[Submitted by Iryna Forostian, 2018 alumna. Currently in Zolotonosha, Cherkasy region.]

War. Over a week of this insanity that no one in the world would ever believe could happen. At this point, panic has turned into hopelessness and a fear of not helping enough.

My life has completely changed on February 24th, a new reality with its own rules set in. Here are a few.
You go to bed fully dresses. You know, just in case, you’d have to run to the bunker or the basement at 3am.

You are lucky to get 4-5 hours of sleep.
No worries about setting alarms. You will wake up either because of the air-raid sirens or a phone call from your mom/brother/friend who heard the sirens first.

You are scared to take a shower for fear of not hearing the sirens. But if you do – you, do it really fast, with the door open. For the same reason, your windows are open at night.

You eat not because you want to, but because you have to eat at least something. No appetite, no taste.

You check the news every minute. By 7th day, you don’t even discuss the news with your friends/ relatives. They all know already.
You are scared 24/7.

The worst:
You feel guilty for being at more-or-less quiet and safe place compared to the cities like Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Zhytomyr, Kherson, Chernihiv, where there is no-stop shelling and bombing.

Good news:
You are able to help refugees from those cities by giving them shelters, food, warm clothes and a piece of peace. As they deserved it.