Finals week is a time for learning all of the material you did not study over the semester -- and also a few life lessons. 

1. It is better to give than to receive.  

It is Christmas season, and everyone knows that nothing is better than the joy of giving. This is especially true during finals week! I never feel as smart as when giving help to my friends. I love to help them study. It not only makes me feel like a wonderful person, but that I actually know something. On the other hand, everything that I received this week made me feel like a horrible student -- basically, my grades. Who needs receiving, anyways. 

2. A grade in the hand is worth two in the bush.  

This quote usually refers to birds. But screw birds; we all need grades. And I had a lot of damn grades in the bush --"Of course, Mom, I'll have an A in those classes" -- and may or may not end up with a single grade in my hand. If only we could receive the grades we thought we were headed towards.   

3. Sleep is a cumulative sort of thing.  

This is not any sort of quote, or anything of that nature. But  gosh, when they talk about sleep debt they are right.  During the hardest stretch of my finals, I was awake for 60 hours straight. I figured I could get up today and be productive after getting a day to rest up. My body, however, said otherwise and made me sleep for 15 hours and way past the time at which I could expect to do anything reasonably productive today. Lesson learned. Next semester I need to just not sleep at all until I am home and have the time. 

4. Rock bottom is the 7/11 guy greeting you by name and realizing that you have worn the same thing for two days in a row.

During my all-nighter stretch, I visited 7/11 quite a bit to re-stock on the essentials, like microwaveable breakfast sandwiches and five-hour energy. In one particularly depressing period of time, I went to 7/11 three times the same night and the cashier kindly asked how I was holding up and if he would be seeing me again, soon. Some life reevaluation happened that night.  

5. You have an extra final you are not aware of.  

As it turns out, I will not be done with finals after my Spanish exam tomorrow.  Cleaning my room and getting it ready for Christmas break will take way longer than studying for any final I have taken leading up to this point.  Go figure.