On the first day of classes, I walked to campus up to College Hill on sidewalks that had seen little shoveling or salting. On many occasions it seemed safer to walk on the plowed and salted streets, which put me in danger of automobile traffic but limited my chances of slipping and falling.

In the past few weeks, disturbing tales of sexist and racist harassment at academic conferences have been making headlines.

Preregistration for spring 2019 courses took place just a few weeks ago, a process that reminded me of the number of different online tools required to navigate my Brown education.

On my short walk to campus, I cross intersections with pedestrian traffic signals where the light has burnt out, where the light never changes and where the whole light pole has been turned to face away from the intersection.

I got my flu shot last week. The whole process was fast, convenient and entirely free — in fact, the most difficult part for a brand new student was finding the basement lounge where the shots were being administered.