For most of us, we have not stepped foot on campus since March and spring break has felt like it never really ended. Spring break blended into summer with all of us stuck inside under the quarantine and social distancing guidelines. It shockingly has been six months since we were on campus for our normal class schedules. Now we are back but this semester is nowhere near normal.
Here we are back “on” campus….Some of us are getting the chance to actually come to campus for in-person and hybrid classes, but for a lot of students, all of their classes are strictly online. For those who do get to come to campus they are not going to the same campus they left last March.
You barely see any other students and all the parking lots are mostly empty which is really unusual but does make parking less stressful and there is no need for valeting this semester (a nice little perk). But having to wear a mask at all times and keeping a distance from everyone is weird and has some apocalyptic undertones.
I honestly never thought we were going to be back on campus this semester. I believed all summer long that I would be completing my last semester of college from home in Texas. It was a bit of a touch and go there with Monmouth constantly changing my schedule; having one online then all online but one hybrid to all online then finally back to one hybrid and the rest online.
I wish I had a quarter for every time I was asked, “Is your college going back this fall?” then maybe I would be able to say I made some money this summer. But of course Monmouth came up with the safest plan to allow students to live on campus again and come to campus if they were lucky enough to land hybrid or in-person classes.
I have zero expertise in viruses and pandemics or really anything within the science field, I cannot say whether coming back to campus was the right choice or not but I can say that either choice was going to have consequences no matter what. Even if we all stayed home people were still going to get sick. Of course, coming to campus does expose us to more people than we would typically interact with at home and puts us at a higher risk of contracting coronavirus but doing normal, every day things like going grocery shopping or eating at restaurants does too.
We truly are living in unprecedented times. I know this semester is not what we all wanted it to be. I wanted to spend my last semester having fun and interacting with my peers and I hope I do still get to have this with virtual learning. I hope the freshman get to have the fantastic experiences I did as a freshman all while being safe. I am trying my best to be optimistic and make this semester the best it can be during a pandemic.
Everyone please have fun and do not let this chaotic time keep you down but please wear your masks and keep your distance; I want COVID-19 to go away as soon as possible.
PHOTO COURTESY of Monmouth University
