The Golden Days of College…Or Not Quite
It was the first week of July. I don’t remember the exact date but I do recall that I had just finished work when I decided to open my student mail. I wanted to see if the university had sent any updates on the fall semester. The previous day, a friend of mine told me that most probably we won’t have classes on ground. “There’s a chance we may move to online education or adopt a hybrid model,” she said. Hybrid meant partially on ground and partially online.
I asked, “This year is going to be different, isn’t it?” I could feel it in my lungs.
I opened my mail and I saw that I had one unread message with the title ‘Getting ready for fall 2020’. I had a bad feeling about this. My intuition was telling me that nothing was going to be the same. I started reading.
All courses will be either hybrid or online.
My friend turned out to be correct. I kept reading.
Students and instructors are required to check their temperature when entering academic buildings.
All student meetings of 11 or more attendees must take place online.
In classrooms, students and instructors must have access to a face mask, a face shield or a scarf.
All I read were restrictions due to COVID-19, a virus which completely changed people’s perceptions in less than 12 months and made everyone wear protective apparel. I couldn’t help but notice how people became prisoners in their own homes. Even though my biggest fear was that we’ll keep living this way, I was still hoping we would return back to normal.
This academic year is going to be my last at AUBG. Being a senior, I wanted to experience everything to the fullest by taking each opportunity with open hands and creating long-lasting memories that I would never forget. My mom used to tell me that moments in college were the best years of a person’ life. “When your skin becomes dry and wrinkly, and your tendons start to hurt, you will always think about these days when you were carefree and happy”, she said.
But I guess God’s plan was different. Sometimes, things don’t turn out the way we expect them to be.
And this, it referred to the whole year.
I arrived in Blagoevgrad on September 5th. It was Sunday afternoon and my new roommates were waiting for me. Three weeks before that we decided to live off-campus. The reason behind it was that we weren’t completely sure how the pandemic would develop; we considered living off-campus was the best option for the moment.
Classes began on Monday. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to have on-ground classes all day.
Professors had sent e-mails beforehand that we were going to be separated into Lions and Eagles. They had written: “Lions have to attend class in-person the first time we are going to meet during the week, and Eagles will be online. Then, during the second class session, groups would switch places.”
It looked simple but it wasn’t.
My first class started at 2:10 p.m. Just as I was approaching the building, I noticed a big white sign with blue letters on the entrance that read ‘Please wear a face mask’. Restrictions…
I put my mask quickly and opened the door. My gaze immediately went upon a two-meter high metal detector, just like the ones at the airport that we have to walk through before going further to the gate. However, this one had a body temperature scanner. Аll students’ temperature must be measured before entering class. Restrictions…
The following week, on Tuesday, I was supposed to have a rehearsal with AUBG Dance Crew — a club that I’m part of.
I asked the club’s president, “Where are we going to practice?”. We were around 15 people in the club which according to the new rules meant that we weren’t allowed to gather.
“The only option is the Sports Hall since we can’t dance in the gym at Skapto 2,” she said. “We can be separated into two groups — the first will be from 8 p.m. and the second will be from 9 p.m.”
I raised my eyebrows. I thought dancing in the Sports Hall wasn’t going to be convenient. There were no mirrors in the hall or speakers; we couldn’t see the dance moves properly and hear the beat. Still, I decided to give it a try, because we didn’t have other options, anyway. Restrictions…
When I came to practice, the rest of the crew was already there and had started with the warm-up. They were in the first half of the hall because next to them was the American football team, AFC Griffins that also had a practice session at that time.
I run the hand through my hair. I could feel the lump in my throat and how the anxiety is taking over. Was it because I was angry? Or sad? Something inside was telling me that I am powerless. All of us were powerless.
As I stood in the hall, I looked at the students in front of me — those who were trying to dance and the others who were practicing. At first, it seemed they were smiling because they were back on campus. But there was some tension in the air.
Abiding by the restrictions consistently and being cautious about what you do and who you talk to was hard and exhausting. And it seemed to me that wasn’t going to be over. At least not anytime soon.
People often call the eyes the windows to the soul. That evening, when I gazed into them, I could see that COVID-19 left a footprint over each of us. For all these months, we’ve changed and we’ll never be the same. The AUBG spirit will never be the same…
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Dessislava Lozanova is an undergraduate student at the American University in Bulgaria. Despite the pandemic, she believes that college is the best four years of her life.
