Va. Tech Classes Resume With Tears, Hugs

Julie Huff, left, and Annie Ellis, both of Vienna, Va.., and Vanessa Tumminia, right, of Hillsboro, N.J., carry their belongings into West Ambler Johnston Hall on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., Sunday, April 22, 2007. Students are returning to the campus as classes will resume Monday. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) (Mary Altaffer - AP)

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- On Virginia Tech's first day of classes since last week's shootings, Joe Merola just wanted to give his students a lecture on an equation explaining the voltage in batteries.

But he couldn't get through it. Looking out at 100 students and a Virginia Tech sweatshirt he had placed on a seat to honor a student who was wounded, he broke down.

"I lost it halfway through class," Merola said. "I burst into tears and had to turn it over to the counselors."

It was a common sentiment around campus as grieving students returned Monday, one week after Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people before turning the gun on himself.

Students and staff paused for moments of silence at the times when Cho opened fire in two campus buildings more than two hours apart. The tributes included an emotional ceremony in which a man in a Virginia Tech hat rang a bell 33 times and students and faculty released white balloons for each victim.

Then 1,000 balloons were released in the school colors _ maroon and orange _ as people stood in silence, hesitant to let the moment pass.

After a few chants of "Let's Go, Hokies," they headed off to class.

Karan Grewal, one of the gunman's suitemates this year, went to two classes Monday, intermediate accounting and taxes. He was surprised to find the classrooms almost full.

"Both of the teachers I went to, they kind of teared up at the beginning of the class when they started talking about what happened," he said. "A couple of students did, too. Then we all got together and kind of took care of business."

Paul Deyerle attended three classes, and he took comfort in the fact that his abnormal-psychology teacher kept choking up during class. Students hugged and shed tears themselves.

"Ordinarily, professors are so stoic," he said. "It was nice to see someone sharing what I was feeling."

Monday was the first time since the shootings that Andrea Falletti had been near the memorial to the victims in front of Burruss Hall, which served as a triage center for those shot at nearby Norris Hall. Faint, brownish bloodstains still marred the sidewalk.