First day of school. Doesn’t it ever get easier? I guess it has gotten a little bit easier, but only because I have finally realized at twenty three that I am probably not the only one who feels this way. I guess I am just not the unique specimen I thought I was; I have honestly been learning some hard lessons lately. All joking aside (because I totally was joking), it’s actually not the going into a room with a bunch of people I don’t know- thing that I hate, and that used to be the part that I found to be the most nervewracking.

No, it’s the “get to know each other”-games the teacher has you do in the beginning to, well, get to know each other — and because they love to see you squirm. You have to walk around and start up conversations with random people, in Spanish, and tell them a bunch of superficial things about your life which you know they are only pheripherally listening to because they are busy trying to look like they are totally cool with the situation, plus are trying to remember the Spanish way of saying, “No, I am only studying Spanish”, and “I have been studying Spanish for the past six months”.

I am totally talking about myself here.

The worst “get to know your new classmates”-game I have ever played was one where we had to first interview each other and then present that person to the rest of the class, with all the information they had just given you. PUKE VOMIT BARF. You could have thrown me into a lion’s cage and I would have preferred that. Thankfully, that has only happened once.

But it helps to know that almost everyone around you is dreading it just as much. Also, I have gotten much more confident with who I am as I have gotten older, and that is why I couldn’t have done all of this when I was younger. Maybe I just get better with age. Like a fine pepperoni.