Whew, what a whirlwind of a week! And what a difference seven days can make. I mean, just to mention the obvious example – anyone with rudimentary religious knowledge is probably sighing in acknowledgement right now – of that one time God casually made the world, and the animals, and the oceans, and the trees…and, you get the idea. Seven days. Just seven days, people.

You, arbitrary audience member, might be wondering, “Caitlyn, what exactly happened this week?” Well, curious audience member, besides extreme sleep deprivation, this past 168-hour period was filled with SO MANY EMOTIONS. As my younger sister says whenever she can’t adequately express her emotional reactions, “All the feels!” This phrase perfectly describes my week because my emotions were somewhat kaleidoscopic, a.k.a. all over the place. There was happiness, numbness, excitement, devastation, pride, hunger (especially while studying for the Nutrition 200 exam I had this past Wednesday), discomfort, nervousness, fulfillment, and of course tiredness. Unfortunately, elaborating on all of those sentiments would take forever. So, I’m just tackling the major ones.

(Air of mystery: Can you guess where I’m going?)

EXCITEMENT: At the beginning of this week, I had zero idea what I’d be doing over Winter Session. Now, I’m going to be studying abroad! It was a sort of last-minute thing, and by last-minute I mean, I-literally-filled-out-the-application-and-got-the-professor-recommendation-and-submitted-the-deposit-and-interviewed-with-the-professor-in-a-24-hour-period. No lie. As a Spanish major, I’m beyond excited to have the chance to visit a place in which I’ll be 100% immersed in the language. I can’t wait!

DEVASTATION: I care more about grades than I sometimes realize. This week, I learned the score of a test I had taken last Friday. I found out this Monday. It was 11:15 a.m. or so, after my first class, and I was on my computer when I noticed that yet another email had sailed into my inbox. The email was from the new UD Canvas site and its message was simple: “Your assignment has been graded.” I clicked on the email, was redirected the Canvas site…and devastation ensued. “What even HAPPENED? Why do I study so much for nothing? Why am I even a Spanish major? Why bother?” Ugly, irrational thoughts immediately shut out everything else. After a good cry – sometimes necessary – my solution was action. I met with the professor, and hopefully, maybe, next time I’ll do better.

HUNGER:Quite simply, nothing prepared me for the dangers of studying for Nutrition 200. I WAS READING ABOUT FOOD. NOTHING BUT FOOD.

Oh, yeah, why am I in Nutrition 200 as a senior? Don’t put off your Group Ds, kids. Then you’ll be that one senior in a sea of freshmen. Seriously though: on the first day the professor innocently instructed, “Raise your hand if you’re a freshman!” And my only thought was, “They’re everywhere!” I was so outnumbered that I decided right then and there to pretend I was a sophomore/junior. It was safer.

But back to the actual late-night study session, I could only eat so many bananas before I went straight for the cookies. Newfound knowledge be darned.

My limited wisdom? Everything can change in an instant. My week started on a sour note, and ended more sweet.

(Yes, yes I am throwing in nutrition terms purposefully.)