Being a senior in college isn’t the easiest thing in the world right now. Our main comforts are our pets we now get to hang out with at home and the knowledge that we are not alone in our sorrow. From freshman (or junior, for transfers) year to senior year, something unexpected happened that flavored each semester. Here is a breakdown of a few things that happened to the class of 2020. We hope that going through the list will spark a few good memories, but we know it may bring back some repressed ones — sorry about that.

Fall 2016

• Donald Trump gets elected as president
• Nicholas Dirks announces his resignation as chancellor
• Facebook group UC Berkeley Memes For Edgy Teens is born
• Moffitt Library reopens after renovations

Spring 2017

• Milo Yiannopoulos riot
• The “Mask Off” trend takes flight right before summer starts

Year 1: Our college lives had just begun, and we left our first year with a big taste of what the political climate is like at UC Berkeley. Things were changing for us in both good and bad ways as we took our first steps into the world of independence. Thank god for UC Berkeley Memes for Edgy Teens and “Mask Off” memes for getting us through the initial shock of bad midterm grades and election stress.

Fall 2017 

• First year of Golden Bear Orientation
• Happy Lemon opens in Berkeley
• Press opens outside of Moffitt Library
• Free Speech Week: campus confusion, pain, boycotts and cancellation

Spring 2018

• Chancellor Carol Christ speaks at commencement

Year 2: So things are starting to iron out in our lives by now, despite the debates over free speech raging around us. We can’t wait to be done with lower division course requirements, and we think we have a good sense of what we want for ourselves in the future. Overall, a solid year of realizing things, as well as a tumultuous year of things changing on campus.

Fall 2018

• Late night services return to dining halls
• Wildfires compromise air quality
• Data science program is established at UC Berkeley

Spring 2019

• A semester of peace

Year 3: A year to remember! This is the first year during which classes were seriously affected by wildfires, and we did not see that coming. Spring 2019 also hit a little different, and it was so great to be in a state of bliss as we had our share of gatherings and picnics on Memorial Glade in the sun.

Fall 2019

• UC Berkeley football defeats Stanford
• PG&E power outages
• Ann Coulter comes to UC Berkeley
• John’s Ice Cream closes in Downtown Berkeley

Spring 2020

• Start of a new decade
• Free Speech Movement Cafe celebrates 20 years at UC Berkeley
• Campus celebrates 150 Years of Women at Berkeley
• Cost-of-living adjustment protests
• Semester courses move online due to COVID-19

Year 4: Just when things were turning out great with the extra hour of sun and the excitement of graduation, COVID-19, colloquially known as the coronavirus, really had to do it to us. As we stew in our thoughts during quarantine, we can’t help but think about how much of an adventure our past almost-four years have been and how sad we are that it got cut short.

In between all of these crazy events and the many boba shops that have come and gone, we have made lasting friendships and beautiful memories cramming for finals. There was never an easy semester for the class of 2020, even though spring 2019 was weirdly chill (we clearly needed that), but we’ve come out stronger from it all. Our hearts may be weary, but we will forever be Golden Bears.