Hannah Johnson ‘21

Hallelujah

This just in from Holy Cross–after weeks of Zoom classes day in and day out, it appears that students enjoyed the first vacation in the recorded history of this semester. Classes began without hesitation on September 1st, and pressed on even through Labor Day. Previously “within the grind”, students awakened from their technological stupor for a small break–just one day. It seems that not everyone was aware of this phenomenon previously, so consider this a public service announcement: this rare event first occurred on Wednesday, September 30th, and another one is planned for Tuesday, November 3rd. That’s right, the Tuesday after Halloweekend, not the Monday. Don’t ask me why.

You may not have known about it–if you only look at syllabuses, maybe there was only a small gap, a missing Wednesday, in the schedule. Other professors might have written something nice like “Enjoy your day off!” for that day, lulling you into a deep sense of relaxation.

We asked Holy Cross students for their thoughts on this unique event.

“What? Wednesday was one of our only days off??” asked one incredulous student. “But all of my classes are on Tuesdays and Thursdays! *** **** **.”

I tried to comfort them with the idea that they will get the Nov. 3rd Tuesday off instead, leaving them with up to, potentially, a four-day weekend, but they were concerned about surviving “the grind” for another month straight in order to make it ‘til then.

I spoke with another student who was on their way to St. Joseph’s Chapel at the time of our brief conversation.

“I’m actually on my way to thank the high heavens for this break,” said the anonymous student. “I have ALL my classes on Wednesdays. Crazy, right? I got practically a week’s vacation out of this one no-class day. Thank the Lord!” Their sleep-deprived eyes filled with grateful tears, and in lieu of a hug, I gave them a socially-distanced thumbs up.

It seems that for the average student, who usually has their schedule spread out over all the weekdays, this was a very small break. But for others–if you belong to either the Mon/Wed/Fri gang or the Tues/Thurs gang, this Wednesday off either meant nothing for you, or it made a world of difference. And if you ask me, I think this week showed us which schedule structure is TRULY superior. (This post was made by the M/W/F gang.)