Two suitcases that are definitely over the 50lb flying limit, one massive Target order, a few loads of laundry, and one smaller Target order for the items I forgot initially (yes Dad, I need it), and I am officially ready for my sophomore year! Here I come Wash U; put ‘em up for Round 2.
Everyone is familiar with the “back to school” feeling. In high school, it was the thrilling rush of school-supply shopping, followed by the immediate panic of returning to seven hour days, six a.m. wakeups, and far too many periods of math (did I mention I’m bad at math?) Purchasing college-ruled notebooks and multi-colored pens was a good distraction, but the cheery brightness and cherry redness of the Staples aisles could only protect me for so long. And then? Dread. The calendar days flew off, rushing before my eyes like the opening sequence of Phineas and Ferb. It was a countdown I never wanted to reach the end of. Once that September day hit, it was like someone barging into your room and dumping a bucket of ice water on your head: a rude awakening.
This is all for dramatic effect. I never really minded going back to school. But I have to overdo it at least a little bit, for the sake of the blog post. Also, I’m not exaggerating my love for school supply shopping.
Starting the school year was always fine, but my attitude always had the air of a bratty teenager interacting with my parents. Like: Fine, huff, I’ll go, eyeroll, but I’m totally gonna sulk all day. I would do what they asked, but I would not be happy about it.
But now, it’s a different story. If going back to high school is an icey gallon of water to the face, getting back to college is like someone carefully cracking open your door, and saying “good morning, darling” and placing a tray on your bedspread, and the tray has an ornately decorated plate stacked with pancakes and a glass of orange juice with a curly straw, and as you pour your maple syrup the person is humming an old tune and drawing the shades, and the sunlight is filtering into the room… you get the point.
The feeling is reminiscent of counting down the days until summer camp. It’s the same wonderful mixture of a familiar home, but a new year in store. Also, college is basically a glorified sleepaway camp. Except, Wash U has better mattresses. They’re Tempur-Pedic.
And cozy beds aren’t the only thing I’ve been looking forward to. My group chat has been blowing up for the past month: a daily reminder of everything waiting for me back at school. The finished East End and its fancy new cafe (because Wash U food isn’t fancy enough already… Poke in the DUC, anyone?), sharing a suite with three of my favorite people in the world, almost getting run over by amateur skateboarders on campus- I miss all of it immensely. I am so excited to get back to school that I booked a flight that leaves at six a.m. I would get up at four in the morning, just to spend a little more time there. That’s how much I miss Wash U.
