Kaitlyn Hart
Life Editor
Let’s be honest. You’re not really all that excited to be back.
All of those “Ok, I’m ready to be back at school again!!” tweets that you posted were just a little bit exaggerated. Sure, you missed all of the new friends you made last semester, and you missed your roommate and your favorite pair of jeans that you left in your room over break.
But other than that, you would almost rather it be finals week again. Knowing, of course, that finals week wouldn’t be your first choice if you suddenly had a time machine, you cannot deny that it’s undeniably better than the great abyss that is college in January.
The fact that you got to spend almost an entire month with your family who you haven’t seen since August, and got to spend so much time with your friends that you haven’t seen in who knows how long, feels like you took it for granted.
And now you’re at the beginning of the semester, wishing that you could see the light at the end of the tunnel. The light that looks like the warm kiss of summer that only decides to show itself after the stress and angst of a week filled with studying at all hours of the night.
Unfortunately, at this time of year, all you can see is the dark depth of gloom from behind the piles of syllabi that you took home last week. It’s not long until you realize that you have sixteen more weeks of getting up every morning to get back to the grind before you can finally pack up and get some much needed vitamin D.
The first week back at school after winter break is way harder than finals week, and that’s just the way it is.
Getting back into the groove of waking up early, going to classes and having responsibilities is just harder when there’s nothing to look forward to at least for a couple of weeks.
There’s no warm, golden sun on the horizon saying, “Hey! Look over here! Two more finals and then you’re home free!” It’s cold, and windy, and it’s a little sad. You’re stuck just looking at your calendar and questioning whether you can really do another entire semester.
But even though there are all of these slightly bleak aspects, there is good news. You get to be in college! You get to have an education!
You are pursuing a life in higher education for yourself and you are persevering through a tough time.
To quote Kelly Clarkson, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!
You also get an entire new semester to start all over. Maybe you didn’t exactly get the grades you wanted last semester. Well, this is the semester to turn everything around! Maybe you want to make more friends this semester. Good news! You have all-new classes this semester filled with all-new people, who probably want to be friends with an awesome person like you.
Even though second semester can be rough, and it feels as though the winter might never end, just know one thing: you will get through this.
Yes, it will be long, and you’ll spend many hours reading and doing homework, but it will go by so quickly that you will be sitting at graduation wondering, “How did it go by so fast?”
