there, that’s when things can get nasty.
“You are always working and I never get to see you!”
“You’ve been ignoring me lately, I don’t know what I did wrong.”
When the quarter or semester is ending, people are either anxious or pretty bitchy. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that these sorts of situations only arise when someone is being needy and/or temperamental. Perhaps the person who’s upset in the relationship just doesn’t understand the situation you are in.
I remember meeting a guy around the beginning of spring quarter of my freshmen year at SCAD. We hit it off and I was really into the guy, but then finals week came and we both knew that we needed to change gears, if only until all of our projects were turned in and done with. Because we were both in the same sinking ship of 3D design finals, there wasn’t an issue with how we were rationing precious time.
Besides, when I have papers due one after the other, I am not the sweetheart I typically am, so maybe that was for the best — the stress of finals and exams can always take their toll.
“It really depends on the clients themselves,” said a counselor from the CS3, the Counseling and Student Support Center of Savannah College of Art and Design when asked about advice they give students on balancing academics and relationships. “It depends on the particular emotional state of the individual.”
Some people call finals week “hell week” for a reason. That high wire you have to walk on any given day is a lot shakier with the stress of school in full force. Just remember, each time it comes around it won’t last forever.
And if you need motivation to focus on your academics over your relationship, just remember how much tuition you are dropping to succeed wherever you go.
