The Beaucoup section answer how their emotions are before the start of every semester. Below are their thoughts.
Amare Auzenne
Allons Writer
While in some way alluding to excitement as the main thing I feel before a new semester starts would be expected, and not wholly inaccurate, the primary feeling I always get before the start of a semester is tightness. There are walls that a life has to fit within during a semester that are necessary for the performance that keeps within varying kinds of acceptable bounds. A tightrope walked between productivity, relaxation, nourishment and sleep.
There’s an encroaching ambient stress before fall semester starts. Different from the feeling before Spring semester if only by virtue of the fact there’s less time to drop guard in three weeks than three months. There’s a sense that I’m having to relearn the ability to function while every muscle in my body is cramping simultaneously every August. My big hope is that it doesn’t spike my blood pressure and kill me one of these days.
Marie Ducote
Allons Writer
The spring of 2025 will hopefully be my final semester and I will graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in English (literature). But before that can happen I have to get through the fall semester and I would say before any school year starts I have some first day jitters.
I wonder if my professors will like me? Will I be able to keep up with the work and reading? But then I have to remind myself ,“Marie you have done this before and you have been fine.” Then I listen to Gwen Stefani’s “What You Waiting For?” (2004) to pump myself up.
But anyway I genuinely love the subject I am majoring in and can’t imagine studying anything else. Is it challenging sometimes? Yes. But I like a challenge because it keeps me on my feet and I never get bored. In the end, the first day jitters is an obstacle one needs to jump over to succeed.
Nyria Mustiful
Allons Editor
Typically, at the beginning of every fall semester, I feel incredibly anxious. However, it’s more so in anticipation of the semester going well instead of it being very fear based. This semester, I was super pumped because this is the first semester that I have all classes that I’m interested in instead of having to worry about taking something that I only have to take because it’s “required”.
I’ve also put a very big emphasis on my personal health and well-being this semester. Two of the biggest things I’ve been doing to keep that a priority are participating in things that make me feel good and actively developing a better relationship with God. I feel like I have tried to do these things in the past, but life would simply tell me, “Um, yeah no”. Over the summer, I realized that if I really wanted to be better, I had to continue prioritizing these steps.
Obviously, as we all know, school will continue to hit like a Mack truck, but I have a pretty good feeling that the impact won’t hurt much this go around.
Kay Padilla
Editor-In-Chief
The start of the semester for me is usually very chaotic. I usually have to pack my entire life in a few boxes, travel a few hours, unload and then start school a few days later. It can be very chaotic going from summer mode to school mode as well.
This semester was different. I thought it would feel chaotic and anxious during the move-in process and beginning of the semester but I didn’t. I think it was because I am closer to graduating now than I was in the previous semesters so, I’m just ready to get school over with.
I am now a junior, and hopefully, I will apply for graduation next semester. I’m over the halfway mark of my college academic career, so the next step is to finish. I’m no longer the anxious freshman who couldn’t choose a minor because she wanted to do them all.
It felt very peaceful to know what my next semesters are going to look like, so I didn’t need to overthink. I get to enjoy my last moments of college now.