As we begin our fall semester at Eastern, it is well known that our school, and the whole world for that matter, have many troubles afoot. However, I would like to take your mind off of these issues by talking about something that even among the turmoil, almost every person has thought about at least once: what are you going to wear during the first week of school? Not a very pressing issue, true, but an issue none the less.

One could go the way that I used to go, which was dressing to impress on the very first day. The pros to this are that you feel great, you give off the vibe of being put together and you may catch the eyes of some suitors. Cons to this option are that you actually have to take the time necessary to put an effort into your appearance and you turn your room into a disaster zone trying to pick out the perfect outfit. Then you worry about whether or not the patriarchy is the reason you feel the need to look nice, and no one wants to do it for the patriarchy, you want to do this for yourself.

If you are this person that chooses this route, you may have also told yourself that you would dress to impress every day, and swear that you would not touch that legging and t-shirt combination that are so comfortable. However, if you are anything like me, those comfy clothes would come out a lot sooner than you would think, which brings us to the other choice of clothing for those first days back.

One could completely overlook the “dress to impress,” phase and accept the inevitable. Admit it, everyone has come across that one day where they either slept through their alarm, or simply chose to sleep and had to pull out a last resort outfit so they would not be late for class. This outfit tends to consist of some sort of yoga pant or sweat pant and a t-shirt or sweatshirt. If you are really running late, you may just go to class in your pajamas.

The pros to this choice are that you are super comfy, sleeping in is amazing and you can run to the gym right after class if you choose to do so. The cons to this are that people will constantly tell you that you look tired, you may actually feel more tired and you might smell a little bit because you grabbed a t-shirt that kind of smells and you wonder if anyone else can smell you. Commence putting on an insane amount of perfume in between classes.

While every person will choose what suits their personality best, I did find one other option that really works. It falls in the middle of both of these options and it is called practicality. Look ahead at your schedule for the week and figure out what you need to wear in order to make your day flow by seamlessly.

For example, if you have decided you want to get into the gym 3 days during the week, then choose a time that works best with your schedule. If this time happens to fall after one of your classes, then it may not be that practical to take the time to look amazing for that class when you will be ruining your hard work an hour later.

Instead, you can dress for the gym and then plan to look nice for the rest of your classes that come afterwards. If you are going to the gym after all of your classes, you can decide whether or not you want to look nice all day, or if you would rather be more comfortable for a long day coming. Regardless, the goal should be to find a flow that works for you so that you can ensure that not just your first week, but your whole semester goes by smoothly. Welcome back everyone! Happy outfit hunting!

Alex Bonnot, senior English language arts major