En Route #2
Reunions Abound & Abroad
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I’ve always liked the first week of school, in my experience it’s a rather blissful, if fleeting time in the semester. Breezing back into academic life, collecting syllabi, reuniting with friends and peers. It was made even more celebratory as I was returning from having spent my 3rd year on exchange and am now back at my home school among familiar faces.
While it is indeed good to be back after so long, I swear it feels like no time has passed at all. I was worried that upon reentry, I’d be struck by homesickness or feel very adrift living alone once more but to my surprise the transition has been rather smooth. Apart from a single and slightly embarrassing incident with a waiter just hours after my arrival (top tip of the week: jetlag and rusty French do not mix), I really feel that the city has welcomed me back.
The only way I can describe my first day is jubilant, I don’t think I’ve ever smiled so much on a Monday before. My Senior Thesis and Studio classes are some of the most fun I’ve had in school and were the best way to start the school year, getting lunch with friends after was a close second. Now I know this all sounds very idyllic, but make no mistake, First Week is not reality. After syllabi are read over, course schedules ironed out, and friends caught up on summer exploits, the semester well and truly begins.
Like New Years, we make a lot of resolutions about what kind of students we intend to be at the start of this new semester. In my experience, the most important habits to make are ones you can stick to so while you won’t see me setting my alarm for 5am, I do make sure that 9am is the latest I’m allowed to sleep in. School work becomes very real, very fast and before you know it, professors start bringing up things like Midterms and Exams.
As someone who juggled 6 courses almost every other semester of college, do not let this time lull you into dropping the ball. Take this weekend before the second week of classes to say goodbye to Summer and really get organized for Fall. For me that means cleaning out my email inbox, buying last minute school supplies, and finally washing the odd smelling pile of clothes in my suitcase.
Aside from getting reacquainted with school life, I’ve also made a point of going back to some old haunts from my misspent youth, which is to say, my Foundation year. This weekend I plan to venture back to the Fondation des États-Unis where I lived in the dorms for my first year and see if some of my favorite places are still there, I’ll be sure to report back.
With the weather finally cooling off, it’s becoming easier to convince myself that Fall is just around the corner. I think I speak for most of the general Parisian population when I say that I’ll be glad when I don’t see a weather prediction over 20° C (68° F for my fellow Americans). I hope you’ve had a good start to the semester and are looking forward to the weeks to come.