I know, I know, covid class of 2020 needs to shut the f up about not getting to graduate high school. Personally, I am actually glad I could Irish goodbye my hometown and high school to spread my wings and fly.
My first semester of college was fully remote and what I ended up doing with that time is a story for another day. I finally was able to go up to school in upstate NY in January of 2021 on a few stipulations.
- Everyone had to be Covid vaccinated
- Out-of-state students had to spend 3 nights in NY before going onto campus
- Nobody else could help us move in or enter the dorm building
- 2 night quarantine on campus before accessing the campus
It was definitely going to be different than a typical college drop-off experience. I went with my mom to quarantine at my Aunt’s home in Buffalo (editors note: bittersweet full circle that 3 weeks before my doctoral graduation, I spent a weekend back at my Aunt’s house <3). After our 3 night stay, we made the drive over.
I don’t know why I thought I could just breeze through a lake-effect winter with a light jacket, but I left all of my heavy winter wear in MD. I quickly realized this mistake as I had to singlehandedly move all of my possessions into my dorm building in 2 feet of snow.
My Michigan-alumni mom watched with the smug I-told-you-so grin only a mom can have from the heated car as I struggled to carry my items in. I was greeted in my room with a bag of “provisions”: apples, bananas, a loaf of bread, canned tuna, peanut butter, and chips.
The benefit of a 2-night dorm lock-in was that I immediately got to work unpacking my little room. My roommate would be arriving a day later than me, so I was excited to have a second to myself to assimilate to this new environment.
About 30 mins after my mom left, I decided to Facetime my roommate to show her around. In my infinite wisdom, I decided to leave my room to show her the shared bathroom and kitchen. Of course I left my room without any shoes on (?), no mask (BIG no no), and without my room key. And of course the room locked behind me.
The cherry on the cake there was that my RA hadn’t moved in yet, so to get the lock-out key, I had to walk across the quad shoeless to another building to get the key there. In the 2 feet of snow.
I have so many great, nostalgic stories from this time of my life. I look back on it so fondly. There were a lot of rules we had to abide to and ultimately tried to break as often as possible.
- Weekly covid testing by spitting your morning breath spit into a tube. If you tested negative or forgot to test, you were not allowed to leave your room for a week.
- No eating in the dining hall, have to bring all food back to the dorm.
- Sign up for a 30 min time slot at the gym and had to sign up for specific machines to use
- Only lab classes in person, everything else online
- Not allowed to go into anyone else’s dorm room or building
Some of the fun workarounds we found included hosting parties in academic buildings, sneaking between dorm buildings, and going to the most fun house parties since all the bars were closed.
I look back fondly on the baseball players in my building throwing snowballs at my window as they walked by. Going on long walks in the cold because there was just nothing else to do. Raising caterpillars into butterflies in a little net in my room and releasing them at the pond. Passing my organic chemistry and bio classes with flying colors because I am a very dedicated, focused, and diligent remote student…
So while it was a really weird time to be a freshman, I think it was fun. If I could go back in time to this period just for 24 hours, I would in a heartbeat.