By Julia Barth, Features Editor
Last year, I channeled the inner workings of my mind and emotions — something that is not particularly hard for me to do — and wrote a brief but sentimental wrap-up of my sophomore year of college. For obvious reasons, there was a lot to say, considering I had spent the year on Zoom, in my dorm and what felt like thousands of miles away from the Canisius community I had known. I, as well as everyone else at Canisius, had spent an entire school year in the middle of a pandemic. Enough said.
But in that article, the motivational speaker in me really came out. A bit cringy to look back on? Maybe. But I have to give myself some credit — I made some good points! One thing I wrote that I still think about and try to live out to this day is the following:
“It feels like my junior year is where everything will pick up again and my sophomore year in the pandemic should just be something I try to forget and block out of my memory… But I can guarantee that no one would be the person they are today if it wasn’t for how the pandemic shaped them and their lives. So I’ve made a pact with myself to not forget this year but to draw from my feelings and experiences so as to make the rest of my time at Canisius memorable. I hope you’ll do the same.”
And as cheesy as that sounds, I definitely took my own advice. And it’s not often that I can say that! I bounced back this year and it felt good. Let’s not pretend it wasn’t extremely difficult at first. Going to all of my classes full time once again pained me. It felt like I never had any spare moments and like I had to relearn how to manage my time.
There was also the issue of navigating a social life that had been reborn. I actually had to start seeing people who weren’t my closest friends. I had to learn how to smalltalk and unfortunately embarrassed myself more than once by saying something so incredibly stupid. But with practice, I got better and better at being a human again, and I’m sure you did, too.
That’s what I love so much about being a human. We adapt. We notice our surroundings and, without realizing it, we adapt to what we are going through. That’s why I think it’s so funny how much I freak out about change. I hate change, and I try to avoid it as much as possible, but I think this year showed me that as much as I resist change, it’ll come and I’ll adapt. Every time.
So I conclude my junior year having joined many more clubs, participated in as many campus events as possible, actually doing things on the weekend and getting to know so many new people as well as reconnecting with the old. Every week has been a journey, and I’ve added so many new memories into my stockpile that I can look back on with gratitude.
I’m now entering my last year at Canisius, and the feeling couldn’t be any more bittersweet. I’m fearful for how fast the year will go, as I know time moves faster the older you get; next year at this time, I’ll be writing my 100 Days as your editor-in-chief instead of a wrap-up as your features editor. And in true Julia fashion, I’ll be really sad. And I’ll probably cry a lot. And I’ll think about the days passing with each passing day. But I’ll adapt, and I’ll survive and so will you. Whatever the next year brings, I hope you are all able to hold on tight to those little moments that make being in college so great. I know I will.