When You’re Reluctant to Return but so Happy You Did

By Jane Vick

You know it’s a funny thing, being a freshman. As I’m sure nearly every Johnnie can attest to, first semester freshman year is something else. The incredible shock of it all takes a serious amount of fortitude and flexibility. (Not to mention the snow and the altitude for us Californians. It’s an adjustment.) We work our hardest at working our hardest and somehow we make it through first Don Rags and Seminar papers, orals and some minor Greek translations; and then the glory of Winter Break rolls around. I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited to go home, to not bite my nails down to nothing over a Euclid prop, or fiendishly write and rewrite the same sentence about Penelope’s love for Odysseus. To relax, to seriously catch up on Parks and Recreation (no shame), and to spend time with my loved ones. And I can absolutely say I did all of those things and more–the beaches in NorCal have never seemed so beautiful to me. Yet time passed, as it always does, and soon enough it was the 18th and time for me to head back to good ol’ Santa Fe and this gorgeous campus we’re now inhabiting. Was I excited? Hard to say. While certainly not dreading the return, I felt a sense of poignancy, and perhaps a bit of reluctance.

And oh, my dear Johnnies, I cannot tell you how incredibly different I feel now. It is a new kind of shock altogether. To be back here with all of you, Monte Sol ever glorious from my bedroom window, the sound of laughter and the smells of coffee from my dormmates in the morning (Urania for life!), the wonderful sense of accomplishment that comes from feeling so busy, so productive; I have missed it dearly, and I have missed you all. It’s a new semester, it’s a new year…

Let’s do this.