As the temperatures remain high and first years have yet to realize that no one wears lanyards, it is easy to tell it is the beginning of Hamilton’s fall semester. For the sophomores, the dining hall circular tables are one of their first glimpses into pre-COVID life on campus. As for juniors and seniors, the hope for a sense of normalcy and increased optimism about the semester is evident through the smiles and positive discussions I have heard surrounding campus life. And there truly is a more cohesive sense of what the Hamilton community involves: ceramic plates are back in the dining halls, self-serving stations are returning, and maximum room occupancies seem to live in the past.
With the changes in COVID restrictions and the fully on-campus student population, there is a general positivity in the air that I think everyone can feel. In a normal non-COVID year, it is always a transition coming back from the slower pace of summer routines and getting used to communal bathrooms or roommates. There might also be some complaining about the lack of air conditioning in the dorms and need for more student parking spots, but the happiness of students helps with this adjustment. The lovely breeze I get into my third floor window certainly is miminal, but I would not change being on campus for the world.
It is evident that the opinions on the degree of COVID-related restrictions varies, with some faculty and students pushing for more or less guidelines. I heard from a professor that older faculty are worried about being in close proximity to others inside, and they fear that the mask mandate may be lifted. To be fair, the reality of the current coronavirus pandemic warrants certain constraints, and the Hamilton administration seems to be doing its best to create a comfortable and safe environment. By no means will it be perfect for anyone — there is such a wide range of people’s judgments that are constantly fluctuating as well. Nevertheless, every day we are learning new information, and I believe Hamilton is attempting to establish a healthy community in a mainly responsible manner. I see a lot of hope in our student population for a more conventional semester.
Though I say that we are moving back to pre-COVID normalcy, I have been contemplating what normal actually means. Recently, I have felt weird taking off my mask while walking down Martin’s Way or sitting at a large circular table next to my friends in Commons. Campus life during COVID has almost become my new normal, as cliché as that may sound. Yet, I believe a sense of normalcy comes from routine, and we became so used to masking up everywhere except our rooms or sitting solely in blue adirondack chairs. GrubHub Diner and socially distanced classes became part of our daily routines. Despite the shift to ‘COVID normal’ I have described, I do not believe it will take long to change this normal. First years and sophomores are already learning their way around on a less restrictive campus. Upperclassmen are slowly remembering how to self-serve at the salad bar and place their plates on the conveyor belt like old times. As students begin to settle into their academic routines, some feeling of a unified community life will certainly return.
During this hectic and happy transition back to life on the Hill, I am not only excited to experience the old ways of daily life from 2019, but for the culture that will come. There is so much possibility for novelty when situations shift, and there is an incredible shift about to occur. If the pandemic has taught us anything, as students, teachers and human beings, it has made us appreciate the present moment and live by one of my favorite sayings: “be here now.” We cannot predict the future — we never could, but I think we learned this in a very intense way. My hope is that we can take this incredibly unprecedented time to not just live each moment as it comes, but also look forward to the new rather than try to predict the return to the past.
