It feels great to be back at Eastern! For those of you who do not know me, I am the Opinions Editor at The Daily Eastern News. I previously served in this position last year, and I will serve in it gain this year.

I have to say, I was really nervous to return this year. Contrary to the last two years, things are somewhat different.

To start, I am no longer living with my former suitemates this year, who in fact are still my best friends. 

Sometimes, in certain situations, it is better and healthier for you to distance yourself in certain ways in order to salvage relationships. The girls and I thought this was a great idea, as we all know people who spend a lot of time together tend to eventually get annoyed at some point.

This year, I am living with two new suitemates, ones I had not met until I returned this year. They are really nice guys, and I think we will all three get along great.

As most of you may know, I have been in recovery for substance abuse and alcoholism.

Last year is when my substance abuse issues began consistently, and to be quite frank it was chaotic and not a great way to start off the year.

Starting off this year, with five and a half months of consistent sobriety under my belt, I feel rather confident that things will go much better this year. I realized I had a problem, I did what I had to do to fix the issue at hand and will continue to be aware of it and practice recovery.

Having such a large and supportive recovery community in Charleston has really helped me out, and it is one thing that I look forward to getting more involved in this year while I am in Charleston.

Did I mention I had a great internship this summer?

I was fortunate enough to intern in the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office in the communications department. As an aspiring journalism major, this was great experience for me, I learned so many new things and I have developed a bigger interest not just in the workplace itself but in state government as a whole.

I knew that I had to come back here with a positive attitude and hopes of having one last great year at Eastern, before graduating in May.

It is often thought that new students are the ones who are deemed to be most nervous when they arrive at school at the beginning of the year, but this is not always the truth.

After being here for a week, things have gone better than I thought they would, and I have decided that while I intend to work hard this year in bettering myself and my education, I also want to soak everything in and enjoy the time I have left here.

Andrew Paisley is a senior journalism major. He can be reached at 581-2812 or at abpaisley@eiu.edu.