Feelings and Emotions — Unit 2, Pre-intermediate to Intermediate English

It was the day of my job interview, and although I had prepared for weeks, I still felt **anxious** when I woke up. My heart was pounding, my hands were shaking, and I was too **nervous** to eat breakfast. I kept imagining everything that could go wrong and wondered whether I would embarrass myself in front of the panel.

At the office, I was **relieved** when the receptionist smiled and offered me tea. During the interview I was **tense** at first, but I gradually **relaxed** and enjoyed the conversation once I realised the panel were friendly people who wanted me to do well. When I left, I felt a huge sense of relief. Three days later I got the job and was absolutely **delighted** — it had been a roller coaster of emotions, but it was worth it in the end.

Looking back now, I can see how much of that fear was unnecessary — but at the time it felt completely real.

The strangest part was the week before. On Monday I was **hopeful** and **confident**: I read the job description again and thought, "I can do all of this." By Wednesday I had convinced myself I was going to fail, and I was so **frustrated** with my own preparation that I nearly cancelled. My sister found me at midnight rewriting my answers for the fourth time. She took the notes out of my hands and said, "Calm down. You have done enough."

She was right. On the morning itself, the questions were far less **frightening** than the ones I had invented in my head. Only one caught me out. They asked me about a project that had gone badly wrong, and for a moment I was so **confused** that I said nothing at all. Then I decided to be honest. I explained what we had done wrong and what I would do differently now. Afterwards I was **embarrassed** about that silence, but the woman chairing the panel later told me it was the answer that had impressed them most.

I was also **surprised** by how ordinary the panel were. I had imagined three severe strangers behind a long table. In fact one of them spilled his coffee, and everybody laughed.

When the email arrived on Friday, I read it three times before I believed it. I rang my sister and I was so **thrilled** that I could hardly speak. She was **proud** of me, and I was **grateful** to her — without that midnight conversation I might never have gone at all.