The disappointing news? I did not try Tofurkey. The good news? Lucy Edmonds and I completed this challenge and loved it! In fact, I loved sitting at different lunch tables so much, that I plan to do it at least once a week from now on. The first day of the challenge, Lucy and I switched tables with Celia O’Flaherty. We went to her usual table, she went to ours. At our table we had the age-old debate about whether or not you should use a different knife for peanut butter than you use for jelly when making a PB&J sandwich. Despite the fun we had in debating the subject, sadly no conclusions were reached.

The second day of the two-day challenge, Lucy and I sat with a new table that included Alex Radtke, Melissa Lane and Jasmine Colhour. We did not tell them that we were at their table because of this blog, but they still accepted us without question. I found it so exciting that I could walk up to any junior lunch table and be able to join right into the conversation. That just shows how accepting our class (and STA as a whole) is.

One of the highlights of this challenge was the funny conversations that we had at the different lunch tables. Having fun at lunch is one way that you can complete this week’s challenge to de-stress before finals.

It is that time in the semester when everything is coming to an end. It may be a test-filled, stress inducing end, but an end none the less. During this week before finals, I feel that it is important to not freak out too much because it will only make you more anxious about finals. It has been proven that stress + more stress = stress = nothing beneficial. Knowing this formula is your key to succeeding on your finals, plus these tips wouldn’t hurt either:

• study a little bit each night. Doing 5 math problems and studying one chapter of French vocabulary a night will take a very small amount of time. Doing this small thing now will build your confidence this week and reduce your stress next week.

• look ahead. FYI, Christmas is in 20 days! I think that’s reason enough to be happy and stress free. So while you take your 30 minutes to study a little bit each night this week, also take 5 minutes to think about the fun things you are going to do over break.

• realize that you have already learned everything that you will be tested over. No surprises. Anything and everything that will be on your finals you have heard at least once. So when you are taking your geometry final and can’t remember the formula for the area of a triangle, dig deep into your brain because it is in there somewhere.

It is a busy time of year, both in and out of school. Take this week to de-stress, enjoy the holiday season and tackle finals a little bit at a time. By doing all of these things we can go out this week and conquer this challenge!