After semester exams, the long Winter Break was a much-needed rest from the hustle of everyday life on the Hill. Being able to lay in bed for an entire day without anyone knocking down my door to go get a Market sandwich or having to get to class on time was refreshing—for a while. After around two weeks of the binge-watching and bra-free lifestyle, I started to realize how “Kenyonsick” I was. I missed a good Market sandwich, and I was suddenly eager to start all of my new classes.
With two weeks of the second semester under my belt, I can confidently say I have eaten at least five Market sandwiches, and I have somehow maintained a perfect class attendance. Since being back, however, I’ve come face-to-face with the realities of readjusting to campus life. I’ve found that there are five stages of acceptance after Winter Break.
Stage One: Blind Excitement
I literally don’t even know why I’m excited, I just know that being back on Middle Path will be the absolute most amazing and fun and freeing experience I’ve ever had in my life. I’m craving Peirce for the first time in my life, and I can’t wait to devour a bowl of mashed potatoes.
In this stage of post-breakdom, your separation from reality is pure bliss. The idea of being back at Kenyon is like the holidays all over again—making you annoyingly eager to get there ASAP.
Stage Two: I forgot I have class tomorrow
Wow, it feels like I never left. I need to spend four hours unpacking all of my things from home and adding unnecessary additions that I came up with over break to my dorm. It’s also probably time to stock up on snacks from the Bookstore, and I obviously need to lie on my bed doing nothing for at least an hour. What are classes, again?
Now that you’ve arrived on campus, you are suddenly stressing over a million things to do. For some reason, however, not one of them has to do with the fact that you have actual classes the next day. You will probably realize at around nine or ten that night that you have no idea where the Anthropology building is and that you have no means of taking notes.
Stage Three: What do you mean I can’t just hang out with my friends?
Okay, so I need to sit in Peirce for a few hours to see everyone, go sledding, visit all of my friends’ rooms, take pictures of the campus covered in snow, break-in my new snow boots, and have a guitar sing-along. Homework? Don’t know her.
Yes, classes may have started. No, you have no idea what it means to do any work. You’ve just been hanging out for an entire month; who can tell you that needs to stop? Plus, you haven’t seen these people in forever—time just seems to stop!
Stage Four: I finally remembered how to read
Okay, considering I have three assignments due before 4 tomorrow, I should probably lock myself in a room somewhere and do them. After I finish this Facebook video. And refresh Instagram. And talk to someone I just ran into for an hour.
The reality of being at college as an actual student is finally hitting you, preventing you from postponing your responsibilities any longer. Relearning how to focus on a task and read an academic book feels like pulling teeth, but being productive for the first time in forever is an accomplishment.
Stage Five: I can finally walk on Middle Path without wiping out
Both figuratively and literally, I am finally finding a balance in the new semester. I’ve figured out how to awkwardly stomp across Middle Path without slipping on ice, and I am finding some normalcy in a regular routine.
In this final phase of getting back into the Kenyon swing, things start feeling as they should: stressful and wonderful at the same time. As you grow accustomed to unholy temperatures and managing your time, everything else seems to fall into place as you grow a semester older.
While things might seem overwhelming as you figure out college all over again in the dead of winter, these phases are a guaranteed necessary evil before feeling like a true Kenyon student again. All you can do is get through it, and of course, look forward to summer.
Image Credit: Feature, 1, 2, 3