If you attend Bates, you are aware of how wonderful of an institution it is. The people are generally easy to get along with, the campus is beautiful, the food is delicious, the education is rigorous, and the social scene is lively. Yet, after being at Bates for a full year for the third year in a row…. I can’t wait to get out of here.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I love Bates. I have an amazing group of friends, I do well in my classes, I’m completely happy. Whenever I’m asked about my college experience, I could rave for hours about how much I love my college. But, for the first year, I desperately did not want to do short term and just wanted to get my summer started early. What was so different about this year?
For starters, the whole abroad thing is wild. As a double major, going abroad simply was not an option for me. Of course, however, like most Bates students, everyone in my friend group hopped on a plane and got the hell out of here. Not a problem at all! I wanted my friends to travel, to do what I couldn’t do. But boy did it make things weird at school. First semester, most of my female friends were on campus and we had an absolute blast. When you have a large group of girlfriends to go out with, why stay in on the weekends? Despite a little bit of drama, we had a wild time together. I missed my friends that were abroad, but I knew they were having fun away from Bates and I would see them soon. However, the transition to second semester was where things took a little bit of a turn.
I love my friends who were abroad first semester and it was so exciting to finally see them again. But now, my large group of girlfriends had dramatically dwindled down to only a few. When you have so few girlfriends on campus, there’s less motivation to get everyone together and go out. My weekends started getting slower, I started feeling lonelier, and I really missed my friends.
The lack of my friends wasn’t even the worst part though. For some reason, everywhere I went it felt as if I was seeing the same exact people. Half of my grade had finally come back from abroad, but I had still seen every other person on campus for the past 4 months. I was getting tired of seeing the same people every day and I started feeling trapped on this campus. I was so grateful to have my friends who were abroad come back second semester, but it just wasn’t the same. We had a really great time regardless, but a lot of the time I was just waiting for the days to end.
Junior year is a weird one. If you choose not to go abroad, remember that it might not be as easy as you think. Luckily, I only have three papers and a take-home exam standing in my way between Bates and hopping in my car and driving back home. Although I am desperate for a much needed break from Bates life, I know I’ll be dying to come back for senior year once the summer ends!