By Allison Mudge

As thousands of Northeastern students prepare to set off to enter the real world for their cooperative education experience, just as many are gearing up to make their return to classes for the remainder of the summer months.

Students said their return to classes or their upcoming ventures into the workplace are welcome changes.

“You don’t really appreciate what you’ve been doing for the past six months until you’re a few weeks into the next six months,” said international business major Matthew Butryman, a junior preparing to return to classes.

During classes, students always have schoolwork hanging over their heads, said English co-op advisor Pamela Goodale, who also advises a third of the communications majors. Students who work normal business hours on co-op have free nights, but their days are booked.

“It’s a trade-off,” Goodale said.

Not all co-op students work regular daytime hours, however, including Grace Kil, a junior nursing major.

Kil assists with tracheotomies at her co-op job in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and works 12-hour shifts three days a week. The 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. graveyard shifts are the worst, she said, but said there are upsides to working strange hours.

“You should see me walking after the last day. You see me whistling and strutting down Longwood Ave.,” she said. “The ratios of three days working and four days off lets you get so much more done. When you work five days there’s hardly any time for errands or things like doctor