It’s 8.15 and I’m awake. There’s almost nothing good about that sentence except maybe the “awake” bit, which the truly optimistic and desperate might point out means that I’m not technically dead. But beyond having made it another day, I’ve got class in 30 minutes, the weather is drizzly and gross and things are looking bleak.

Welcome, everyone, to the harsh adjustment period between summer and the 100s of pages of weekly reading that we call school. In a few days, most of us will have gotten over the shock of a summer so quickly departed and that beginning of the year desire to pay attention in class and do our homework. And once you put down those newly-purchased pens and shiny spiral notebooks, instead locating someone to leech notes off of for the rest of the year, we’ll be here. And we’re just as dedicated as ever to giving you guys something to read while pretending to take notes on your laptop in class*.

In order to aid us in this task, we’ll be rolling out a host of new site columns and features over the next few days. From Tuesday Tracks to Sex Diaries and ever-updating info about events around the city, we’ve got you covered. Happy first day back, stop by often and we’ll do our best to keep it interesting.

*NYU Local does not technically recommend ignoring your boring Nat Sci lecture to read about a badass concert that you won’t want to miss next time around. But we can’t really stop you from exercising your own free will, can we?