I'm going to be honest. I was actually so excited to finally be back at Rutgers, but this past week has been absolutely horrible. And I know that I'm not the only one who feels this way. Not going to lie, everything that could've gone wrong, went wrong.
I really don't know where to start with things but I guess a good place is a small tidbit about my health. I've been at Rutgers since August 26th thanks to volunteering with the move-in team. Even as I spent a mere 24-hours here, I could already feel the germs sinking in. I developed a slight cough that came and went, only to come back and hit me like a truck to weeks later. At the moment, I am congested and have a sore throat along with some headaches. It sucks pretty bad. Not to mention my friend has said that strep throat AND a cold is already going around. I'm sitting at home right now, getting worse (if that's even possible) with me having developed a cough that kind of sounds like a goose honking and the need to sneeze every five seconds.
Then, there's the fact that even though syllabus week has just passed, I'm already drowning in readings, Sakai and/or Canvas announcements, and stress. In general, it feels like there is simply no time to do anything. At this point, which is very early in the semester, you can find me in class, working for Rutgers' OIT Labs, or at my desk doing (you guessed it!) readings. I've used so many highlighters and pens, taking in information and finding a way to understand what exactly I just read. Although I was expecting this year to be harder, this past week has been way more difficult than I could ever have imagined.
So, you're not really supposed to have pets, let alone a goldfish, in my building. But you know what? I got a free fish at the involvement fair, gave him a home, and named him Russell. And you know what happened to him? On Wednesday, September 11 at around noon, my beloved goldfish passed away. So, add that to the list of things that went wrong.
There are a couple of other things, but those are a bit more personal. But rest assured, they're just as horrible as those I mentioned.
I'm definitely not going to be the same after this semester. Whether I have a few (probably a ton of) more breakdowns or I just feel like I'm slowly dying on the inside, we won't know until we get to those points.
But, regardless of these terrible events, I've made plenty of amazing memories that (although not completely) could make up for them. The number of friends I've accumulated in the past week keeps skyrocketing, as I continue to get closer to the friends I already had. Even though they're fairly tough, I'm enjoying my professors' input and passion along with the content. The Starbucks truck makes everything okay and who doesn't love a trip to Brower? For all the bad things that have happened, there are plenty of good things to counteract them.