Colleges and universities across the United States have closed due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Multiple states have either issued stay-at-home orders or recommended social distancing. So, college students like myself aren’t going to school and can’t see any friends. None of us anticipated being in a situation where we desperately want to be back in school, yet, here we are. I asked about 50 college students what they miss the most about college. Here are the responses:
The majority of the people I asked had variations of the same answer: Friends or hanging out with friends. In hindsight, I should have changed the question to “What do you miss the most about college, besides friends?” Some variations that I received were “my pals,” “my buds,” “the girls,” “the boys,” “my roommates,” “dinner with friends,” “going out with my friends” and “movie nights.” I wasn’t surprised by these responses because that would be my response as well. I miss my friends A LOT. College friends are like family in your home away from home. I can’t wait to see them when all of this is over and I’m sure any college students reading this feel the same.
The second most common response I received was “freedom.” College students are used to being independent and doing everything on their own. It’s difficult for those who moved back home to adjust to being told what to do. For me, at least, It feels like I’m back in high school. I can’t complain too much though because the food is much better when I’m not cooking it. When I asked one student to elaborate on missing freedom, she explained that she misses “the ability to just do as I please by getting to meet up with friends, going to restaurants or just going to the gym. I feel like I had so many ways to escape when I felt trapped in my room for too long. I’ve taken the day to day things for granted because, although there are ways to communicate in insolation, you still get that sense of being trapped.”
Here are some of the other responses:
“My senior year.”
“Human interaction.”
“Classes and professors.”
“Walking around campus.”
“Having a schedule in my life.”
“The campus, the learning environment, the people.”
“I honestly just miss being around other people all the time.”
“Lots of places to study! (Library and house away from family).”
“Having the motivation to actually do homework and going out.”
“I’m still at school for work so I really miss being around other people.”
“Structure and having somewhere to go every day. I definitely took having physical classes for granted. We don’t stan Zoom University”
I also received a few that are specific to FSU:
“Recess.”
“Going to Pots.”
“LANDIS GREEN.”
“Dirac. And Dirac Starbucks.”
“Is it weird that I miss Strozier more than anything?”
“I miss all of the pretty trees in Tallahassee and our campus.”
“Wescott, Landis, freedom, going out, seeing my classmates that I got close to.”
And my favorite response: “Everything.”
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