In less than a week, I’m going to be back here. In this place, right up there.
Or somewhere nearby. I’m not sure I have any classes in Coburn this semester… but you get the idea.
I’ve written about this place once or twice. Made reference to it when I took some photos near the campus. But I’ve never come out straight-up and said it, so here it is for posterity: This is UMass Lowell, where I go to school, and this is one of my favorite places on Earth. For a year now, I’ve made my home-away-from-home here — off and on, obviously — but in six days, it’ll be on again.
To say I’m excited is pretty spot on, but let’s be honest — I’m also decently terrified, for all sorts of reasons. I’m leaving one job to make time for classes and hopefully a tutoring job here. Which is closer to my heart but admittedly uncharted territory. I’m taking a foreign language for the first time in years. French back then and German now, so not really any foundation to build off of whether I remembered any of French or not (I don’t). And I’m (an English major, remember) diving into my first Computer Science course — because I clearly don’t know what’s good for me.
Not to mention some friendships I left on frustratingly uncertain ground, and another couple wonderful people I’ve been out of touch with all summer because I’m either the worst communicator on the planet or they’ve blinked out of existence. Will need to follow up on that…
I don’t know if I’ve ever simultaneously been this chomping-at-the-bit-ready-to-go and this also-chomping-my-nails-super-nervous for the start of a school year before. If it goes bad enough, I can come cry on your shoulder, right, internet?
Header image courtesy of Navitas, which I guess is my school’s blog… newspaper… thing? I dunno. I didn’t know it was a thing until five minutes ago.