I was very nervous the whole day when I was scheduled for my blood donation. I had only considered donating blood when it was first mentioned but I needed an extra push. I was walking to the cafeteria to purchase some food when my fellow honor students asked me if I wanted to donate blood. I knew one of the people sitting behind the tables thus making it harder for me to say no. Unsurprisingly to myself, I ended up selecting the best day and time for me to donate blood and I kept thinking about how the experience will be like.

The day of my blood donation I walked to the Big Blue and I was ready. I walked to the entrance on the parking lot side only to find out I need to go in from the entrance opposite thus walking in a circle to my embarrassment. I eventually entered Big Blue and there were already a few people donating blood which made me calmer.

I was instructed to read some information regarding blood donation and then I was taken to a booth. A lady punctured the tip of my finger to draw blood to see my iron levels. The pain was light and brief which assured me thinking the other needle would be a bit worse.

After I completed their questionnaire, I was instructed to wait on a raised mat where I would be donating my blood. I was prepared by a man, but he left me for quite some time to attend to another person. As I made myself comfortable, my hands started to get sweaty while holding this stick. I kept looking at my wristwatch and I almost fell asleep.

Eventually he came back doing some more things to prepare me. There were many instances where I thought he was going to insert the needle and I embraced myself, but he did not insert it yet. I kept raising my head to search for the needle that will inevitably go into my arm.

A bit surprised, the needle was inserted into my arm. The pain was not as bad as I had previously thought and it slowly diminished. However, I could still feel a big needle stuck in my arm. I squeezed the stick in my right hand which I assumed the action pushed my blood out faster. I felt my right arm slowly numbing thus my squeezes felt weaker. I enjoyed the music playing in the background and I tried to relax. The process was complete quickly. Then came the only part of blood donation I was looking forward to, the snack table. I ate a few snacks before leaving.

Overall, the experience was much better than I had previously thought. I would definitely do it again next time. Donating blood could save someone’s life, however I did not like how I felt after donating blood. I felt really weak and wanted to go to sleep though I had my honors freshmen seminar class directly afterwards. A friend commented that I looked paler probably as a result of all that loss blood. The pros outweigh my cons and I will actually look forward to blood donations in the future.