It feels like just yesterday when my best friends and I were announcing where we were going to college. The four of us had been a friend group since high school, and suddenly, we were all going our separate ways. One of us was heading to Notre Dame, another to Texas Tech, another to Texas Woman’s University, and I was going to TCU.
Before we even started college, we always talked about visiting each other at our schools. At the time, it was one of those plans that felt so far away. Now, we’re approaching our graduation from college, which is honestly crazy to think about.
Since we’re all from the Dallas area, TCU has been an easier trip, and my friends have already come to visit me twice. Notre Dame was always the harder one because it was so much farther from home, so finally getting all four of us there together felt surreal.
It was especially weird walking around a campus I had heard about for years. I knew stories about Notre Dame, had heard about her friends, and had seen pictures, but actually being there was completely different. This was the place my best friend had made her home away from home for the past few years, and we were finally getting to experience it with her.
One of my favorite parts was getting to experience a Notre Dame game day. Being a TCU student, I’m used to our own football traditions, so it was fun seeing what game day looked like at a completely different school. I even got to take part in one of Notre Dame’s traditions: Touchdown Push-ups. After Notre Dame scored, my friends lifted me into the air for each point the team had on the scoreboard. I had never heard about the tradition before the trip, so I didn’t know what I was getting myself into.
There were also little things about Notre Dame that surprised me. Compared to TCU and Fort Worth, it felt like there wasn’t much surrounding campus. I also wasn’t expecting how secure the campus would be. To drive in, we had to go through barrier arm gates, which felt so different from TCU, where people can pretty much drive right onto campus. It was interesting seeing those small differences and realizing how different our college experiences have been.
I also loved finally meeting the friends she had made at Notre Dame. When one of your best friends goes to school so far away, you hear so many names and stories without actually knowing the people involved. It was nice finally putting faces to those names and meeting some of the people who had made being so far from home a little easier for her.
Of course, we also had to take advantage and make our way to Chicago. Exploring the city with my best friends was easily another highlight of the trip. We got to sightsee, walk around, take pictures, and just enjoy being somewhere completely different together.
We quickly realized we had underestimated how cold it would be and ended up having to buy sweatshirts while we were there. At least we came home with souvenirs and a funny story to go with them.
As fun as the football game, Chicago, and everything else had been, I think my favorite part of the trip was simply having all four of us together again. College has given each of us our own lives, friends, and experiences, and we don’t get to see each other nearly as often as we did in high school. That’s what made being at Notre Dame feel so special. For years, it was just a place we heard about through one of our best friends. We heard her stories and knew it was a huge part of her college experience, but this time, we actually got to be there with her and see it for ourselves.