Alison, ‘12

Last year, whenever people would ask, “You’re a freshman, right?” I always wondered how they knew. I wasn’t back on campus more than twenty minutes before I realized just how obvious it is. Some people say you can tell the girls by the fact that they’ve still got a lanyard attached to their Vera Bradley ID case. Not so (I still have mine). It’s the half-smug, half-confused looks on their faces – the “Yeah, I’m a freshman in college” swagger in their walk. I can’t help laughing, knowing that I stepped back on campus rockin’ the slightly less dramatic “Yeah, I’m a sophomore in college” walk myself. I guess everyone’s just over-excited to be where they are, wherever that may be!Coming back was stranger than I expected it to be. It wasn’t quite like going home after breaks, though the rush of familiar sights and sounds certainly helped mimic the feeling to a reasonable degree. Since I live in town, I’d been able to stop by campus a few times over the course of the summer to visit with friends who were working in the admissions office or doing research, so I didn’t really get to miss it. While I missed my college pals then, I miss my high school friends now. The trade-off leaves me more or less where I was. Any independence I gain by leaving home is swapped out with the availability of home-cooked meals, my own laundry service, and a very large amount of living space. (I’m sure my mom will appreciate that I’ve equated her with her ability to cook and wash clothes – Haha.) Needless to say, while I was happy to be back at University of Richmond, I wasn’t ready to burst out of my skin with anticipation at any given moment like last year. The familiarity I now have with college freaks me out a bit. I know it now. It’s just something I do. It went from the highlight of my future to my day-to-day existence. Only three years left. Yikes!That being said, I will now mention the one thing about school that I was thrilled about getting back to. I can more or less guarantee that it won’t be what you’d expect. After a summer of letting the conscious part of my brain sink slowly into oblivion while I washed out all my critical thinking skills with prolonged Family Guy marathons, I was pumped to get back to class. It took a few days (weeks) and a few long sessions at the library for me to get back into the swing of things, but I’ve managed to resurrect the tattered remnants of my analytical psyche. Confession: I have no idea what “analytical psyche” actually means. I literally just picked two words that had a nice ring to them and stuck them together.I’m currently taking Intro to Chemistry, Evolution, People and Cultures of Latin America, and Statistics for Social and Life Sciences. It’s only 4 units, but the two science classes each come with a weekly three-hour lab and, after last semester, I needed a bit of a break. For those who don’t know, 1 unit is equal to roughly 3.5 credit hours. The University strongly recommends that freshmen take 4 units their first semester and so do I. Between adjusting to new surroundings and trying to make as many new friends as possible, you don’t want to be swamped with work first semester.Here ends my little re-introduction! I hope you’ve all had a good summer and a good start back to school. Sorry for the lack of pictures – I sort of broke my camera and am waiting for the University to generously supply me with a replacement.