I spent all of my dining dollars on coffee my senior year at JMU

It goes without saying that senior year in college is a very hectic time. Between preparing for the next step in your life, finishing your last semester, and preparing for graduation itself, seniors are pretty much constantly busy. So it should stand to reason that, as a general rule, we seniors consume a lot of coffee.

Because I have a meal plan, I typically only spend my dining on coffee. When I started to notice my balance getting low, I decided to examine just how much I had been spending on beautiful liquid energy since last October (as far as MyMadison would show me). There were so many purchases that it took three different logs in my cell phone’s calculator to fit them all.

Now, I typically prefer Dunkin’ Donuts to Starbucks because the product is just as good for half the price. That being said, as can be seen through the purchases of $5 or more, I do sometimes splurge for convenience when studying in Carrier.

I wish I could say I only drank coffee on campus and that’s why I spent so much, but that’s far from the truth; every morning I consume at least two cups of espresso courtesy of a re-gifted espresso machine from my parents. I don’t get coffee on campus every day either, just ones that I need that extra jolt to get through my day.

The bulk of my coffee purchases were done before class on days papers were due, aka the day after I had stayed up relatively late cranking out deep, meaningful revelations on literature. But, by far, the most frequently purchased coffee (as in every day of the week) happened during midterm or exam week. However, I also meet professors, friends, and writers over coffee rather frequently.

This research definitely opened my eyes to the fact that I consume exuberant amounts of coffee on the regular, which isn’t exactly healthy. I don’t even want to think about the amount of caffeine I put into my body just to make it through my busy week. The shocking thing is, I’m no exception. Most college students now-a-days pull all-nighters weekly, thus increasing their caffeine intake and few realize that this could be damaging to their bodies, brains, and hearts.

This experience was definitely eye-opening. Needless to say, I’ll be limiting myself on the caffeinated beverages from now on.