Students do not sleep

The atmosphere in my office is impossible. Busy. Nervous. Tense. The students got an extension of their MSc and PhD deadline till Wednesday. Last week I had hoped that all this would be over after Friday, the previous deadline. Now it is only two more days to go.

There are four students writing up in the office, and together with Engineering postdoc they talk all the time. Chat, chat, chat. How can I focus here?

Fig. 1. Our office when students are out for a fag-break. My chair is first on the left (no window view for me here).

I went for lunch with one of them and I found out that she did not sleep for the last two days. They all came in on Saturday at 2pm and stayed overnight till Monday (I thought it looked a bit strange when I came in at 10am and everyone was here - they do not usually get in so early (!) and one of them was asleep on the camping bed in the middle of office).



Fig. 2. Camping bed when not in use

So they worked two nights non-stop, possibly with a few naps. They are not productive any longer, but since they are all working together and everyone is a witness to everyone else’s sacrifice they are all working very hard. Or at least it is what they all think!