Goodbyes are almost always difficult, but leaving my first apartment feels especially bittersweet.Â
For just a couple more weeks, my three roommates and I will be living in the apartment we moved into eight months ago. We’ll be moving into a house with three more of our friends at the end of the summer, but I’m already missing our current place. I’ll miss our living room view of Mt. Rainier and the Seattle skyline and wish I hadn’t taken the two minute walk to campus for granted. I’m already reminiscing on the memories made in this apartment.Â
I do look forward to what a college house of seven girls will have in store. I can’t wait to read in our sun room, eat at an actual dining table, and have self-care days in our claw-foot tub. I know we’ll host parties, start a new guest photo wall, and binge shows all together. We can make a house feel more like a home than we could at our apartments.
Still, a college apartment has its own perks. It felt like such a big step-up from the dorms. This is the first time since I was four that I’ve had my very own room so I went all in on decorating it. We also have a kitchen and in-unit washer-dryer which means no more walking down long halls just to cook and do laundry. Our apartment even has a rooftop, study lounge, and gym. It feels like I may never live in such a nice place again.Â
On top of the amenities, this apartment has seen us grow throughout the last year. It’s where one of us turned nineteen and the other three turned twenty. We’ve watched shows like Stranger Things and The Pitt with all four of us squished on the living room couch. The kitchen is where we’ve cooked meals for each other every week and complained about our broken dishwasher. Our guest photo wall has sixty people and counting. We’ve hosted many gatherings from Dancing with the Stars watch parties to a 2019 themed surprise birthday. This apartment will always be where these memories take place and as a sentimental person, it’s difficult to leave it.
Moving out is also the closing of one chapter and the beginning of a new one — one that I’m not quite yet ready for. As I’m nearing the end of my second year in college, I’ve been reflecting on the ups, downs, and everything in between. Leaving my college apartment may be one of those inevitable changes, and it will always have a special place in my heart.