When the time comes for finals week to begin, I go through an entire routine, preparing my life, my house and my mind for the task. This semester, that whole process has been ruined. Most of my finals for my classes do not fall into this delicate window of time we call finals week. No, most of them land on the last week of class, one whole week prior to the time allotted for a student to sit at home in sweats, completely entrenched in studying.

Usually, nearing the last week of the semester, I make a public service announcement to my friends and family via my many social media platforms, warning them of the impending doom of finals week.

I first post a Facebook status saying, “Finals week swiftly approaches. Do not expect to hear from me for the next week and two recovery days afterwards,” soon followed by a tweet saying, “I will be unavailable until further notice. #finalsweek #schoolishard #notsowinning.”

Then, after an extensive blog session explaining every single thing I have to do for my finals week, I Instagram a picture of my face in pensive black and white, frowning with the immediate realization that sleep will be so out of reach for the next week.

I do this out of consideration for those who think that, during that week, they can get a hold of me to “hang out.” One does not have time to just “hang out” on finals week. I also warn those who may be offended by my short and, we’ll say, sassy (euphemism) mood around those times.

I then must prepare my house for finals week by clearing any non-finals material out of my living room. My house for that week will look like a library exploded inside of it. Papers will be littered around my living-room floor with notebooks opened and scribbled in. Books will be stacked open across my coffee table, spilling to the floor, with my laptop precariously balancing on top of it all.

I will fluff the couch cushion to make sure it is ready for the extensive sitting and studying done during this week. I will bring only one blanket to keep me warm in the dark of the nights and maybe a pillow, but a pillow that is not comfy enough to elicit sleeping. There will be no sleeping at this time.

I will have a zombie apocalypse-style stash of quick meals, snacks and energy drinks to draw from when my morale drops. All of this preparation is done for the week in which all that one needs to focus on is making that final attempt at excellent grades or, for some classes, just passing grades.

Finals week was created so that students could focus only on the tests to be taken and papers to be written without the stress of attending classes. However, this semester has put a wrench into my planning.

My routine is ruined by these teachers who think they are lightening my finals week load. Instead, I am now balancing a part-time finals week and a part-time school week with no zombie apocalypse stash. I have hardly anything to complain about next week now that I only have one test and one paper. Will I even need all those energy drinks? Doing the balancing act of both school and finals has made me a little bitter for this week. Did my teachers do this intentionally? Perhaps they all got together and spoke about how they knew I registered for all of these classes thinking I would have a whole week to dedicate to passing them with flying colors, and, with malicious smiles, said, “Not this time, Karlee.”

Whether throwing off my groove of finals week will affect how well I perform on my finals and the grades I will receive has yet to be seen, but I do feel as though I have been betrayed by finals week. My Facebook, Twitter, blog and Instagram apologies for how unavailable I have been this week, the week before finals week, will receive no comments or a single like.