For those of us who have experienced a college finals week, we know that it entails countless long hours spent cooped up inside the library. It seems like all signs of mental and physical health are thrown out the window, eating habits included. Here are the 12 days of finals as told by food—or lack thereof.
Day 1: Thanksgiving Leftovers
Your family refused to send you back to school without Tupperware full of the home-cooked meal you’ve already been eating for the last three days.
Day 2: Coffee, Coffee, Coffee
Your thought process: there’s no way I’ll fail these exams if I spend enough money on coffee in the library this week. Double Shot Espresso on ice, please.
Day 3: Vitamin C Packets
You finally take your mom’s advice and drink your vitamins. There’s no way you are going to risk getting sick before your exams.
Day 4: Stale Granola Bars
You totally forgot they were in your pantry this entire semester, and now they’re the only things fueling you in between study breaks.
Day 5: Easy Mac
Easy Mac was always kept as your last resort but now that you have 4 exams and 3 papers due in the next 2 days, these cups of artificial cheese and delight are nothing short of gourmet.
Day 6: Alcohol
We all cope with stress in our own ways.
Day 7: Chipotle Gift Card
You totally forgot you had this plastic miracle until you found it at the bottom of your backpack while frantically looking for crumpled notes from September. Now dinner is taken care of and you no longer have to starve. Shout out to Aunt Susan.
Day 8: The Last Breakfast Sandwich Starbucks Had
You went to refill on coffee and realized you needed actual sustenance. The craze of finals has wiped the entire bakery clean so you end up settling for the last, lonesome breakfast sandwich peering through the glass window. I mean, it’s 4:30 a.m. anyway. That’s close enough to breakfast time, right?
Day 9: More Thanksgiving Leftovers
How the f*ck are these not gone yet?
Day 10: Domino’s Pizza
You only have $7.32 left in your bank account, and while procrastinating by scrolling through your Facebook feed, the 50% off any Domino’s pizza advertisement catches your eye. You don’t even think twice before clicking “place order.”
Day 11: A Mediocre Quesadilla
It’s constructed out of a stale tortilla you never got to make into fajitas before break, and shredded Mexican cheese that’s a day expired but you use it anyway.
Day 12: Jimmy John’s
They’re freaky fast and deliver straight to the library because your study time is valuable and shouldn’t be wasted on scavenging for food. We’re not savages anymore.