This week at Umass Boston we are beginning to feel the cold in earnest. I get goosebumps every time I walk outside, and it’s not just due to my sheer excitement for my 8 a.m.’s. Our weekly question is on this very subject; Sayre Powell asks: “How do I avoid freezing on my way to class?” Well Sayre, I also need to know the answer to this question… yesterday I had to pick icicles out of my eyebrows; and the day before that I stood in place for too long and my whole body actually froze. I was forced to wait until the sun hit me exactly and thawed me out. So, this is a topical question, and I’m here to give good advice. But first, I have to get something off my chest …

Have you ever studied very, very hard for a big test only to walk in and find out the teacher has moved the due date to next week? Or stayed up all night working on a confusing paper only to be told that you read the due date wrong and it is due on the 21st, and not the 12th? I call that ‘study heartbreak.’ It is arguably the worst form of heartbreak. Sure, breaking up is bad—but have you ever had ‘study heartbreak’? And yeah, unrequited love may be unfortunate, but boy, it pales in comparison to study heartbreak. 

It has happened to me several times recently. I walk into class, a hopeful, naive expression on my innocent face. I’m clutching my stapled eight-page essay. There are bags beneath my eyes. You can only imagine. *shudder* I sit through the lecture, every once and a while glancing proudly at my work. Sure, I think to myself, it took all night, but I did it, I finished it on time. And then, as the class period ends I rise, clutching my creation. That’s when I hear the fateful words: “Oh, yeah, that paper? Y’all can just give that to me next week.” 

BAM! Study heartbreak hits like a baseball to the face! I have to spend the next ten to nineteen days lying in bed, eating ice cream with a ladle and crying, in order to recover. And after all that, it will surely happen again. It’s an epidemic. 

Anyways, thanks for your question Sayre. I hope I gave you the advice you need.