The first month of school is one long fever dream. You come back from summer with every intention of being a new person: more put together, more academic, more balanced. You tell yourself that this semester, you’ll keep your planner updated, drink a lot of water and maybe even start your homework before midnight. Then, the first month hits you like a bus, and suddenly you’re knee deep in missed Canvas deadlines.
It starts with the hype of move-in. You’re hugging everyone you haven’t seen since May, yelling “we HAVE to catch up!” as if you’ll actually set up a coffee date. Every night of syllabus week — oh wait, that’s right. We don’t have a syllabus week. Madison decided to skip that crucial grace period and throw us directly into assignments. While other Big Ten schools are spending seven days half drunk and pretending to read their syllabi, we’re sitting in an Ingraham lecture hall watching a professor breeze through 50 powerpoint slides as if we didn’t just spend the summer forgetting how to string together a coherent thought.
This lack of a buffer sets the tone. Enter: the infamous bar raids. Nothing sums up the first month of school better than standing in a packed bar around 11 pm when the lights suddenly turn on and the cops file in. Drinks are abandoned and everyone goes into survival mode. One second you’re taking shots with your friends, the next you’re trying to make your way to a “hidden” corner of the bathroom that may or may not even exist. You swear it’s the last time you’ll go out until you’re 21, but by the next night, you’re back in line, praying your ID holds up and acting like the whole thing wasn’t just a near-death experience for your social life.
Somewhere in this mess, you still have to look presentable. The first two weeks are a parade of jeans and tank tops, sundresses layered with a cute jacket and your favorite pair of sambas. You spend an embarrassing amount of time coordinating outfits, posing in the mirror and convincing yourself that, yes, this top is worth being slightly cold for. But as the month drags on, the facade cracks. Suddenly, you’re showing up to lecture in a sweat set with your messy hair in a claw clip. The transition is gradual but inevitable, like the weather itself shifting from summer warmth to the kind of wind that makes you wonder why you chose a school in Wisconsin.
Academics don’t get easier either. The first round of exams sneak up around week three, and no matter how many times you check your calendar, it always feels like a surprise. You sit in College Library pretending to “review lecture slides,” but mostly just scrolling on your phone and eavesdropping on the people next to you. Everyone tells each other how they are so behind and failing already. Misery loves company, and in September, we’re all miserable together.
At the same time, there’s this strange optimism still floating in the air. It’s the beginning of everything; new classes, new routines and maybe even new situationships. You convince yourself you’ll wake up at 8 a.m. because “it’s only twice a week,” that you’ll be productive at the Union (spoiler: you won’t), and that the guy who bought you a drink at Wando’s is actually going to text you back. You ignore all evidence to the contrary because, hey, it’s still early.
By the time October rolls around, the fever dream starts to break. You can finally breathe without feeling like you’re in a spring. The bar raids slow down, your Canvas-to-do list becomes a little less shocking and you stop pretending you’ll keep up appearances for your 9:55 lecture. The sweat set becomes your second skin, and honestly, you don’t even care anymore. The first month isn’t about balance or discipline, it’s about survival.
So, the first month of school is messy, exhausting and a little bit delusional. It’s a blur of energy drink fueled nights, half-hearted study sessions and weather whiplash. It’s unsustainable, but that’s the point. September is about testing how many times you can refresh Canvas without crying and seeing just how far coffee and your headphones can carry you.
