By Theo Klinger, Staff Writer
I remember being so excited to return to campus after being trapped behind a screen for two and a half semesters, but what I did not realize was how difficult it would be to adjust back to the regular life of a college student. I got used to rolling out of bed and turning on my laptop to attend class, and that was a seriously bad habit I never thought I would have to break.
Being back on campus, I now must wake up earlier to get ready for my classes. Most of the time I cannot even do that, and I get up just long enough to grab my backpack and walk to my morning class in my pajamas. I got very used to tuning out the information through my speakers and staring at my surroundings while in my room, but while I am in the classroom it is an environment with the distractions that I was used to.
I have this feeling that each professor edited their syllabus and class structure to make it easier on the students since it was all online, and now that we are back in-person there is no reason to hold back on the information they want to teach us.
Now we have new projects to finish every other week if not every single week, and many more assignments than we did throughout our whole time during online classes. Maybe this is just me feeling this way, but I am very overwhelmed as I’m trying to adjust to the normalcy of college all over again.
I feel very bad for the now second-year students who got used to the way classes worked through the screen, because now they must adjust to the way their courses really are, now that we are back on campus.
I will be honest and say that the start of this semester is not how I pictured it would be for myself personally. I have disappointed myself with the way I’m getting assignments done, and how good they are when they are finished. I have made plenty of bad decisions when it comes to deciding I’m not going to get out of bed so I’m going to miss my class.
I would not say I’m completely in the red with the classes that I did skip, but I feel embarrassed when it comes to my professors not understanding why I am missing class so early in the semester due to being overwhelmed. I have stressed myself out so much that I made myself physically sick, as well as the fact that I have had the worst luck when it comes to remaining healthy and not being knocked off my feet with allergies.
I have already managed to get food poisoning, and instead of going to the doctor’s office that is provided on campus I forced myself to drive half an hour away to my family doctor.
Hopefully I can pull myself together enough to be a better student for my own sake. This is not how I usually am and talking down on myself has degraded my mental health completely to a point where I am deciding on going to the counseling center.
If anyone else has been feeling this way, I recommend getting the help you need before it is too late to come back from the hole, we are digging ourselves into. It is not a bad thing to admit that you need help, especially when it comes to adjusting to a new semester.