Finals week doesn’t always mean maddeningly high stress and anxiety. It can also offer something seldom found in the college environment: up to a week of free time. You should probably use it wisely and study for your finals, but the fact of the matter is, you can use it all at your discretion. Whether it’s from extra office hours, review sessions or late nights crying in Glenn G. Bartle Library’s precious study rooms, you’re going to want to take a break every now and then, and Instagram refreshes only so often. Without the burden of attending class, consider putting your desires for a higher GPA and fears of failure on the back burner and de-stress.

Usually when academics get to be a bit much, people look to get their fix in order to relax, and there is no reason for finals week to be any different. Pick your poison and go for it; you only live once. Whether it’s grabbing coffee with a friend or cleaning out your stash of liquor before it’s time to go home, this can be a nice distraction from the pressures of finals. Just don’t go too hard. You still have a test to take, and nobody performs well hungover.

There’s nothing like a little retail therapy to take your mind off of schoolwork. With the coming summer vacation, most students will be far away from the Oakdale Mall, Binghamton’s premier public shopping center. Get your fix of comfort foods like Cinnabon and Auntie Anne’s, as well as classy retailers like Hot Topic and Spencer’s. While some students might consider saving their money for the higher-end stores at home, there’s nothing like a sale at Bon-Ton to make you feel like you’ve earned a 4.0.

Even the most diligent workers need to grab some grub, unless of course they’ve become an ascetic after a semester of studying eastern philosophy. While it might be smart to exhaust your meal plan (especially if you’re graduating or plan to not have a meal plan next year), eating Sodexo food just doesn’t seem relaxing. Being immersed in a loud and crowded dining hall doesn’t make for a nice and easy dinner with friends. If you’re looking for a grand old time, try a little something called off-campus dining. You’ve worked hard all semester, you probably deserve to go out and eat a proper dinner. If you’re a bit of a homebody, or tight on cash, gather up a few friends and order in. You can get a pretty decent meal for well under $10 from places that will deliver right to your door. Pizza, Chinese, halal, even sushi.

Plenty of people cope with finals week with Netflix bingeing, so why not make a trip out of it? Hop on the bus to Town Square Mall, with or without friends, and set yourself up in one of the big red couches at the AMC. Instead of spending hours upon hours trying to finally finish “House of Cards,” watch Andrew Garfield swing around Manhattan in “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” or stare at Zac Efron’s face as he plays a frat boy in “Neighbors.”

Finals week can be an intensive, time-crunching, high-octane adventure for anyone who wants it. While it’s important to prepare for final exams and write those papers, this doesn’t mean you should constantly bury yourself in books between exams. You’ll find that if you take adequate study breaks and enjoy your time doing so, you’ll be more prone to focusing when it comes time to hit the books.