Three cheers for the Loyola bookstore! This semester, students entering the bookstore to shell out their hard-earned cash found a shiny, new, well-organized venue for their textbook purchase.

Gone were the dreaded blacked-out prices, long lines and bookbag check of the fall semester. Instead, we were treated to stacks of textbooks, newly organized by school as well as subject, clearly marked prices and a plethora of each book on our syllabuses. The best surprises of all were the fast-moving lines and working computers. There was no longer a need to fear death by stampede when entering the bookstore, nor worry about falling down the stairs while waiting, endlessly, to check out.

Remember last semester when we arrived to find our bookstore with a whole new name, layout and selection?

Walking into the bookstore, not only were we facing the same painful prices and long lines as per usual, but we were met with a stern demand to leave our backpacks at the door.

Anyone who has ever been on a group backpacking trip will laugh at the similarity of this pile to the ones left, guarded by a lone traveler, at train stations and airports. Ah, a reminder of Europe.

Downstairs, we wandered through a maze of books, unguided by blacked-out prices and missing required texts.

Then the long wait in line, the unexpectedly large sum demanded, the fight to leave through a press of bodies to finally search out your bag in a pile of a hundred identical bags, and then leave.

What changed? It seems as if our friendly Loyola bookstore employees (and indeed, they are some of the friendliest at Loyola) have taken into account our fall-semester lament and done their darndest to make our spring semester start off bookstore-stress-free.

So, three cheers for you, Loyola bookstore.

Though our wallets were once again empty, at least we left the bookstore satisfied by our service and on time for our next class.