It is a weird feeling to be nostalgic for a time you weren’t even alive for. I look through my parents’ photo albums showcasing their college memories and long for an experience that has not been my own. The old photos of my dad drinking from a keg at his fraternity seem so unfamiliar, as the thought of sipping out of someone’s drink today makes me shudder.
It saddens me that COVID-19 took away almost two years of my college experience. I never thought that sitting in a lecture hall would be my most fervent wish.
However, while my college experience so far has not been what you see in the movies, I am still incredibly lucky to have a college experience at all. I keep reminding myself that I am living in a unique time full of scientific breakthroughs. I am privileged enough to gain my education through a screen, and though it is not ideal, I am living in what my future kids will read about in their history books.
Now, I have to remind myself and my readers: it is okay that college so far has been a whirlwind and it is okay to long for life before COVID. It is okay to feel burnt out from staring at a screen and to yearn for socialization. I am not going to sugarcoat it: life in the pandemic has been difficult. However, we have made it a whole year since the world went on lockdown.
The picture-perfect college experience seems overrated anyway. At least ours has been full of surprises.