It’s that time of the year again — snow is falling, Christmas music is playing, people are drinking hot cocoa by the gallon, and inside Mudd, pale and exhausted Oberlin students are studying for finals.

Finals week sucks, no one will deny that. While surrounded by the temptations of the season, we’re all hunched over our computers, dressed in whatever clean clothes we have left and wondering where on God’s green earth has our sanity gone. Honestly, I find it all pretty nauseating; exercise falls to the wayside, a whole bag of Lays becomes a substitute for fruits and vegetables and, when asked how they’re doing, people anxiously rattle off all the work they have left. Don’t do that. Just don’t.

Having the time to enjoy the holidays before they’re nearly over is a luxury we do not have. Instead of whining about the fact that my $50,000-a-year liberal arts college has finals so close to Christmas, I’ve decided to share a few tricks I’ve learned the past couple of years to help get through — and even enjoy! — finals.

1) During reading period and the first day or two of finals, count the angry and stressed faces around campus. By the second and third day of finals, count the dazed, half-dead looking people. Take a shot of Naked juice every time you get to 25.

2) Make out! Nothing helps take your mind off work like a quick snog in the stacks. It’s cold outside and, if you’re going to get sick anyway, it might as well happen in a steamy boiler room scene.

3) Sometimes I end my night with an episode of a ridiculous TV show. There’s nothing like 20 minutes of Keeping Up With The Kardashians to make you feel like Stephen Hawking.

4) Make yourself laugh by doing something creepy. My advice is to wrap up a friend in a tight embrace and quietly whisper, “never change,” in their ear.

5) Shop online and spend tons of money on overnight shipping because, let’s face it, you can’t bear another hour without that onesie.

6) Do your work in bits and pieces. This allows you to consistently get at least some sleep. Inevitably there will be a night or two when this won’t happen but, in general, try to make things easier on yourself.

7) To avoid having a full-blown panic attack, don’t think too far ahead. The moment I think of my work as a collective unit and not individual little pieces, I start sweating profusely. At one point my first year, I started crying in Stevie into a plate of french fries. Let’s all avoid similar experiences and keep focused on the next step.

8) The last thing you have to do is the hardest. Even if you’ve written 30 pages and taken 3 exams, that last 5-pager will seem like the greatest challenge of your life.

Best of luck, Oberlin! And stay sassy.