It's that time again. Winter break is over, Christmas and sleeping in until noon are just distant memories and Spring Semester has, sadly, arrived. With the start of classes and another semester of stress upon us, here are just a few thoughts that are probably going through all of our heads.
1. "Wait, winter break is over?"
Sadly, yes. Time to hit the books, get ready to rock the semester and try not to cry as you also try to get back in the groove of this painful thing called "college."
2. "I haven't bought a single textbook yet and classes started days ago."
What are textbooks really? A money pit? An object that dashes all hopes and dreams? It's okay, you can hold off from buying them for just a bit longer.
3. "I just want to go back to sleep."
Remember when you could sleep until noon or later? Remember when you had no responsibilities and no reason to wake up at 7 a.m.? It was a beautiful time, and we can go back to that any day now.
4. "No part of me missed dining hall food."
Get ready to ration out your leftovers because your mom's home cooking is bound to taste a thousand times better than anything the dining hall will ever have to offer. After it's gone, just try not to think about it when you're shoving down dining hall pizza for dinner.
5. "OK so I missed my friends, but that's literally all I missed."
It's always nice to see friends after a long break, but do we really need to start classes too? I mean, I guess I missed some other things, but just a few things, a small, small few things–and studying was definitely not one of them.
6. "Construction. Construction everywhere."
I can't sleep at night because of the lights shining through the window. I wake up three hours earlier than I need to because of the sweet sounds of construction in the morning. If you're like me, campus construction is something you definitely didn't miss.
7. "Wait, why are there already people in the library?"
You make your way back to campus, thinking you're free for at least a few more days because classes haven't even started yet. Everything is fine until, wait, you look through the windows of the library and realize there's people sitting at the tables already. What are we doing wrong? Why can't we just go back to bed?
8. "I think I'm going to take a nap after class even though I definitely don't deserve to take a nap after class."
You're used to sleeping in until well in the afternoon. Winter break spoiled you, and if you're anyone like me, waking up for three classes is enough to tire you out for days.
9. "My wallet hurts and I think my bank account is crying."
A new semester can be a chance for exciting classes and opportunities, but it's also a chance to empty your bank account over school fees and the never ending rising costs of textbooks. Your wallet is going to be in pain by the time you leave the student stores with your books.
10. "Okay I went to class on FDOC, can I please go back home now?"
I can't deny having this thought at the thought of every semester, and I probably will continue to have it until I graduate. The first day of classes is always hard because it's the start of something new (and long, and painful).
No matter what you're thinking as you go into the semester, bad or good, remember that you can and will do succeed. It's just another semester, and once you get into the grove of things, you'll forget these thoughts ever existed to begin with.