Classes for the spring semester began Jan. 10 and despite the continued obstacles of the COVID-19 pandemic, students are ready to get started.

That includes Justus Lopresto-Jackson, a sophomore computer information technology major.

Lopresto-Jackson said it was nice to get back into the swing of things.

“First day of classes was good,” Lopresto-Jackson said. “Glad to see familiar faces again. Hopefully with the rise of COVID again everything can still be normal in terms of events and activities similar to last semester.”

Even with the welcome events, some students, like Katie Frankovich, a freshman communication disorders and sciences major, found it difficult to navigate a new semester.

“It was as difficult to find my classes as I thought it would be,” Frankovich said. “Overall the classes went really well, and I’m excited to see what this semester holds.”

Frankovich also said that she was “looking forward to learning new things in class and about our campus.”

Some students may view each new semester as a fresh start and may feel hopeful when getting started with each new semester.

Even though each class has a different structure, the first week of each semester looks similar to every other semester, according to William Meyer, a freshman theater major.

“I mean, the first day of any semester usually is a combination of looking around for your classes, going over the syllabus of each class, and some form of introduction,” Meyer said. “But the general feeling is that of a hopeful readiness for the new semester and for what’s to come, for some it’s the final stretch until they leave the school for good, for others it’s still a long way to go. There are definitely people dreading going back to school, but I find myself enjoying being back as attending classes gives me a structured agenda that helps my career, exercises my mind and gets me out of the house. I’m glad to be back.”

Some students may also begin to feel the pressure in some of their classes even though it is the first day of the semester. Students are getting back into the full swing after three weeks of relaxing without schoolwork.

Jonathan Coffin, a freshman pre-nursing major, said that his classes went well.

“Definitely more intense than last semester but the teachers were super nice and my classes are very interesting,” Coffin said. “I’m looking forward to learning a lot especially in my Spanish class and also just seeing everything Eastern has this semester. I feel like every new semester is a new chance to grow as a person and this is such a fun campus to do that on.”