“Finals week is the time of the year where you can’t find a parking spot at the library, you’ll see people at the library you’ve never seen before and study harder than you’ve ever studied before. When it’s done though, there isn’t a better feeling,” CJ DeBoer, senior political science, said.

With the semester ending, there is one thing that is understood by many Georgia Southern University students, that’s finals week.

Finals week comes in three stages, the week before, the week of and the party after. Some of us will be enduring this anxiety-riddled week for the last time and graduating while some of us know this routine is only over until next semester.

“This is my last finals week so I have a lot of prepare for and it’s sometimes stressful but it’s the last time I have do this so it’s kind of bittersweet in a way,” David Sansom, senior international studies major, said.

Panicking over grades, stressing over how hard that one exam will be, scrambling for extra credit or to finish those last assignments and lastly how much we all want this week to end, can be heard all over campus. Club Henderson will be bumping all week long, with students overdosing on coffee, cramming over all those little details that the next day may seem insignificant and praying printer isn’t out of ink.

“Finals week is literally the worst week of the semester. It’s brutal and all I do is live in the library,” Christy Smith, junior psychology major, said. “And it’s right after Thanksgiving when every professor gives you assignments due when you get back knowing you didn’t do them over break.”

After bubbling in Scantrons, writing up essays and reciting presentations, there comes the light at the end of the struggle—the beginning of Winter break.

“I can’t wait to enjoy Christmas break and the rest of my senior year,” DeBoer said.

For each phase of the finals week struggle comes the two things to either tally on your bucket list or cross off. Staying the night or even the entire day in Club Henderson, and forgetting it through a night out at The Plaza.

Membership to Club Henderson

At some point or another, it’s difficult to come across someone who hasn’t spent all night in the library. Finals week could be argued as Club Henderson’s party of the year, where each floor is packed with students in study groups, tapping away at computers or standing over the printer waiting for the 20 power points that weren’t looked at all semester. All nighters in the library are just a part of the initiation into Club Henderson.

Bar Crawl at the Plaza

Getting a bad grade on some test, assignment or presentation, is almost an unavoidable landmine in college. Every student has his or her own way of blowing off steam, but GSU isn’t always known for its prowess in the sobriety category.

The Plaza is the cornerstone of Statesboro’s nightlife. With five bars within 100 feet of each other it makes for an appealing option, especially with its proximity to campus. Luckily, Statesboro is growing in all aspects, with additions like more bars, more restaurants and more housing, but The Plaza is iconic.

One way to obliterate the stress from finals week and calm the anticipation for the next week while waiting for final grades, is to successfully complete a bar crawl at The Plaza. Students that are up to it can get started as early as 5 p.m. for happy hour and stay all night, but no matter when or where you start, hitting up Dingus Magee’s, Retrievers Sports Bar and Grill, Rum Runners/Plantation Room, Rude Rudy’s and the Tavern all in one night is worth doing.