Being at school wouldn't usually be the first pick for how an 18-year-old would spend their birthday, but all manner of things have changed during COVID-19.
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Being back on campus at Albury High made for an enjoyable day for Natalie Gibbons.
"It's pretty good being able to see everybody again," she said.
The year 12 cohort returned for the first time today since online learning was made the primary teaching mode from March 24.
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The Higher School Certificate exams are going ahead this year and a timetable is being released tomorrow.
Rylee Shepherd said it was good to have clarity about the HSC.
"There were so many mixed messages - it kept us on our toes," she said.
"We weren't sure if we'd be applying ourselves for potentially no HSC."
Will Bowden, 17, is among the students whose major works projects have been affected.
"I'm building a raise-able desk - so I've been coming in Wednesdays and Fridays doing that," he said.
"Our teacher is going to do the marking this year instead of the HSC markers. That will be interesting."
Albury High School principal Darryl Ward said it was time to get year 12 students back and that recent months had been stressful for many of them.
"There's a lot of information out there now around the changes to [HSC] assessments," he said.
"The biggest issue will be around HSC exams and how they go there, but I know universities are making lots of changes to access.
"Next week, our plan is to bring all year 12s back on a normal timetable and have one [other] year group a day, and then we'll wait to see what the government and the department says after that," he said.
With students coming back from Monday, Albury High returned all classes for one day per week with year 8 back on Monday, years 11 and 7 back on Tuesday, year 9 on Wednesday and 12 and 10 today.
"Each school is organising that a different way - I know some schools are going 'A' to 'K' or doing other things," Mr Ward said.
"We're maintaining social distancing in the classroom. To do that, with 1000 kids, about 250 kids is the maximum we can do each day.
"We're still open for children of essential workers and kids that need to come to school - we have about 40 of those here today - so we add that to the total."
Mr Ward said planning was happening on a week-by-week basis.
"We're building the next work package for kids to take home next week, and it's our intention to have them doing blended learning, whether it be here at school or at home, probably until the end of term," he said.
"Because some families are choosing not to send their kids to school - and they can - so it means they're on an even playing field around learning.
"Once we get back to all kids being back at school, the face-to-face teaching will be around those work packages.
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"It's more about welfare and well-being at the moment, touching base with the kids and seeing how they are."
Simon Thomson, 17, and his peers were optimistic about the rest of their school year, after some challenges with online learning.
"Routine was definitely a challenge - trying to independently motivate yourself to do a school day," he said.
"Waking up, taking three steps going to your desk everyday was tough.
"We're not too worried about the universities ... we know they will help us out."
The NSW government has a goal to return all students by the end of term two, depending on COVID-19 numbers.
