May is the worst month

Photo by Anjali Pai

I can’t stand May. From the unbearable academic workload to the hot weather, May is the month of burnout. 

As a Middle College student, I fortunately don’t have to endure the pain of AP exams. However, the academic stress remains. With the last few midterms, projects and finals looming around the corner, I already know this May is gearing up to haunt me. 

I was naive in hoping only SHS assigned an ungodly amount of work in the last few weeks of spring semester; to my dismay, taking community college courses at West Valley is no different. The workload piles up as teachers struggle to finish the curriculum before the term ends. Before I know it, I have five exams to take, four major projects to finish and summer plans to finalize — all within a few weeks.

Not only do academics become more intense in May — so does the weather. In California, May already feels like summer, even though it’s still far too early for the searing heat to make an appearance.

While many people have seasonal depression as winter approaches, I experience this discomfort during the warmer seasons. In May, the sun scorches, the air is humid and a grotesque variety of bugs appear out of nowhere. I can no longer bundle up in infinite layers of cozy fabric, drink hot chocolate or live free of mosquito bites. 

Another source of my hatred for warm weather is the drastic harm it inflicts on my skin. I gain random tan lines out of nowhere, even when I coat my skin with layers of sunscreen. 

One disastrous May morning after hanging out at a park, I returned home appalled: I discovered I had gotten a biker short tan. For the rest of the summer, I couldn’t wear any shorts in public because I was so embarrassed about that awkward tan.

It has almost been a year since the incident, and I can still see a faint line above my knees, marking the trauma of the month of May. Paired with the fact that May is the most academically stressful period of the school year, I wish that this nightmarish month never existed. The good news: June and blessed summer are almost here.