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7 Stages of Our First Week Back to Colegio

Her Campus Placeholder Avatar Angel Trabal
Jennifer Mojica Santana
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UPRM chapter.

It’s that time of the year again right after orientation week and ajustes, when everyone is full of hope and energy to start a new semester, and prepas are excited to have their first taste of what it’s like to be a Colegial. However, for us veterans, it’s a bit different, especially since we only had a one-month-long summer break due to the students strike, and many of us had all sorts of commitments during the summer. It’s the calm before the storm before we’re pressed to meet deadlines, pull all-nighters, and sport every college student’s signature look—dark under-eye circles.

1. Denial

It’s 10:00P.M. on your last free Friday night before classes begin. You’re chilling watching your favorite movie when you get an email, and it turns out to be one of your professors who just emailed you the course syllabus. All of a sudden, you’re overcome with anxiety as you’re faced with reality and the fact that you’re slowly turning into a fossil. If you’re lucky enough, your professor didn’t email you an assignment to do during your last weekend of freedom.

2. Resignation

As you are getting everything ready the night before classes begin, you start accepting the fact that there’s nothing you can do to stop the new semester. You start mustering up tiny bits of excitement as you force yourself to sleep in a last ditch effort to fix your unsalvageable sleep schedule.

3. Anxiety (lots of it!)

It’s your first day of class and traffic is no fun, especially if you’re a commuter who can’t afford to live closer to campus. But if there’s something worse than being stuck in traffic for over 45 minutes, it’s finding a parking spot in Área Blanca and making it on time to your class.

4. Screaming (internally, of course!)

Especially, when you hear the dreaded “let’s go around the room, say your name, your major, and a fun fact about you.”

5. Confusion

You’re still struggling to memorize your class schedule and remember which professors require the textbooks for their classes. You feel lost and you’re not sure if you already have homework, or if you’re already hallucinating.  

6. Stress

You start panicking after going over the syllabus of your classes, and you start stressing about all the upcoming stress you’ll have to deal with eventually, even before there’s real stress to stress about.

7. Hope

Even though you feel all sorts of emotions, you wouldn’t trade our beloved Colegio for anything in the world. You remain positive that your new semester is going to bring new opportunities to grow, both professionally and personally, and you’re determined to make the most of it. If you’ve come this far, there’s nothing that can stop you!

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Jennifer Mojica Santana is an undergraduate student at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus (UPRM). She is currently pursuing a degree in English with a concentration in Literature, and minor studies in Project Management and Writing and Communications. Mojica Santana has written for UPRM's chapter of the online magazine Her Campus since March 2015. She served as the chapter's Senior Editor from January 2016 through May 2016. From June 2016 through October 2017, Mojica Santana was the chapter's co-Campus Correspondent and co-Editor-in-Chief. During the summer of 2917, she conducted research at Brown University. Currently, she is a visiting student at Brown University.