RPW: College Stress, and how I've dealt with it(or tried)

Going into college, I think most of us knew, or at least assumed, that the college experience would come with a myriad of emotions, and many highs and lows. To be honest though, I was not expecting the amount of work, or my stress levels, to be as high as they've been throughout the year. Throughout high school, I seemed to be able to balance schoolwork, extracurricular activities, and work fairly well. Yes, I would become stressed at some points, but overall I thought that I had a good handle on balancing my academic and social lives, while maintaining strong relationships with my family and friends. I assumed that because I had been relatively successful with this throughout my high school years, that it would be no different when making the transition to college life.
Looking back on my thoughts from a year ago, I don't know how I let myself think that it would be essentially the same experience in terms of balance and dealing with stress.
College is a completely different experience than high school, for a number of reasons. Quite possibly the largest one is that your academic life does not begin at 7:30 and end at 2:00, with small and minimal breaks throughout the day. High school, while the breaks may not be for long periods of time, has its academics concentrated, and with the exception of homework, your academic duties are finished once the final bell rings. In college, you could have a schedule with four classes back to back, choir, and an opera rehearsal, or have a schedule where you only have one or two classes a day, with the majority of your day being free. I have found that this is the biggest, and most difficult change to adjust to. Because our academic life does not have a daily ending point, like high school, we are given free reign for the most part as to when and how to complete certain assignments. I find that without constraints, it is more of a challenge for me to complete work in a certain period of time. College has shown me that I am a type of student that needs specific instruction and restrictions in order to work in an effective and timely manner, and to be the most productive student I can be.
As mentioned above, I am one of the types of students that has a very packed schedule. On my busiest days, I have six classes, with my day starting at 9:00 and ending at 6:30, with only two one-hour breaks in between those periods. While some may see this as more of a stressor(and sometimes it is) I like it because it gives me specific chunks of time to finish work and get goals of mine accomplished. In some ways, because I have such few breaks overall, I feel as though I get more work done, because I am not tempted by numerous amounts of free time. I know that if I don't get an assignment finished in one of my planned-out free periods, then it most likely won't get done, or completed in the way I initially intended.
To be honest, I haven't quite found a solution to deal with the stress of everyday college life, and particularly the stresses of being a Hartt double major. I have learned through college that I get stressed out very easily, often by the smallest things, and that often I just need to take a step back and away from a situation, and re-address it once I have cooled off. However, this was my first year in a completely new environment and situation. I know that because I have now dealt with it in a somewhat effective manner, it will hopefully become easier to deal with stress as time passes through my academic career here at Hartt.