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<p>One. More. Semester.</p><p>Here it goes. I start classes on Tuesday, which means I need to buy some notebooks and pens, I suppose.</p><p>My break ended up being extremely relaxing &#8212; maybe too relaxing.</p><p>Every night when I go to bed, I tell myself I&#8217;m going to get my sleep schedule back on track, and then every morning, in my half-awake stupor, I tell myself I&#8217;ll try again tomorrow.</p><p>Regardless, believe it or not, I&#8217;m very excited. I&#8217;m excited for every single one of my classes, and I&#8217;m excited for that feeling of &#8220;first day of school.&#8221;</p><p>I realized that feeling hasn&#8217;t changed much since my first first day of school. Sure, my mom isn&#8217;t putting me on the bus for the first time and holding back tears. But there is still always a certain feeling that comes with starting a new educational endeavor.</p><p>I also realized that this might be the last time I feel that feeling, barring following through on my vague desire to go to graduate school.</p><p>It&#8217;s funny, though. At this point in my undergraduate career, nearly all of my professors are instructors that I&#8217;ve had before, many even more than once, and my classmates are also rarely unfamiliar. But that fresh feeling at the beginning is always there, and I expect it will be there next week.</p><p>Maybe it&#8217;s just me. But it&#8217;s a very pleasant feeling.</p><p>I guess it&#8217;s something like what people feel after New Year&#8217;s. I&#8217;m not one to make New Year&#8217;s resolutions because it just never really occurred to me (I like to set goals all the time) but I don&#8217;t think my first-day-of-school feeling is dissimilar.</p><p>At the beginning of the semester, it&#8217;s easy to tell yourself, &#8220;I&#8217;m going to get all 4.0s this semester. I am going to do all of my homework the day it&#8217;s assigned. I&#8217;m going to sleep like a normal person.&#8221; I kind of ride on that feeling of perceived future productivity.</p><p>Granted, this has evolved from say, my first day of fourth grade, where the excitement stemmed from the fact that my new teacher&#8217;s classroom smelled like licorice, leading me to believe that she was one for giving out candy. But it&#8217;s the same idea.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Toni Pennello</p><p>tpennello@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Toni Pennello is a Wilkes University senior who works in the Times Leader newsroom.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

College Life: First day of school still brings fresh feeling