A Guide to the Last Time You’ll Walk Through Your Dorm Hallway

The end of freshman year feeling is like no other. As finals wrap up and move out starts to happen from the dorms, it’s important to remind yourself that while the communal bathrooms may have been disgusting, living there has been so special. 

As you walk out for the last time as a resident, you’ll find that there is silence. Silence that didn’t used to be there. 

The laughter that used to spill out from the doors, the overlapping conversations and someone yelling your name from down the hall just because they saw you walk out. All of these memories fade into the background, like it already belongs to the time capsule that is your freshman year.

So, when you step into the hallway for the last time, don’t rush. Starting now, this is the last time all of you will live like this – within a few steps of each other, doors always close enough to knock on or quick check ins in the bathroom. 

Look at the doors. Each door in the hallway holds a version of someone you met at the exact right time. The people who saw you when everything was new. New dorm, new town, new friendships that you had to make. 

Then, think about how easy it all happened. How people you didn’t know existed a year ago became people you text without thinking. The ones who sat on your floor after a night out eating ramen cups or who you always went to the dining hall with quickly became your first connections in college. 

And now, somehow, this is the last time it will be like this. 

You won’t all live in one place again. Not like this, where everything is just down the hall. The comfort of proximity, spontaneity and knowing someone will always be there will be different next year. Life will keep moving, and people will scatter into different apartments and different routines. 

No matter how close your floor stays, it won’t be like this. 

The rooms that line the hallway are where the best memories happened. That one designated room that everyone hung out in, where you laughed so hard you forgot everything else. You didn’t know those small moments were important when they were happening. 

As you walk out of your own room, take one final picture of the emptiness. Because that room held every version of you this year: the one who was nervous and unsure, the one who felt lonely, the one who started to feel like they belonged. It held your growth not only as a student, but as a person. 

When you reach the end of the hallway, stop. Let it hit you that not just the year is over, but this exact chapter of your life. The closeness you didn’t have to work for, is ending. 

The end of freshman year isn’t just about leaving a place. It’s about leaving a version of life where everything and everyone felt within reach. So, when you walk away, don’t make it try to feel complete, because it won’t. 

Just carry the people with you. The people who made your freshman year what it was. To the people of my freshman year, even if I’m not as close to you as I was, thank you for making my year unforgettable.

• college
• dorms
• lifestyle