Everyone says you meet your lifelong, best friends here at Bryn Mawr. I attended a virtual send-off party in August with many BMC alumni, and one alumna (Class of ‘52) wrote in the Zoom chat “Bryn Mawr friends are everywhere and forever.” Here I am, a first year awaiting my arrival to Bryn Mawr, and an 89 year-old tells me I am going to meet my lifelong best friends at the place I have been waiting six stress-inducing, COVID-filled months to attend. Always listen to your elders, especially those that are Mawrters.
The COVID-19 pandemic has allowed me as a student at Bryn Mawr to focus solely on fostering genuine, empowering friendships with other students. Some students found it hard to meet new people this semester upon arrival to campus; however, the isolation that this pandemic has created forced me to reach out to those I could connect with in person. I pushed myself to reach out to as many people as possible, as I, along with my fellow peers, were isolated in our homes this past spring and summer.
Following Bryn Mawr fall quarantine, my semester turned into one filled with afternoons picking flowers, nights watching movies with goodies from the Saturday farmer’s market, tea time with friends, and exploring the hidden architectural gems of campus at all hours of the night. This semester is different than any other semester, but I am still getting the Bryn Mawr experience. If anything, I am becoming acclimated with the school even faster than my first-year predecessors because of the greater amount of time I have spent on campus.
Some people may be frustrated by the social limitations of being a college student during COVID, but I try to twist the situation and put it in a positive light: just like you can’t love other people until you love yourself, how will you love the world around you if you don’t love the place you call home? I have gotten to know Bryn Mawr — its campus, its people, its culture — quite well this semester even in the midst of a global pandemic. This only makes me more confident that when the world does start to open up, I will have the structure in my life at college to go explore it.