As I reckon with the reality of my upcoming graduation, I’ve taken the time to wander down memory lane and reflect on my time at the University. There have been so many transformative opportunities, through my clubs and leadership endeavors, my research, and the friendships I’ve nurtured. But to really submerge myself in the past, I’ve taken to stopping around campus and tallying all the different things I’ve experienced in these places which are now dear to my heart. This is the first part of the places I have to say goodbye to.
- The First-Year Quad
This was my home for my first year on campus. I remember moving in on my first day and feeling so, so excited about the looming future full of possibilities and not knowing what it could begin to hold. Although I had to say goodbye to my parents early on, my little brother was staying nearby at my grandparents‘s house and visited a couple times: walking through the campus I was just starting to know, I already felt so adult and older than my high school self. In the center of the Quad, underneath the pavilion and shielded from the rain (but not really from the gusts of wind), I remember bonding with newfound friends while doing work in the evening. There’s a tree near the entrance to Tiernan, my first dorm, which I climbed into to surprise friends when there was still foliage to shield me. During orientation, I remember sitting under the prettiest tree to watch Interview with the Vampire with one of my newest friends; hosting RHA events in the center of the Quad, covering the sidewalks in chalk and meeting people; my RA orientation class in Gilbert; hanging out in lounges after a long day and doing the NYT mini games; making some of my very best friends during ResLife orientation sitting on the grass; seeing my upperclassmen friends come over the bridge from my window; late-night tea and chatting sessions in the shared kitchen; getting to know the best spots across every building through study sessions with my friends in various lounges.
2. The Starbucks lounge
For the first three years of my college experience, the Starbucks lounge in Wilson Commons was the ultimate center of spontaneous socializing. Whether sitting down to chill during an awkward gap in my schedule, eating lunch with friends and catching up, or blasting music in my earphones to drown out the chatter and being really productive, it seemed that everyone I knew was always either in the lounge with me or passing through. I remember bonding over weird coffee orders, taking so many iconic BeReals, late-night journeys to use the printer there, and when they changed the furniture and we all rioted until we realized how comfortable the new options were. The lounge remains THE spot for 1 on 1 meetings, from club officer transition meetings, sessions designing flyers for our events, or working on final papers together and giving peer review (like I did with my classmates for Ancient Philosophy – Love and Friendship), and even meeting with my team to discuss our strategy for advocating for research needs on Capitol Hill through the Council on Undergraduate Research’s Scholars Transforming through Research program.
3. Eastman Quad
The place where I’ll take at least half of my graduation photos. Eastman Quad really changes with the seasons, from gorgeous shades of orange and gold in the fall, to soft, leafy greens in the summer, to a blanket of white snow in the winter. I have memories of laying here in the summer after a day inside the lab, and seeing the Meliora letters make their way out during each Family/Alumni Weekend in the Fall, and each Commencement in May (sometimes getting rearranged by pranksters). My freshman year, I climbed up on the letters to look up at the dome of Rush Rhees; I’ve also been out on the Quad in the dead of night after watching movies with friends, and seen the wildlife that comes out to play in late Spring (mostly deer at 4 AM). I’ve seen the statue of George Eastman get dressed up for various traditions, considered starting a secret society based on the Meridian at the center of the Quad, and given almost countless tours to prospective students that end here. And of course, Eastman Quad is everyone’s favorite place to gather and soak in the sun during the first few nice days of the semester.
4. The River Trail through campus and GVP
If you’re brand new on campus like I once was, strolling along the Genesee River Trail is a great way to get a sense of where everything is. After Candlelight Welcome Ceremony on Eastman Quad, probably my second day here, I made a friend and we decided to go walking along this path after dark. Neither of us really knew anything about anything: we went below the bridge behind our dorm, traveled along past the Interfaith Chapel, gazed down at the river at the next bridge, and kept on walking into Genesee Valley Park (not technically part of the University, but right there) where we found ‘The Antler,’ some winding wood you can climb on at the opening of the park. I went on to walk this path late at night during freshman and sophomore fall, as well as relaxing strolls with my roommate on nice days this Spring. There are trails to run (if you’re feeling ambitious) but all I ever did was take long walks by the Eerie Canal; there’s also a big pavilion where all the academic departments hold end and beginning of year events. My freshman year, there was the new member event for my theatre group where I met so many of my future dear friends, and now I’ll attend senior events to give us Writing Fellows graduation cords from the Writing, Speaking, and Argument Program before they send us off into the great unknown.
5. Carlson Library & Hutchison Hall
Another throwback to my first year: Hutchison Hall was the site of my early science classes, with Bio 110 and 111 along with my Organic Chemistry labs. Later on, I took Inorganic Chemistry and Molecular Biology is some of the smaller classrooms, had meetings with faculty for office hours, and recitation prep meetings with the professor I was a Teaching Assistant for. I got my first TA rejection after an interview here, but led review sessions for a class I got accepted to TA for a semester later; I went to Chemistry and Biology Department happy hours here with my faculty mentors, and even participated in a secret Chemistry society meeting for Grignard’s birthday. In Carlson Library, I remember crashing here on the upstairs couches every other day between my bio and orgo lectures to do philosophy readings, freshman year orgo get-together before class and working on the study questions together, writing out my study maps on giant whiteboards until every inch was filled with marker, and review sessions in the basement including caffeine pills and human pyramid stacking. I also held office hours here for various classes, hung out with my friend Wendy between our shared tour guide shift and bio 111 TA meeting, ran into so many friends working on cool things, and got to see Studio X grow over the years. Lastly, I remember finding the Organic Chemistry shelf by accident, and using the books I found there as references for all my Chemistry lab reports that year without having to use the catalog.
But wait! There’s so many more memories! Tune in next month for Part 2 😉