Learning from home has certainly been a very big change in my life. I am a person who thrives when I have everything organized. I also thrive when I have a set schedule I can follow. It took a major adjustment during my freshman year of college to try and find a way to establish that schedule when it seems like every day is different. I thought I finally had it down to a science. But then I got an email from the chancellor telling me to go back to my hometown and figure out how to do it all over again.

Although studying in my childhood room with my mom and my cats is certainly different from studying in memorial union, the biggest adjustment has been doing everything online. Most of my classes have shifted from an in-person lecture/discussion to asynchronous videos. That takes away one of my favorite parts of classes, actually getting to see other people and discuss what I was learning with them. The fact that most of the tests and quizzes are now open note by default has lessened the accountability I feel to actually sit and absorb the material. And even though it seems like the entire world is on lockdown, there still always seems to be a distraction waiting to pull me away from my school work.

With the transition to online learning, I have definitely had to focus more on prioritizing my school work. It has become much harder because instead of making the conscious decision to skip a class and stay in my dorm, it is now just a matter of clicking on Netflix instead of Canvas. I’m hoping in these next few weeks I will be able to get back into a routine and find a way to make these online classes work. However, I think that next fall I will feel a little more grateful to be sitting and listening to a lecture in Middlebush with my friends as opposed to alone in my room.