As I am writing this blog post, I have just closed out my first month of school after being fully remote. I am officially a junior at Barnard College in New York City and it has been a rollercoaster of emotions. Heading back to campus was filled with excitement as I was most looking forward to seeing my friends and even just acquaintances that I hadn’t talked to in such a long time. I arrived with orientation in full swing and a lively campus. There was a stark contrast between how the campus was just a few weeks earlier as I had taken up some extra shifts in the admissions office during the summer. On an everyday basis, I see familiar faces — people that I didn’t really have contact with throughout quarantine but was still greeted with a warm welcome nevertheless. The excitement continued as I began to see more and more people that I had only known through Zoom with the added difficulty of trying to recognize them behind their masks.
However, all of this excitement was quickly followed by a feeling of overwhelm and anxiety. I was very nervous about how I would deal with the adjustment from being at home all the time and in Zoom meetings to being on campus all the time and going to in-person classes. This semester, I have a mix of classes. I only have one class that is fully in person and it is my English seminar class called Sentimentalism and Its Afterlife. The other English class I am taking is solely on Zoom and it is my Renaissance English Colloquium class. The other two courses I am taking are my Computer Science classes that are hybrid — while students are welcome to join lectures in person, each lecture is also live-streamed through Zoom and also recorded. I really appreciate the fact that I have such a variety of classes in their format as I think it has made the adjustment to the semester a lot smoother as opposed to me having to take all my courses in person without any way to catch up in case I miss class or do not feel comfortable being in such crowded small spaces.
Another thing that I have looked forward to and has been a nice experience was returning back to campus and having in-person meetings with the clubs I am a part of and my admissions job. Since my fellow club members are a small group of my peers, we switched from having virtual meetings to in-person meetings and it has been really nice to have these conversations that can really only happen spontaneously when you are amongst people. As a part of my admissions job, the campus has opened itself up again to visitors and we have started giving in-person tours again. As a tour guide, it’s been really nice talking to prospective students and family and feeding off the energy of their hopes and aspirations to be a part of the Barnard community.
While we still have a long way to go in the midst of a pandemic and have to expect the unexpected, this semester kicks off a brand new chapter in all of our lives as the world slowly comes back alive again.
I hope you all stay safe and healthy and good luck 🙂