Welcome to MBKU! Starting graduate school can bring up a mixed bag of emotions—excitement, hope, stress, anxiety...
It’s totally normal to feel this way about starting school, just don’t let your worrying overshadow your enthusiasm and curiosity! This article is meant to prepare you, NOT to scare you; I have no doubt that you will get through all your exams and thrive!
As the year rolls on, exams can start to feel unrelenting and constant. While it may be tempting to immediately begin studying for the next day’s test or jump into some homework, it’s important to complete your stress cycle post-exam! Below are some activities I’ve done during my first year at MBKU to decompress after an exam.
Go for a walk
Going for a long walk post-exam has become a ritual for me and two of my friends (shoutout Haley and Shelby)! It’s a great way to combine exercise, sunshine, and socializing! Or, if you’re walking solo, it’s some nice alone time to listen to a podcast and get your head out of school mode. The Fullerton arboretum is next to campus, and there is also a path behind the Ralph’s nearby! We like to walk through the neighborhoods around downtown Fullerton. When we started this routine during second quarter we would walk for 3 miles, but now that we’re such frequent walkers we go up to 7 miles (there are a lot of exams to walk after lol)!
Rock Climb
Hangar 18 is a rock-climbing gym that’s about a 15-minute drive from campus. In a surprising turn of events, it turns out there is a randomly large group of optometry students who love to rock climb! If you hang around outside after an exam, you can easily convince another student to come with you to blow off some steam. One time after an exam we had roughly 15 students join!
Drive to the Beach
If you are fortunate enough to not have lab right after an exam, getting out of Fullerton is an awesome way to take a break. I love driving over to Newport Beach to go for a walk by the water (shocker), grab frozen yogurt, or play spikeball by the beach. It’s only a 30-minute drive away and can make you feel like you’re on vacation. Going to the beach on a weekday is a perk of being in school and not having the typical 9-5 workday—take advantage of that!
Final Thoughts
Whatever makes you feel refreshed and rejuvenated after a test is what you should be doing. It’s obviously a personal preference and you may already know what works for you, or you’ll learn through trial and error! Just make sure you do SOMETHING—you’ll see how tempting it is to immediately get swept up in the stress of prepping for the next test. It’s so vital to your well-being that you take a few hours for yourself. This will also make your studying more efficient and effective, and will help prevent burn-out!