The Pandemic Project - Volume 3

First Day Back Aidan Ross I definitely did not know what to expect from college after the crazy year we had. Living through a pandemic has made a lot of things different in the world, especially school. Having to sit at home day after day doing the same thing got really difficult mentally and physically. It felt like an endless cycle of waking up, logging into class, and going to sleep. At first, I thought that I didn’t like school, but being out of it for so long made me realize how much I appreciated the education I was getting. I needed to get a change of scenery, however. I was excited to go to college and take classes that I will actually want to take so that I can be more engaged. Being able to go to class in person made me extremely happy. I didn’t excel academically in high school, so I wanted to prove to myself and my family that I am capable of achieving great things. As my senior year wound down, I got more and more anxious as to what I was getting into. Even though I was excited to move on to the next chapter in my life, it was still a big and difficult change. I had to accept the fact that the people who are my friends will be doing the same and moving on. It is a hard thing to say, but it is part of life. I would have to adjust to the new people that I would be around. I also had to make the self-realization that this is it. I need to put my academics first and take them seriously. I didn’t know what to expect from my teachers either. As the time got closer and closer for classes to begin, the anxiety didn’t go away. For some reason, even though I knew I was excited, there was still that bad feeling in my gut that something would go wrong. When the day came and it was time to go to classes, it felt just like the first day of high school. I had to go to a brand-new place where I don’t know anybody or where I was going. However, the outcome of the first day was very different. I was in for a nice surprise, though. The whole time leading up to the first day of college, I was working myself up for no reason.

I got out of the car and walked into the Bell Center and sat down for my first class. The first class was Foundations of Physical Education. Already I’m off to a good start by taking a class I’m interested in. The tension in the room felt uncomfortably high as the other students and I waited for our professor. It was as if everyone felt like how I was feeling leading up to the first day. As the professor walked in and started teaching, my anxiety went out the window. Finally, I was back in a classroom actually learning. It felt like I hadn’t learned anything in over a year, since online teaching was not very effective the way that it was conducted. Once the class came to an end, I started to make my way over to my next class. On my way over, it hit me that I was on my own. It was very different from high school in the sense where it actually felt like I had freedom. Compared to high school where there are cameras and administrators watching your every move, college felt as if it was all up to me. The rest of the day continued on just as expected. I got a feeling that the professors now at college have more of a sense of respect and friendliness in contrast to teachers in high school.

For example, teachers in high school still treated students like children and didn’t expect much from us. I remember specifically this one interaction I had with a science teacher. It was freshman year, so granted I was young but I still deserve to be respected. Anyways, I sneezed in her class how I normally would, into my elbow. The next thing I heard was, “Aidan, keep 67