One day down, one to go. Today is June 11.
After consistently waking up later than 9 a.m. for the past several weeks, having to get up by 8:40 a.m. was miserable. I was confused and cranky and definitely didn’t want to be awake. Today was the first day of my University of Missouri ― Columbia (MU) Summer Welcome. I’d signed up for the first slot available because I know classes fill up fast, and I want to have the best options available for my first year at MU.
From 9 a.m. until about 3:30 p.m. I was stuck at my computer watching pre-recorded videos, sitting through glitchy question and answer (Q&A) sessions, meeting via Zoom with a small group of my peers and learning about what life and classes at MU is like. While some of the information was interesting, most of it was redundant or at the very least available online in a faster to access format. I liked the idea behind the Q&A sessions, but my internet was struggling to keep up, and I ended up getting the buffering circle for the majority of the time instead of being able to hear the answers.
As awkward as Zoom meetings can be, especially with a group of strangers, the two I had with my Summer Welcome group weren’t terrible. The one struggle and point of embarrassment I had was when my connection glitched at the exact moment when the group leader, sophomore Catherine Everett, called my name. There was a drawn out moment of silence before I realized I must be the person who should be talking, but once that passed the rest was fine. I’d thought the small group would be made up of only journalism kids, but there were plenty of other majors included as well. For the most part, the kids seemed nice, and I’m happy I’ll be able to recognize some faces on campus in the fall.
When the tedium of Summer Welcome finally ended, I felt exhausted and burned out. I got a quick bite to eat and let my mind wander while watching an episode of The 100. I’d gotten a text from my mom earlier saying my dad, brother and I should come up to my grandpa’s house around 5:30 p.m., so I planned to take a nap, change clothes and relax before leaving at 5:15 p.m. My dad, however, had other plans. He wanted to leave as soon as possible, but I was mentally and emotionally exhausted after the day I’d had. He and I got into an argument, which resulted in him and my brother leaving without me.
Feeling even more emotionally drained than earlier, I decided to take a nap to try to recover some of my calm and re-energize myself. I hadn’t meant to, but I ended up sleeping for nearly two and a half hours. When I woke up, I was out of sorts and had a hard time keeping my eyes open. My mom and grandpa had texted me, and I responded telling them I felt too tired to drive safely. I ended up missing out on the excitement and fun with my grandpa, which left me feeling even more bitter and resentful than when I fell asleep. I know I shouldn’t have stayed upset, but when I feel like my emotions are being ignored and disregarded by my family I tend to shut down and stay hurt. I hope tomorrow we’ll be in a better place, and I’m trying to find a way to see my grandpa soon because I couldn’t today.
Tomorrow morning I have to be up bright and early again to meet with an academic advisor and plan out my schedule for my freshman year. Tonight I need to look through courses the MU Honors College offers to meet certain requirements and compare them with the classes my major needs to make sure I’m on track to succeed. I’m not too terribly nervous about tomorrow’s meeting, but I want to make sure I’m as prepared as possible so I create the schedule I want and that works best for me. The nice part of taking the earliest Summer Welcome session is that once tomorrow is through, I can shift my mindset into college and away from high school to start planning for my future instead of benign stuck in the past.
“Ah, kindness. What a simple way to tell another struggling soul that there is love to be found in this world.” ― Alison Malee
How did you spend your 86th day of social distancing? Let us know in the comments below.
