Well, somehow I blinked and we’re already a month into the semester. It’s really true what they tell you – the longer you’re here, the faster and faster time seems to fly. Here’s a recap of what I’ve done so far to try to combat the ever-constant passage of time.
My first couple of weeks were more stressful than I would have anticipated, and I’m entirely to blame. If you’re someone like me who’s constantly indecisive, you’re probably gonna want to give yourself a little more cushion time for deciding which classes to take than I did. Because trust me – still debating which English class to switch to at 10 pm the last day of Add/Drop isn’t where you want to be.
Add/Drop is quite notorious for being a hectic two weeks always filled with frantic students and professors, everyone too scared to fully assign or complete homework until the chaos of this period ends. Most people (unlike me) had their classes pretty much settled by about a week into the semester, but there were still a few of us who were dabbling in a rotation of about six different alternatives for a seminar or a lecture in a different department. This makes the first two weeks utterly exhausting. My tip is this: get on waitlists early, and don’t be afraid to ask about where you’re placed on them! You don’t want to be worrying about the possibility of getting into a twenty-five-person class without even knowing that you’re number thirty on the waitlist.
Once I’d finally figured out my schedule, the semester started to normalize itself. By “normalize,” I of course mean began to involve things like midnight group walks in the rain while singing to the moon, stuffing my face with the Rathskeller’s mac n cheese bites (and only slightly regretting it later), and painting our nails in the library as part of a project for my friend’s class.
We’re just getting to the point in the semester where spring feels like it could be on its way – we’ve had a couple of days of finger-freezing, picturesque snow days, but now Oberlin’s finest Carhartt coats are getting once again slowly replaced by jean jackets and striped, long-sleeve shirts under band tees. Pretty soon, we’ll be having guitar-in-the-grass singalongs and picnics in the Arboretum. No matter what, there’s never a dull moment.
