Ahhh, autumn. Pumpkin spice everything is already beginning its hostile takeover and systematic removal of lemonade and hot dogs. People are moving in and during this process, parents and offspring fight, textbooks are still too much damn money, and around Wayne State, there's a huge revival of the age-old "parking is HOW MUCH?" commentary. I'm basically just trying to say that it's a particularly stressful time of the year. I look forward to what Boyfriend refers to as "the groove" of the school year, but it's not exactly an easy process to get into this groove. And when one is a student-athlete, it adds a whole new dimension to the stress levels peaking around the beginning of the year. So, for your entertainment - and maybe to make you remember that we're all going through this - here's what it's like for student athletes when we return to school:

1. I have practice at what time?!

After summer vacation, unless you've worked a lot over the summer or took a class, a return to early practices and therefore even earlier wake up calls, can be quite a jolt. I've had plenty of summer days to sleep in and not have anywhere in particular to be and it's glorious. Alternatively, if you've worked a lot over the summer or had any other sort of early wake up call responsibilities while you've been away from your team life, you may be wondering where your summer went and when you're going to make up this sleep debt. I guess there's always Christmas break.

2. My first competition is next weekend?! ...

I happen to participate in the fall sport of cross country. So, yeah, I have my first races coming up within the week. It's nerve-wracking for people in fall sports who are just returning to school, moving in, and figuring out their class schedules to realize that they need to be ready to go get at it so soon. I often feel unprepared for the early-season races. On the other hand, for those participating in winter or even spring sports but who have to do some form of conditioning already, I could see how annoying it would be to have to wait a whole semester or even school year before your sport even gets here. The anticipation, though.

3. Do you think they know how many pastries I ate?

I don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable with me or their own body. I'm at peace with myself. But as mentioned before, I'm a runner. As such, I'm "supposed to be" skinny and lithe. The beginning of the school year and returning to being around my teammates and coaches all of the time serves as a great time for my brain to wonder if they can tell that I've eaten a lot of dessert over the summer. The answer is "Probably not" and "Who cares?" As long as you're healthy, this should be a non-issue.

4. Hey! My schedule is actually working out for me pretty well this year!

To those of you who have been affected by this in a negative way, I apologize. Truth is, student-athletes often get first pick of classes and we've had that shiz figured out since the fall class schedule was online back in March. As such, I haven't had Friday classes since my first semester freshman year and at this point, I have all classes that I truly enjoy and need to take. It's a great perk of being an athlete, but it's for a very practical reason: we have to *try* to schedule everything in around our practice times. Letting us have first pick helps with this process.

2014 Wayne State Cross Country team.

5. Welcome back into my life, teammates!

There are few people in the world who can understand the daily grind of your particular sport at your particular school. Those few people are your teammates. You suffer through intense workouts, 15-minute-long ice baths in sub-50 degree water, long "inspirational" talks, and finally, competing together. This is an incredible bond to share and even if you're not the best of friends, you've still experienced the insanity of competing at this level, together. In my case, I haven't seen some of these wonderful, hardworking people since last school year. We've been training on our own, but perhaps motivation has flagged. You've forgotten why you do this in the first place. When you return to school, your teammates serve as a constant reminder of why you continued on in your sport, and you're ready to have a great year competing and training with them. And eating.