The One Piece of Advice I Would Give Every Student
Glimmers #3
Today, December 8th, is the last day of the Eras Tour. Taylor is wrapping up her worldwide phenomenon, leaving all the Swifties feeling emotional.
I consider myself a spoiled concert-goer because the only two concerts I’ve ever attended are the Reputation Stadium Tour and the Eras Tour.
That’s largely because I’m a massive Swiftie, and Taylor is the only artist I’m willing to pay to see on tour.
My trip to the Eras tour in the Summer of 2023 was serendipitously sandwiched right after my semester ended and right before a trip to Australia for the Quad Fellowship Summit. I spent a fantastic weekend full of fearless friendship and fun in Chicago. All the posts you read about the Eras tour being magic are true. That concert is one I will never forget.
My first concert was not so well timed. After the Reputation Stadium Tour was announced, Taylor Nation laid out a gauntlet for fans who really wanted to get tickets. You could earn points by watching the Look What You Made Me Do music video, buying merch, and other tasks. Those points then turned into placement in the queue to purchase tickets. My fellow Swiftie friend and I religiously watched LWYMMD in the background on our computers, racking up thousands of views. When the time came to buy tickets, it worked: we managed to snag reasonably priced floor seats!
The catch? The concert was in California (I was in New Jersey at the time), and it was during finals.
I waited with bated breath for my finals schedule to be published and was anxious to find out that the concert was three days before my quantum physics final.
Quantum physics was one of my most demanding classes as an undergrad. The class exam averages were regularly 20% (curved to a B+), which did a number on everyone’s self-esteem.
I was left with the dilemma: do I go right before my final and risk the stress and possible hit on my grade, or do I stay and miss this once-in-a-lifetime concert?
Ultimately, I decided to go, and in retrospect, I’m so glad I did. Delta Skymiles and a mattress on a friend’s dorm room floor led to a weekend I never will forget. Seeing Taylor live for the first time is one of my best memories of college (and life) and one I would not trade for the world.
That weekend was the manifestation of a lesson I would give to every anxious student in the world: pick your people over everything.
When the pandemic shut down my final semester of college and I was sent packing to write my thesis in my childhood bedroom and graduate from my living room, I felt like college was unfinished.
My friends and I had pushed all of our fun plans to that final semester. When our theses were done, and we had post-college plans, that was when we swore we would try the new restaurants, have the game nights, and go to NYC.
Instead, we didn’t make any of those planned memories.
And as I looked back at my college experience, I realized that all my favorite moments were with my people. It was times I said “yes” to listening to the guest lecture, going to the museum, and having the Christmas rom-com movie marathons. Not once did I wish I had said no and stayed in the library for that one extra hour.
To be clear, I’m not saying don’t spend time studying. I’m saying be strategic. For the Reputation concert, I shifted my study schedule ahead by a week so I could confidently leave for the concert and come back feeling good about the exam.
In graduate school,, I work ahead on projects so that I can take extra time to be with family. This mentality really hit home this year when my grandpa passed and I thought of all the times I strategically planned to be with him for extra days over the past five years and how grateful I am for those times now.
Those moments with your people making memories you won’t forget are the places to find strength when the next semester starts and the stress grows. Having that bank of good moments to lean on, is how we get through the hard moments. And, at the end of the day, we’re all just floating on a speck of dust trying to do the best we can every day with the people we care about.
So as the holiday season and stress rises and finals season looms, here’s a reminder to be strategic. Study for the exams, but also go get hot cocoa with your friends. Pick your people over everything.
Long live the memories you make,
Emma
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