So it is officially that time of year when interactions with books increase and Fondren Library becomes noisier than the Hughes-Trigg Student Center.

The Thursday through Saturday night business that our cab drivers usually receive will come to a halt and Giddy Up will become more hectic than ever.

You all know this time of year, we all dread it, but it comes whether we are ready or not.

Finals will be in full effect next week, and I don’t know about you, but it seems like just yesterday I was receiving my syllabus and introducing myself to my professors.

Now all at once I am bombarded with papers, review sheets and notes that I have not looked at since I wrote them down months ago.

As the number of study groups increase and all of a sudden you find yourself beginning to interact with your classmates more than your friends.

Coffee will become a necessity and sleep will be looked at as a not so useful luxury.

Your conversations with friends will be completely taken over by complaints of your workload and the fact that you have not slept.

Relationships become rocky because studying for your test takes precedence over your weekly movie night.

Rooming situations become tense because the lack of sleep has caused you to be not so easy to live with.

Our appearance takes a backburner and a pair of sweats with a lovely mustang tee becomes everyone’s look for the week.

Finals are a lot like the one relative you have that visits twice a year and each time you dread it.

No matter how hard you try to ignore and prolong the fact that they are coming, they seem to always show up at the most inconvenient time of your life.

As much as I hate finals, I must admit I love the rush of adrenaline I receive once I log into access view my grades and realize all those sleepless nights really paid off.

My fellow Mustangs, it is time that we put on our protective wear, load our ammunition, stock up on our coffee and prepare to fight the enemy we all know as FINALS.

Shana Ray is a communications studies major with minors in philosophy, business and spanish. She can be reached for comments or questions at [email protected].