Satire: Hell Week is Worth Savoring

Carter Smith Staff Writer

The end of the 2022-23 academic year at Villanova is quickly approaching. With our seemingly expedient entry into May, it is nearly time for students to take final exams, say goodbye to friends and pack up dorms.

While the promise of completing classes and heading home for a summer filled with friends, relaxation and possible work is tantalizing to most students, another aspect of the end of the year goes extremely underappreciated.

The period known as Hell Week, the week before finals begin, when everybody seems to have at least one final project or paper due in every class, is truly the highlight of the year for me.

There is truly no better feeling than striding into a crowded Falvey Library the week before finals. The scents of coffee and energy drinks waft through the air. My ears drink in a cacophony of sound: a combination of fingers clicking on keyboards, pencils scribbling on paper and classmates debating the answers to review questions.

The stress in the air is palpable. It would take a reasonably buff lumberjack at the top of his game with the highest powered chainsaw on the marker to cut through all of the tension.

And I live for it.

Despite seemingly being in the minority of Villanova students

Isabella Ledet Staff Writer

Most people say that sophomore year is the most insignificant. Freshman year is the beginning, junior year is the beginning of being an upperclassman, and senior year is the rush to the finish. Sophomore year gets lost in the shuffle.

But college is so short that it would be stupid to chalk an entire year up to “the year in the middle.” Sure, at the end of the day, sophomore year is just the year in the middle, but it is just as real and important as any other year.

Freshman year is world-building. College is a new horizon that just keeps expanding and growing, making that first year feel longer simply because of all the changes.

So, since most things are already established by sophomore year, it moves far faster than its predecessor. I still feel like I just who dread the arrival of Hell Week every year, I welcome it. Crave it, even. It gives me life.

The level of satisfaction I get from scheduling out my daily activities down to the half-hour is unbeatable. It is all about making sure I can complete my Mount Everest-sized pile of assignments, while still making it to class for those incredibly important finals review sessions.

Even during Hell Week, the “work hard, play hard” mentality still applies. Seeing as many of Villanova’s

Graydon Paul/Villanovan Photography

student organizations decide to have formals that week, going to those and spending time with friends before the summer must be factored into the Hell Week schedule, as well. Being pressed up against the wall on every single paper or assignment because there is one due each day of the week sends such a volume of adrenaline coursing through my veins that my heart pounds in my chest nearly 24/7. Sleep is overrated compared to constant stress-induced anxiety.