This week has been a little stressful. I had two exams which I had to study for while being sleep-deprived from taking care of my nieces and nephew this past weekend. I think I did okay on them but as a pre-med student okay is never good enough! The good news is that I am done with all of my prerequisites so I can finally relax a little and (try) not to stress out too much about grades. This week things definitely started making me realize that I am going to be graduating soon. I’m excited but at the same time I’m actually a little sad. I’m might be one of the few people that truly enjoy school. I love learning new things and applying them to my everyday life. This is the main reason why I chose Neuroscience as my major. I get to analyze my and other people’s actions and think about why and how they might be acting in a certain way. For instance, this week my friend made a comment on how depression is a mindset and that those diagnosed with should just “snap out of”. It was rewarding breaking it down to him and explaining how depression isn’t a switch that is voluntarily turned on or off. By the end of the conversation he probably knew a lot more about the neural mechanisms underlying depression than he wanted to know, but at least it served the purpose of making him understand the disorder and sympathize with those with it.

Another highlight of this week was seeing my best friend from Nigeria today. She came to visit her cousins who live about an hour from my sister so I came down to see her. The sad thing is the last time I saw her was a few days before I left Nigeria. I was not allowed to tell anyone that I was leaving to come the United States because it is custom for my tribe to not to speak on major changes to anyone until the transition has been completed. It was really disheartening but she understood why I couldn’t tell and forgave me. I am really excited to see her though. She has grown so much and I am so proud of all she has accomplished and who she is becoming. I’m planning on taking her to a lot of places this weekend so we can explore the city together so it should be fun!