With new variants of the Covid virus surfacing, and the rate of cases rising again, it seems like there is possibility for virtual classes to occur again. New students may be wondering what college is like in an online format, and I’ll be honest about my experience.

In the fall of 2020 I was allowed to be on campus because I had a lab class where we needed to perform experiments in-person. There were not many students on campus this semester. Everyone mostly stayed in their dorms, and besides my lab, my other classes were fully remote. Classes weren’t hard, but it was certainly hard to find motivation or joy. I wish that I had made more of an effort to 1. Get out of my room: Ideally you should make a routine to go to the gym or go somewhere and get a change of scenery, and keep yourself from getting lazy. 2. Make social interactions: I would get a meal with a friend, but ideally you should plan remote activities to do or see what different campus programs are offering, so you don’t feel lonely. 3. Value learning: With the internet and ability to cheat right at your fingertips, it’s difficult to make the decision to actually study and try. But ideally you should remember that this education will be important for your future classes and for your career.

In the spring of 2021 I decided to stay home for the semester and take classes fully remote. Part of this decision was due to the fact that I was very lonely and bored in the fall on campus, so it was nice to be home afterwards where I could spend time with my family and hometown friends. However, being away from campus made me feel like school was usually on the back of my mind, behind everything else in life. I didn’t prioritize it or put in as much effort as I should have. That semester I took Spanish 312 which was a writing class and it was on Zoom. I felt that this was a particularly hard class to pay attention to on Zoom, because it’s not conversation-based. It’s mostly listening to grammar rules and writing independently. In these types of lecture classes it’s easy to get distracted by things going on in your home. I think it may be a good idea to take remote classes where you’re required to participate and interact with others, so you don’t lose focus.

Taking Spanish 394 with Luis has made me think about why exactly I became a Spanish major. I had never been in love with Spanish and despite a lot of exposure I had never really excelled in learning the language either. Growing up I can think of three main places my exposure came from and how each one of those affected my outlook on Spanish and the benefits of learning and studying the language in college.
My earliest memories of exposure to spanish was with my childhood babysitter Daniela who lived and helped my parents take care of my brothers and I. Daniela, who is from Mexico laid the foundation just by exposing me to the language at a young age. Although I do not remember those early days so well, I do remember when Spanish became mandated in our public school system in the third grade, I always felt like I was a step ahead in class. So to my foundation in Spanish I have Daniela to thank.
The most important and most extensive exposure to Spanish was at 11 years old, when my parents told my brothers and I that we would be moving to Seville, Spain for a school year. My brothers and I were all devastated, we loved our home in Brookline and did not understand why we were being uprooted to live in some country halfway across the world.

I am sure most of us have experienced imposter syndrome, especially if you consider yourself a perfectionist in some form or another. If you’re not familiar with the concept, imposter syndrome is characterized by “chronic feelings of inadequacy, incompetence, and fraudulence despite objective success. It’s hard to internalize success and genuinely hold the belief that you’re competent and capable” (psycom). When we have these feelings, it can be really easy to count yourself out and potentially miss out on really amazing opportunities.