Cristian Valentin
Opinions Editor
With the semester already half over and students speeding toward Halloween and Thanksgiving break, I thought it was a nice time to stop and think about how the semester has been so far.
The first semester of my sophomore year has honestly flown by and I don’t really know how to feel about it. The best part has probably just been being able to spend time with the friends I met my freshman year. Being away from them for the majority of the summer has truly made me realize how much they mean to me.
Another thing that I’ve really enjoyed about this semester is being able to live with almost all of my friends in the same building. Last semester I would always have to walk to Huntress to hang out with my friends, and there was no path between The Commons and Huntress yet, so it would be a slight annoyance.
Moving from The Commons to Pondside 1 has also been a huge upgrade, in my opinion. I enjoy the bigger rooms, having my own bathroom and shower and not having to deal with alarms constantly going off doesn’t hurt, either. There have been some downsides, however, such as having to walk farther to go most places, not having air conditioning and having four washers and dryers (one broken) for a building full of people. These are minor inconveniences though, and the positives definitely outweigh the negatives.
The worst part may have been the beginning of the semester because I was trying to balance too many things at once. This included attempting to do four classes while trying to be an equinox editor, which I wasn’t able to pull off like I thought I could. I then decided to drop a class and focus my time on three classes and my editor role.
My role as editor has definitely been the biggest change from last semester. As somebody who was afraid to even write for the newspaper last year, I really feel like I’ve come a long way from where I was. I also feel like I’ve grown as a writer a lot in my time just as an editor. This is because I am writing at least two stories every week, which means I begin to notice more of my mistakes (although commas still hate me).
I must admit though, I was terrified to be an editor. When I first applied for the position I was pretty confident and ready to go but then, once the interview came around, I realized the true responsibilities of the role. This caused me to stress a bit for a few hours, but then I actually began the role, got to know the staff and now I enjoy doing it. Overall, this has taught me that it’s OK to be scared when doing new things, but we should do them anyway.
Cristian Valentin can be contacted at cvalentin@kscequinox.com
