The first week of classes for the fall semester has been interesting and long. I made the decision to take 16 units this semester, including serving as editor-in-chief for Talon Marks this semester.

I learned quickly that while that was a commendable goal, it was not realistic in any way.

The first week of the fall semester was absolutely crazy. It felt as stressful as it would feel if the DMV was giving away free money. Lines everywhere you look, tempers rising, and at no matter what time you went, it seemed like people continued to show up.

Even the professors seemed unusually stressed. A student asked a teacher if he knew where a specific class was while coming out of the library and the professor stopped, and looked so frustrated that the student said never mind and walked away.

It was like ants at a picnic on campus during the first week of class.

In one of my classes, the instructor gave a student a verbal lashing for being late on the first day while that same instructor showed up to class a few minutes late.

It was obvious that it was the first week of class. Students scrambled to find classes sitting in on classes that they were not even enrolled in hoping to catch a break.

A girl even asked me what my major was. I responded that my major is Journalism, she jokingly offered to give me money to drop the class since she held the next waitlist spot but the class was full. I declined but felt horrible about it.

Even though I do not have a car, I noticed a tension-filled back and forth battle in the parking lot as people all but got out of their cars fighting over parking spaces.

It was like a battle royal wrestling match in the parking lot the whole first week of school.

I set a new goal for myself as a returning student which I hoped to start working toward accomplishing this semester. That goal being taking only classes that I need to graduate.

Mission failed.