This fall will be unlike any other college semester. The past year and a half have been consumed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Classes were online for most of us and many students didn’t return to their college campuses to stay safe. However, this semester is the beginning of our reemergence into the world. Because of the vaccine, we are starting to feel safer and therefore more “normal.” And with that, comes expectations about what normal looks like for each of us.
These past few days I’ve been thinking a lot about what I was like in high school. I’m starting my junior year at Virginia Tech, so the pandemic hit before I could get halfway through my second semester as a freshman. I missed so much of the college experience that I expected to have. I wanted to join clubs, meet new people, experience college sports, explore Blacksburg, and see the ducklings at the Duck Pond. However, I didn’t get most of those experiences, so I thought I had lost the opportunity to discover who I was here. In high school, I did everything: ten clubs, two varsity sports, and AP classes. I was busy from the moment I woke up until the moment I went to sleep and was hardly ever home. I loved being busy and being around different people all the time. But that was two years ago, and the chance to either continue that lifestyle in college or try to change was taken away from me. What were supposed to be my first years as a semi-independent adult vanished, and with them the opportunity for growth that people expect when they arrive at college.
During the pandemic, we were under a lockdown. We didn’t have a choice but to be reclusive. To stay safe, we were only able to see the people in our inner circles and our families. Limiting the people we could see and the things we could do created an excess of free time. Instead of the fast-paced lifestyle I was used to, my day was much simpler. I would roll out of bed to join a class on my computer and put myself on mute while I made breakfast. Then, I would chill in sweats on my couch while I did some homework. When I was done with school for the day, I would take a walk around my neighborhood. Then, to top it all off, I would watch a movie with my family. Don’t get me wrong, having free time was great because I finally got to slow down, but I didn’t expect to grow from not having anything to do.
Now that the semester is here, I have no idea what to expect from this new normal. I feel like we are in some sort of limbo where I could expect college to be the way I thought it would be my freshman year, but I could also expect it to be limited as well. And with so many different expectations for different situations, there come more unanswerable questions. Things like, “am I supposed to revert to who I was in high school? Could I still be who I was during the pandemic?” And even questions like, “what do other people expect me to be like? How normal will this year be? Will we have to shut down again? And, are we safe?” are still left wide open.
I suppose that is what growth looks like though: not knowing what to expect and trying to answer those questions for ourselves. All I know is that I’m happy to feel like I’m moving forward again. We’re still getting our college experience no matter how different it has looked in the past. I’m excited to be back at school and to have the opportunity to try my hand at answering those questions so I can grow here—however, I end up doing so and whoever I end up becoming in the process.