But make sure the shoes match the girl.

I spent the night before the first day of classes trying on shoes.

I guess every first day of school is the same...try on outfits...break in the backpack...set the tone for the year.

So I tried on a lot of shoes.

When I woke up and put on the sneakers I'd picked out, custom orthotic inserts nudging my feet into position, I felt old.

Then I realized I was nervous.

I'm sure everyone was a little bit nervous.

• freshmen worried about finding their classes and questioning whether ten minutes *really* was enough time to get all the way across campus, even though the RA was really confident it would be fine
• professors jittering as they look over introductory lecture notes, preparing to explain that while the syllabus looks overwhelming, the class is awesome - don't drop it! - and wondering if anyone actually paid attention behind the sea of laptops
• staff, used to the light foot traffic of the summer, anticipating a whole new ball game
• and, of course, me, returning to a campus I knew ten years ago, spending this same morning trying to memorize maps (or at least fold them small enough to fit in my pocket) hand-drawing my class schedule, all from the comfort of a dorm room aglow with the new, exciting Dell desktop's fancy flat screen and daydreaming about brilliant professors and potentially cute TAs.

So while I pondered my shoe choice (Is it worth making this fashion error? Can I just suffer the heel pain and buy some Advil?), I realized I still had the same thoughts and fears.

• How long does it take to get from the commuter parking lot to campus?
• Do busses run regularly?
• Do I even know what busses to take?

Turns out it's not all that different this time.

And I was still daydreaming of brilliant professors and cute TAs.

I decided against the sneakers. I mean, it couldn't be that bad, right? It's only been about seven years since I left studies completely. I'm still up on pop culture. (I bought a Ke$ha song the other day!) My sister-in-law just gave me SillyBandz from Disney World! (Should I wear them???) I'm *sure* I'll go to class a little hungover sometimes.

In the end, I wore flip-flops.

(They had really good arch support.)