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  2020-08-27

  Returning back to school

  In the past year, I have experienced more stress and fatigue while attending virtual school, especially as I began my freshman year of college in 2020. Freshman year of college is a brand-new experience for all students, and going to school during a pandemic has changed what I thought college would be for me. I remember the exact moment when schools closed in 2020 because I was a senior in high school when the Department of Education announced that all schools need to close because the pandemic had just started making society nervous. I used to participate in my school’s music program, but when my high school sent an email that all classes had been shifted to online classes, it was a shock to everyone, including the teachers. When the online school first started, we were all unsure of how it would work, and my friends and I began questioning how we could take classes online and submit our homework. When I was a first-year college student, it has been difficult to connect to other students, because many of my high school friends went to a different colleges,s and making friends in online classes can be difficult. Unfortunately, I did not have the chance to say goodbye in person to my high school friends because our graduation ceremony was canceled. I have only gotten to know my fellow peers briefly in online classes; I learned that making friends in classes has been different, because we are only connecting on social media outside of class, and not getting to interact with one another on campus, in study groups, or at the library. Finally, most of the classes go back in person and we are able to build social relationships with others and experience real college life as a college student.