The smells of ocean rain and cactus flower and the sounds of a trickling forest stream drifted through the International Center on Saturday as students relieved the stress of finals preparation.
Dozens of students braved the chill outside to attend the "Chill at the I.C." inside, a University Activities Board-sponsored event that featured free massages, yoga lessons, Pilates and other tension relievers.
UAB communications officer and advertising sophomore Tiffany Weber said the event was part of the group's extended "Just Chill Weekend," which included a craft night, open-mic night and free ice skating at Munn Ice Arena.
"It seemed appropriate with finals coming up to have just a whole week of relaxation," Weber said.
At the event, students also could enjoy free ice cream cones, paint their nails, create their own massage oils or play a quiet game of Yahtzee or Guess Who.
The featured speaker for the night was social work graduate student Beth Krenek, who discussed ways students could cope with the multitude of exams, term papers and lab reports.
Krenek said the average person has more than 50,000 thoughts a day, which can often overwhelm and frustrate them to the point where they shut down and stop focusing on each individually.
"A lot of times, when we have something to do, we waste time worrying about the thing instead of just doing it," Krenek said. "It's not so much the events in our life that cause the stress, but it's what we do about them."
To counter this mindset, Krenek said students should center themselves on the task when they find themselves flooded with thoughts about all they have to do.
"A big part of stress management is to be aware of your thought process," she said. "When you change the way you look at things, everything you look at changes."
Supply chain management senior Alicia Zeisler said the event gave her some ideas about how to handle the stress in her own life.
"I'm graduating in two weeks, so I've been stressed out a lot," she said. "I figured I'd come find out how to deal with it."
