My first college all-nighter (Learning Experience)

We are all familiar with the concept of pulling an all-nighter. As a college student, we honor such an ambitious activity as a right of passage. Having said that, I had yet to experience the caffeine-fueled adventure that so many brag about. When I hear the phrase "Yeah I'm a little tired, I'll pulled an all-nighter last night", two things run through my mind:
1)You're definitely just bragging about this to sound like a badass.
2)You probably have awful time management skills.

Well, now I finally know what the experience is all about.

This semester in Business Information Systems, we were assigned a group project at the beginning of the year and were given until the last week of class to complete the project. The written report was expected to be over 30 pages in length with perfect grammar and spelling. Our five person group made sure to plan ahead and meet specific deadlines to avoid a build up of work. Procrastination was not a recommended strategy for taking on such a large and challenging project.

We decided it would be fair to trust each other and hold ourselves accountable. We were college students after all! So there was a schedule that mapped out our progress and each member had to cover an equal share of work. The schedule was pretty simple, starting at just basic research, then developing into a rough draft, and finally becoming a polished final deliverable that would be handed in to the teacher. From my personal perspective, this was an awesome idea! No one had to feel the pressure of others policing them and if one member wanted help, they would merely just have to ask.

Fast forward to about a week before the project was due. I had finished my writings and took the liberty of editing everyone else's portion. We figured it would be smart to have one central voice. The task seemed pretty simple and I anticipated maybe one sunday afternoon of work in order to sew these carefully crafted masterpieces together into our A+ worthy project.

Complications began to arise when one of our team members suddenly stopped showing up at meetings and responding to text messages. We were pretty concerned. Things got worse when we realized that this person never submitted their writing portion! We all took turns trying to contact said person and told them they needed to turn in their written portion ASAP!

The moment finally came when the partner submitted their report to me. Sure it seemed a little clunky here and there, but I figured we could work it out. Well it turns out that this 'report' was nothing other than a bunch of copy and pasted articles that filled up about 6 pages. It was 1 AM two nights before the project when I came to this realization. At this moment I faced two choices; to try and track down my partner and hope he sent the wrong document or to start from scratch and finish it all myself. I decided that it was too late to leave the library and go on a journey to find him.

I knew that slumber would be a temptress who would constantly try to lure me away from my quest. I stocked up on Starbucks Double Expresso shots, cliff bars, and just about every energy related product that a college student could buy at the library cafe. With my line up of chemically enhanced supercharged products in front of me, I took on the challenge.

I anticipated a loss of energy but not the loss of sanity. Things that should be menial and boring started becoming really funny. The mundane business report had me in stitches at one point. "Enterprise Resourse Systems are crucial for ensuring synergy within the workplace" - A phrase like this even brought a chuckle. I persevered though and finished the entire 30 page report at about 8:00 A.M.

I left the library and headed back to my dorm. I ran into my roommate who was a seasoned expert when it came to caffeine consumption and sleep deprivation. He told me to make sure that I don't take a nap until I am done with my day. He explained to me that once your body sees what it is missing, it will resist waking up. So I had no choice but to chug another expresso and wait it out until my 11:00 A.M. class.

When BIS came, I felt amazing. I had accomplished so much in 24 hours and was so proud of the fact that I pulled the all-nighter. I even found myself partially bragging about it! I was on point when answering the teacher's questions and felt like I have never been such a engaging student in my whole college career.

This all changed when I walked into my 12:30 religion class. As I walked through the door, I could tell that I hit 'the wall'. Much like marathon runners who make it 23 miles but have a mental breakdown which prevents them from completing their race, my body was telling me that I was done. I plopped down in my seat and tried my hardest to pay attention to what was going on in class. The air felt like blankets and my thick bible had never seemed so comfortable and soft before. I unintentionally started settling myself in like a dog that circles over his sleeping matt. This was when weird stuff started happening. Almost instantly I would dose off and have a realistic dream regarding the topic then wake up. From the outside I'm sure that looked like I was possessed by demons, which is kind of funny because that was what the topic was about that day.

I made it out of class and walked to my dorm. I was beyond thrilled for the slumber that awaited. I tucked myself in my bed and fell asleep. Almost instantly I awoke and looked at my clock. 8 hours had passed! There was another alert on my phone. It was a text message from the partner "Sorry I didn't tell you, I uploaded my reference for my written report instead of the real document!". Apparently the real document was prepared all along...