As my alarm sounded at 6:45 a.m. on September 9th, I felt unusually energetic, rather than the normal feeling of grogginess when waking up early for school. I sprung out of bed, took a quick shower, brushed my teeth, threw on my first day of school outfit, and jumped into my car to take the short ride to Eastern.

     When I arrived at the school and walked through the entrance doors — albeit a couple of minutes late because of the massive traffic jam outside — I was immediately hit with a vibe of feverish excitement that radiated throughout the hallways. I can only assume this came from a refreshing sense of normalcy that began to set in for the first time in nearly a year and a half. 

     At the time when the COVID-19 epidemic shut down school near the end of my sophomore year, I naively thought quarantine would not last long. To my surprise, countless hours were spent staring at a blank screen with prolonged periods of awkward silence becoming normality. 

     A month of virtual school turned into a year of being online, and soon enough I completed my junior year. Through all this time, I felt like an opportunity to become closer with my friends and teachers had been taken away from me, so when the announcement came that the 2021-2022 school year would be held in person, I was over the moon with joy.

     Now that I’ve been back in school for a couple of days, I have realized to cherish the little things in life. While waking up early in the morning and going to school may not be something that I look forward to, I would pick this option 100% of the time over online school.

     What I did not understand was that school has such a big impact on my social life because it gives me an opportunity to see my friends five days a week. I am excited to see how this new outlook affects me during my senior year, and I pray that we never have to go back to being virtual.