The end of the semester is a unique experience. It's kind of like watching a tsunami approach while sipping a piña colada in a lawn chair.

It's a special time of the year. Nope, no sleigh bells or presents here. This is finals season. People are wandering into class wearing leopard-print Snuggies. It's a celebration of energy drinks, desperate people asleep in the library, an endless sea of projects, and that hysterical calm you feel when you're writing papers at 3 AM. It's a time of sleep-deprived wonder, regression, and blanket forts. It's when stress swoops in and drops off some projects and a case of Monster under the seasonal library desk.

When dealing with finals, there are seven stages to accepting your fate.

1. Disbelief

...What?

2. Denial

Netflix: Are you still watching?

Me: *clicks the play button and watches episode 58*

3. Bargaining

Dear God,

I promise I'll swear off Cheetos, Hulu, chocolate, and caffeine if I pass this test. I know it's probably the busy season up there, but help me out.

Love, Annie

4. Guilt

Why am I here? Why did I take so many credit hours? Why did I go to Taco Bell those 37 times when I could've been checking my syllabus? ...Why am I at Taco Bell right now?

5. Anger

Computers, printers, sanity, sleep. Long ago, these four elements lived together in harmony, but everything changed when the end of the semester attacked.

As fate would have it, if your computer is going to crash, it's going to crash when you're 6 hours into your term paper. Back. Everything. Up.

6. Depression

Kummerspeck (n., German): the excess weight gained from emotional overeating.

Finalitis (n., Millenniallese): a condition occurring twice a year in young adults. Common symptoms include junk food cravings, despair, and narcolepsy.

7. Acceptance/hope

You made it through steps one through six. Now put down that bag of Doritos, crack your books, and be the person Mr. Rogers always believed you could be.

Then sleep for eight days straight.

Good luck out there.