Starting REAL School Again After 8 Months In A Global Pandemic

I wrote a story similar to this August, about starting online school again. It's so crazy to think that we've been doing school for almost 3 whole months now. But this Monday was absolutely one of the weirdest days of my life. I went to class. In-person. With real people. Wow. Even writing that just feels weird. Only 8 months have gone by, but it truly feels like a century. Sitting in my first-period class on Monday, I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that I was actually sitting at a desk on campus, or in 30 minutes I'd be walking to my next class. Like I said plenty of times before, COVID has changed so much that completely normal things don't even feel normal anymore. And school is no different. Having to social distance in a lunch line, and having plexiglass between us at our lab tables is only just the beginning of this new reality. And it feels like nothing is ever going to be normal again.

Right now is a huge peak in the COVID cases, which makes life and school so much scarier. Knowing that every day we are risking our lives and so many others lives just to learn in a classroom, makes me feel so uneasy. But looking on the bright side, it's been really nice to see my friends, classmates, and teachers in person, though it feels like we are on opposite sides of the earth being six to ten feet from each other. (My extremely loud talking voice has been very helpful in this situation.) I'm looking forward to the time where I get to see my classmates whole face instead of just their eyes. I'm looking forward to sitting with my friends at lunch instead of my "advisory pod". And most importantly I'm looking forward to returning to normal life.