UI students practice self-care

By Piotr Fedczuk Managing Editor for Reporting

As students brace for their final exams and projects, they employ different tactics to stay afloat and mini - mize burnout. are surrounded by a multitude of different characters of people, and this is probably not the strangest thing they have witnessed.

For Archie Gertsman, graduate student studying industrial engineering, the end of this semester marks the movement toward another semester of working on his thesis.

A distressed student can even get a soft serve ice cream cone on the way out of the dining hall.

The tables are exposed to natural light with giant windows surrounding the seating areas. If students go to eat during the sunset, they get a calming view of Memorial Stadium in the distance.

4. Illini Grove

To reminisce on simpler times, which may be when you looked forward to overnight summer camp, go on the corner of Lincoln and Pennsylvania Avenues. The Illini Grove is there to support you.

The Illini Grove is a section of wooded area containing picnic tables and pleasing sights. It can provide a switch from the urban and busy feel on campus.

According to the Campus Recreation website, this spot is “perfect for a gettogether with friends!” However, the Grove is also great for walking around in circles and fantasizing about turning in the paper that has been hanging over your head.

The picnic tables also provide comfort while you craft an email to your professor asking for mercy toward an upcoming assignment.

Students go to unwind in various ways. It is a popular spot for inhaling relaxation and exhaling your worries. Just pick a spot and be present.

5. The Main Quad

Although it is an unoriginal crying location, the Main Quad must be mentioned.

A location 203 feet wide and 940 feet long is yours to make the most of, according to the UIHistories website. It’s always a pleasant experience to shed a tear while a tour group of bright-eyed prospective students pass you by.

The Main Quad can be filled with students and community members on a day with nice weather, making your presence less known among all the chaos. All individuals mesh together to create collective laughing, screaming and passionate conversing.

Just beware of the groups playing frisbee or tossing a football around. While you dwell on your emotional pain, you may have those internal unpleasant feelings manifested into a physical form as you get knocked upside the head.

Still, the Main Quad is a place worth trying. It is likely hundreds of students have cried on that very grass, and hundreds more will.

The University has unique locations that could provide a sense of tranquility or opportunities to destress for students.

During finals, get with friends, study buddies or strangers, to unite together and have public mental breakdowns during a collectively difficult time.

lmsalas2@dailyillini.com

Gertsman said he hoped to have it done by the end of the summer, which has made this semester more stressful.

To decompress, Gertsman said he visits home often during the weekends and walks around the University’s campus. He also watches the ducks and geese at a pond near County Market.

“Sometimes I just sit there, and I’m like, ‘What are they feeling right now?’” Gertsman said. “You know, do they feel like I feel? Do these ducks ever get depressed? They’re just grooming themselves constantly and just doing the same thing over and over again. For eternity.”

Gertsman’s thesis has driven him into a similar routine, he said. However, Gertsman has made a plan for when these thoughts pounce on him.

“If I feel really burnt out, I try to take a break from work (and) go on those walks,” he said. “I try to talk to my family. Give them a call or just visit home. Just reach out to people when possible.”

When under stress, Gertsman said students should not isolate themselves.

The scenery of a student’s study spot also matters, said Avery Gardner, sophomore in LAS.

“If you go to the cubicles in Grainger and ACES Funk Library, yes, you can study,” Gardner said. “But it also becomes really depressing in the off time. Studying on the (Main) Quad is nice because you have scenery, you have people, temperature, wind and actual physical sensation.”

Gardner said she also liked studying at the Siebel Center for Design.

“Just any spot (where) I can distract myself from the realization that I’m only studying and nothing else,” Gardner said.

When her determination faltered, Gardner said her study group kept her going.

People studying for finals should also form study groups with others, Gardner said.

“Get study groups with people,” Gardner said. “Groups help because even if the collective does not want to study, the fact that you have resigned yourself to study with people will societally force you into it.”

Gardner said the other driving factors for her studying efforts were caffeine, taking breaks and “the crushing weight of expectations.”

For Jose Hernandez, senior in Engineering, the most important thing for finals season is having a plan.

“Be very intentional about your time and how much is given to each assignment,” Hernandez said. “If you go in without a plan, you may end up doing too much or too little.”

If a student wanted to study for 10 hours but only had five, they should still try to study in that time, rather than stress out about it, Hernan - dez said.

“Time is a limited resource and, sometimes, just the realistic thing is that you may not have as much time as you want or need for a specific task,” Hernandez said. “Sometimes, it’s just minimizing the losses.”

Another important part of life students need to consider is their mental health, Hernandez said.

“I don’t just think about (mental health) toward the end of the year,” Hernandez said. “I’ve gotten more accustomed to considering it as a year-round type of thing.”

Hernandez said students need to make small habits for themselves, so they can rely on their discipline when their motivation falters.

“It’s just a very realistic thing that those days are always going to come up,” Hernandez said. “So, whatever you can do on the good days to set yourself up for the bad ones.” fedczuk2@dailyillini.com