Trying to Stay Alive during Dead Week? —Blog - Acts Two Fellowship — Christian Fellowship at UC Berkeley | Christian Fellowship on the UC Berkeley Campus | Student Club Group at Berkeley | Acts Two Fellowship — Christian Fellowship at UC Berkeley (a2f)

Dead week is my favorite week of the semester. You’re free from going to class, but still have a desperate ache to pass that one class you’ve hated for 15 weeks straight. You’re on the brink of seeing family again and resting after all the hard work (or absolutely nothing) that you’ve done that semester. You’re also so excited to study with friends and achieve the perfectly balanced ratio of goofing off and work: a solid three hours to every one. But if you’re a student who actually wants a successful dead week, here’s a few stories and advice from some A2F students that you could gain a little insight from.

“I have experienced 7 dead weeks and surprisingly, they have gotten better. My first semester was hectic. I didn’t know what to do with that much time. I caught up on shows, tested out a few restaurants, went to multiple movie theaters, and did so much more besides studying. Of course, please don’t be like freshmen Karla. As I have matured over these past few years, I try to take advantage of the time that I do have. Google Calendar is one of my best friends. In advance, I plan out my RRR week and fill in my times with a lot of accuracy. It’s important to fill in these times with a certain amount of information. Be realistic with yourself. Fill in exactly what you know you can accomplish that day. I remember filling in on my Google Calendar “projects, math homework, 2 essays, and eating.” Although the eating part was realistic, everything else was pretty much impossible. Instead, I could input something like: “1-2pm brainstorm on 2 essays, 2-4pm math problems #s 2-20, and 4-6pm begin Project 1.”

Also, try to stay out of your phone as much as you can. Research shows that the blue light emitted from your phone can restrain the production of melatonin, which is a hormone that controls your sleep (super duper simplified explanation). You need enough sleep to be able to study more efficiently! Take it from someone who has pretty much failed a few exams that year, I am performing much better.

Overall Recap:

Be realistic with yourself
Be as accurate as possible on what you want to accomplish in a day.
Get enough sleep (stay off your phone).
And of course, believe in yourself, you are your only doubter, as cheesy as it sounds, it’s true!”

— Karla Barrera (Public Health, Junior)

”Hm during freshman year I didn’t do any of the readings for my philosophy (ISF) class during the semester so during dead week I read like one book per day for the final.”

— Ryan Hu (Data Science, Sophomore)

“For me, I have this habit of spreading out my work flow during dead week, starting a little bit slowly and lightly, so with heavier days later on, the work gets done. I would always want to do that at the beginning of the dead week, so that things stay civil. I would have my computer ready to go and would want to start studying but somehow, I end up hanging out with my friends, going to SF, and playing board games. I procrastinate until the last minute until I pull one or even two all-nighters at the end. Advice: schedule your study time and stick to it, but also schedule your breaks and naps (don’t be afraid to be generous with your breaks and sleeping time as long as there is work getting done).”

— Maryo Medhat (Mathematics, Junior)

**JAEIN & FRIENDS AT IMM THAI THAT VERY DAY**

”Junior year spring semester, I had a wild dead week. It started off nice and easy, with an all-A2F potluck to celebrate the end of the semester. Well actually, it got wild pretty quickly, as we had to change the location last minute because the weather forecast lied to us and it unexpectedly began to rain. It was still a nice time though for all A2F sisters and brothers to gather together, eat good food, and start off the dead week on a positive note. After the potluck, my friend Kim and I decided to be good students and actually go study somewhere. We each got a cup of latte from 1951, and sought out places to study. As expected, literally everywhere on campus was crowded already and soon we found ourselves lost and confused. We stopped near Blackwell to figure out where to go when some freshman sisters spotted us from their study lounge in Blackwell and messaged us that they could see us. We quickly jumped on the opportunity to study at Blackwell’s beautiful study spaces and asked them to let us in. So began our nice time of studying, and we actually got a lot of things done.

But (un)fortunately, some A2F brothers were studying in the same building, two floors above us. I don’t know how it happened, but we somehow all ended up going to Imm Thai for dinner and fellowship, and afterwards went to Eshleman to study some more. Then, in the midst of a serious studying session, an unnamed freshman brother randomly asked if anyone has watched “The Devil Wears Prada” (it’s still a mystery to me why and how this was brought up). Most of us said yes, but because a few of us replied no, our studying session quickly turned into a crazy conversation about how we had to watch that movie that very night. I opposed the idea, being the voice of reason in the group, but my voice was drowned out and somehow we ended up in Blackwell again at midnight to watch it. I couldn’t even escape because they were using my laptop to watch the movie. Was it a wise decision to do this during dead week? NO. but was it fun and left all of us a good memory? Yeah, I guess. So I guess my advice for dead week is to be careful on where and with whom you study with, but also that it’s those random, spontaneous adventures during dead week that leaves a fun memory.”

— Jaein Cho (History, Senior)

Thanks for reading! I hope these stories and advice were somewhat helpful or made you laugh. We’ve only got two more weeks and then its a month vacation, so give it one more push out there guys!