Experiencing a pandemic that would take over the majority of my college career was not in my plans. However, from freshman to senior year, a lot has changed, and the college experience I had in my head was completely different from how it actually went.
It all started in 2019 when I got to UMass. I was living in the dorms, going to frats, and walking to class every day. It was a normal freshman year experience. I ate at the dining halls, and if you had a stuffy nose, you went to class anyway, and no one thought twice about it. That was the case until the second semester when everything shut down. I was confined to my room, and I only saw my family — we couldn’t leave the house. I had to immediately accommodate my learning to Zoom and online exams. I struggled with the adjustment, but I thought that by sophomore year everything would be back to normal. That was not the case.
In sophomore year I had a terrible dorm selection; I was far down on the waiting list and ended up in a random room with someone I didn’t know. I was nervous, but I soon discovered that was not going to happen. All of our classes would once again be online, and we would not be living on campus. I quickly had to find a place to live off-campus. I moved in with three other girls and only knew one, my hometown friend. We were confined to that house, and I was forced to, once again, learn online. My roommates and I had to get used to being in each other’s presence at almost all hours of the day.
Junior year is usually when you would move off-campus had it been a normal experience, but I had already been off-campus for a year, and I wanted to be more prepared this time. My friends and I began looking for a house. However, I would not have met these girls had I not been forced to live off-campus sophomore year, and I couldn’t be more grateful. We got a house together and instantly bonded. We took the bus together to class each day, and things began to feel normal. That is until I broke my leg second semester, and I was back online once again, forced to stay in my room, unable to move. However, due to the pandemic, I had luckily already adjusted.
Now we’re here: senior year. I am in the same house as last year with some of my closest friends. I am back on campus, and it is starting to feel post-pandemic. Being on campus has never made me so happy. Seeing my friends walking around and being in person were things I hadn’t been able to do in over two years. However, it’s been four years. A lot has changed in our lives, and this is an adjustment that will be very different from when I was 18.
This was not what I expected my college experience to be. Sometimes I get upset that almost three years of my college career were spent online, but it makes me feel even more grateful for this final year, and I intend to take every minute I can to enjoy my time here.
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