Obituaries for term three (I)

Term three is a highly stressful, tense and deadline-filled part of the year. However, it’s also a lot of fun and a chance to say goodbye to those you have spent the last few years with. I am so deeply sorry that final years will miss out on all of this.

Luckily, I’m only in my second year and (hopefully) still get to experience my third year. Nonetheless, there are so many things that I’m going to miss about term three.

As a humanities student, I am well aware that much of what I’ll miss about term three is enabled by the fact I only have two exams. Apologies to all the STEM students that spend all of term three stuck in their room or the library revising. Regardless, lots of what I love about term three happens during this time and after everything is done.

Not being able to find a seat anywhere on campus, the heightened smell of lattes in the library

I mourn the hustle and bustle of term three campus. Not being able to find a seat anywhere on campus, the heightened smell of lattes in the library. Instead, I’ll have to make do with instant coffee and essay breakdowns on my own in my bedroom.

The feeling of relief when you walk out your last exam and know you’ve made it through the year is unparalleled. Last year, I sat on the piazza drinking bottles of Prosecco with two of my best friends at 11am to celebrate our achievements and reflect on our first year. Finishing the year alone in my room after some form of ‘alternative assessment’ doesn’t quite have the same appeal.  

I mourn the sun. I mourn Leamington in the summer; the blooming flowers, the sun creeping in through my skylight and the blossom falling off the trees down my street. I miss having picnics in the grass outside Rootes and drinks out on the terrace in T Bar.

Term three has an energy and an enthusiasm that doesn’t match any other

Doing a circle out on the piazza last year was so much fun and I am saddened that when we finally return to uni, it won’t be warm enough to do this.

As cheesy as it is, I miss laughing and dancing with my friends in Pop! most Wednesdays and going out when we know we should be working. Nights spent in our tiny living room watching weird reality TV shows and drinking too much wine make up for the stress of exams and essays. 

Having lost several months in the house that I have shared with my best friends this year, I’m devastated that I never got to say a real goodbye. I’ll miss sleeping in our freezing, definitely haunted, three-story Victorian house with peeling walls and the kitchen that hasn’t been decorated since the 1970s. It upsets me that I won’t get to say goodbye to friends going away on a year abroad.

The sense of freedom and achievement of finishing the year is something which is worth waiting for

Most of all, I mourn the time I’ve lost with my favourite people in the world who are now scattered across every corner of the country. I look forward to coming back each term and my heart breaks that I don’t know when I’ll get to see the people I love again. Term three has an energy and an enthusiasm that doesn’t match any other. The sense of freedom and achievement of finishing the year is something which is worth waiting for.

So, while I am deeply saddened that I don’t get to be in my favourite place with my favourite people next term – I know that I’ll get to do it again. For all the final year students who don’t get the opportunity to experience another term three, I hope you can look back on the positive memories you’ve had and smile.