So it's late August and early September. The weather is still hot, girls still wear daisy dukes and guys still walk about shirtless. It's a lazy time, the first paper is a few weeks off and the parties have come back with an abounding vengeance. It won't be this good for many weeks, never this peaceful and exciting, like the summer months just breathed out all of us excited as a hive of bees and slow as caterpillars.
However, the beginning of the year also brings a new set of conditions. The weather is pushed to new extremes, events seldom experienced return, and we lose members of our community. At the same time, we gain others and have new experiences. We find ourselves redefined by failures and successes. We move on and we move up. But the big idea is that we are in a time of flux, mostly for the better, and it gives us a bit of a perspective on what is in store.
Junior History major Derek Johnson shared his experience of the first few days of class. Johnson related how the first week was "very uneventful, except for Hurricane Irene coming through on the weekend. Compared to the summer, it's been extremely laid back for me." He explained the monotony of the week with a summer job and internship that left him without much free time before the start of the year. He also explained his impression of the first week as "mainly just getting back into the swing of classes and taking notes and all that stuff. Basically the difference between what is going on right now and what I'll see later." Generally, he predicted that the year "is going to be about average. Nothing too hectic or too dull."
Sophomore Aaron Mitchell also shared some of his views on the first week situation. Mitchell said, "So far, it's been pretty good. I was kind of nervous before coming here. Once I got back and settled and everything, it felt more positive, like it was going to be a good school year. My teachers are very nice and they had everything planned and emphasized that their office hours are this and this. If we really need help, feel free to come by and stop any time."
Aaron also talked about his experience with the first earthquake of his life and the trials of living in a dorm without air conditioning. Mitchell said, "I'm a sophomore this year. I've been through it last year so I know what to expect…. I've been around the ropes, you could say. I'm more introverted and don't get involved in as much stuff…I'm fine with just sitting around with friends not doing much…I'm not much of a party person, I know that's something a lot of freshmen do now that they're free from parents…Now that I've already been through a year, I know how to manage my time better slightly. That's going to be one of the things I'm going to have to work on for a while. It's just that I know what to expect and how to handle situations a little better."
Mitchell also discussed the importance of developing connections with people in your department and with your professors. His general outlook on the coming year was a positive one both personally and academically. To Mitchell, the new school year offers an abundance of new opportunities. For Johnson, there is a similar feeling, but one tempered by a slightly longer stay at Longwood University. It is a time of new beginnings during which one can determine the entire drift of the coming year.
However, the new school year also brings with it a sort of unexpectedness. We all realize what it essentially means to come back to classes and peers. We all know our primary objective is stuck between the party and the textbook and we all understand how fragile or ironclad our relationships may be. In any case, the new year is here and begs, us from the most usual student to those with the greatest of ambitions, to consider how we live and how we want to live. The first week, if anything, is composed of possibilities.
