Why I've Never Had a Confident Answer to the Question "What year of school are you in?”
I distinctly remember standing in a big circle on the first day of ultimate frisbee practice during my second year of college, the fall of 2019. I arrived late after a late afternoon class and heard the intro name/class year/hometown/fun facts and momentarily felt a bit at ease because maybe I'd scape free of this semi-awkward introduction. Of course, the frisbee community is far too warm to ignore late-comers. After a rapid internal debate as my eyes scanned the 50-person circle, I spoke up, "my name is Claudia, I'm a junior," and got some feedback from friends that I played off with, "I know, I'm still getting used to it." It was awkward telling the truth, but not doing so didn’t settle well for me either. Through experimentation, I've learned to state that this is my x semester or year at UVM, rather than use a title such as “sophomore.” Given the former phrase, I am able to answer the question, “what year of school are you in?” in the most simple