Eagerness to please, anxiety to begin, and motivation to improve are the feelings many Butler freshmen have about starting up school again after their first winter break.

For most college freshmen this break was the first of its kind. With four weeks to themselves, students can focus on other things besides school.

“Break was fun,” Jessica Giaquinto a freshman pre-pharmacy major said. “I saw family, visited friends at other colleges and caught up on a lot of sleep.”

Although the break may have been a chance to catch up on some much needed sleep, some like Giaquinto thought break was too long.

“The rest was nice, but after a while, home got boring and I was eager to get back to Butler to see my friends,” she said.

Other freshmen, like integrated communications major Larry Don, agree with Giaquinto, and said although the rest was nice, they missed their Butler home and the college life.

“After New Year’s Eve, when all my friends started going back to school, I was ready to go back to Butler,” Don said. “Not to mention, I was getting sick of my parents rules and wanted some freedom back.”

With one semester under their belt, some freshmen have more of a handle of what being in college is like. Coming back from such a long break can make it hard to get back to the books, though.

“I definitely find myself less motivated because of the long break,” Julia Gresik, a freshman French major said. “Now that I know what to expect, I’m not as nervous about not succeeding.”

While Gresik and others are pleased with their success from last semester and believe that will carry over, some students came back even more motivated to improve on last semester’s performance.

“I’m not going to slack off the first couple weeks like last semester,” Don said. “I know I can do better.”

Along with changing study habits, freshmen have the option to make another change as they come back from break.

Going through formal Greek recruitment is an option that brings some students back to campus a week earlier than everyone else.

The shorter break isn’t the only thing on students’ plates as they decide to go Greek.

“At first there was more involvement than I expected,” Gresik said. “However, now I’ve gotten a better sense of what there going to ask me to do and it is not as time consuming.”

Like Gresik, Giaquinto found sorority life to be demanding.

“Joining a sorority is time consuming, but my sisters are understanding when I have to miss a meeting because of school work or a study session,” Giaquinto said.

Joining a Greek house can also motivate you to do better in school with minimum GPA requirements and mandatory study tables in some houses.

“My fraternity has study tables twice a week for two to three hours, so I’ve been doing most of my homework there,” Don said.

Whether it’s juggling school with Greek life, or just trying to get acclimated to college again after break, freshmen students are having mixed feelings.

After the first long break and formal recruitment, Gresik said she’s struggling to stay motivated after having so much time off.

“In some ways it feels like senioritis all over again,” she said.