While walking home from the newsroom late Tuesday night, I was presented with the typical mid-October malady: midterms.

Every day, I walk past the Owen Science and Engineering Library. And every day there are people in it studying. Whether I walk by at 10 a.m. on my way to class, 4 p.m. coming home on a Friday or 11 p.m. dragging myself back to my bed after a long night of production at The Daily Evergreen, there are always students studying their asses off in there.

Watched over by a stuffed bear, these students show what we are all faced with this time of year: All of our professors decide to give us papers and exams on the same days, and it makes us want to crawl in a hole and die.

As a senior and a journalism major, I no longer have traditional midterms. Which is a blessing, I will admit. Now, I just have papers to write throughout the semester and actual publishable content to produce. But I now have a unique position to view the suffering of Cougs far and wide.

This all seemed especially obvious Tuesday. First, as I walked to my internship with the WSU Museum of Art, I heard a pair of girls comparing how they answered an especially difficult question on their biology exam.

Then, as I walked into Carpenter Hall, I heard a young man on the phone say, “Well, I didn’t fail, but it was rough.”

As I perused the second floor of the Terrell Library for a book for my English paper, I saw small pockets of students studying in the quiet corners, places I didn’t even know existed. Then, as I walked with a friend at 9 p.m., she told me she was off to the library to study for two exams she had this week.

Finally, trudging home, I passed Owen Library and lo and behold, it was packed. Students walked in and out as I passed, making me think it was noon on the mall, not 11 p.m. on the south side of campus. The bear had lots of company that night.

And, walking past the Spark building, I saw a young man with a pizza delivery bag heading toward the Owen Library. Nothing says “late night study sesh for impending doom of midterm” like some Dominos.

If it’s any conciliation, we are all struggling, as the weather gets colder and beds become more amazing. Class is hard enough to go to as it is. And now we have an exam to worry about? No thanks. But we’re all in this together (cue High School Musical backup dancers), and we will survive. Drink lots of coffee, and sacrifice sleep if you need, too. We’re young, we can handle it.

Well, my dears, I have some good news for you: This too shall pass. But you might not.

Jennifer Ladwig is a senior multimedia journalism major from Washougal. She can be contacted at [email protected].