I sit here after having been back on campus for almost a week and I am so happy to be home :) I knew that going back for my sophomore year would be a completely different experience than last year, and it has been. I wanted to take the time to reflect a bit on what it's been like to return to a place a second time.

First off, familiarity is key. Last year, walking around everything was new: not just the people and faces I saw, but every building, every site on campus was something I had to mentally store and remember for next time.

Now, I walk around campus with a certain pride and joy that my feet have walked these paths before, and though I have changed (and come to think it, with all the construction going on, many of the paths themselves have changed too), Villanova still is, still exists.

Familiarity extends to the faces I see as I walk around. I find myself excited to come out of class and walk across campus because I am secretly hoping to run into someone I know, hoping to renew those connections I made last year.

Yet as familiar as campus and people is to me, I know there's still room for new discoveries and people in my life.

I've had classes in buildings I've never been to before, I've introduced myself to new people. Last year was a year of solely beginnings, and this year is a mixture of picking up where we've left off and expanding and growing both academic and social circles.

It is so wonderful to come back to a place you love, a place you call home.

I can only hope that the Freshmen (if you're a freshman reading this, hey!) learn to love this school as much as all the people in this community do.

On another note, something I wasn't expecting coming back was a reaffirmation of my introversion. I was wondering why after the first couple of days I felt emotionally drained, and then realized that over the summer, I didn't have nearly as much social interaction every day as I do now.

If you're a freshman, sophomore, whoever, reading this, I want to remind you and point out that adjusting back to campus puts you in a state of change and transition, and it's okay to take a step back from others in order to take a step forward for yourself.

Of course, I love seeing my friends and spending time with the people I love, but if you need to take an hour by yourself to just be, that's okay!

Coming back a second time not only reaffirms the changes I made last year but even the changes I made over the summer.

I am by no means the same person I was back in May and it feels so good to bring back to campus everything I have learned over the past few months.

I'm happy to be here, happy to be home and ready for whatever sophomore year brings me. I can only hope that we all have a year of love and learning. To new beginnings, to familiarity, to everything in store, let's face everything that comes this year head on :)

Talk soon,

Sam