It’s been approximately 233 days since I moved back home from college, and I’ve never missed campus life more. When I started my freshman year last fall, I knew immediately that I picked the perfect school, and that University of Delaware would become my happy place. Because of that, March 13, 2020 is a day that I’ll never forget. In a matter of minutes, I went from happily inhaling a giant plate of nachos at Klondike Kate’s to packing up my dorm room and saying good-bye.
As I reflect back on my freshman year, sometimes it feels like a dream, like all the amazing memories I made are just figments of my imagination. At the time it all felt too good to be true, and as more time passes since I left, that thought seems more likely to me. Every girl wants her idea of a “perfect” college experience, and that’s what I had. It wasn’t “perfect”, but it was everything I wanted and more.
The list of things that I miss about UD grows every single day. Of course I’m sure that there’s certain things that every college student living at home misses about normal life. I would do anything to be in a 95 degree frat basement right now screaming the words to “UCLA.” But there’s more than just the party scene (but don’t get me wrong, like I said, I still miss that like crazy too).
I miss staying up until 2am on a random Tuesday with my roommate, laying in our basically-connected beds, eating Easy Mac and watching TikToks. I miss the sunny walks on the Green after my last class of the day. I even miss hearing the Memorial Hall bells go on for what felt like forever.
The food at CR that I would call my mom to complain about? I miss that too. Same with taking the bus to go visit my friends on North Campus, (East Campus will always be superior though, sorry not sorry!) whenever I had to make the trip up for Bachelorette viewing parties; my friends would never hear the end of it.
I miss reserving a room in Morris Library just to sit there for hours with my laptop open, but spending my time laughing with my favorite people and ordering food instead of actually doing work. I miss Friday nights, when my room was covered in clothes, makeup, and hair straighteners. All of which were very necessary for me to be my friend groups’ personal glam squad, making sure we all looked our best for the hundreds of pictures we took in the 3rd floor hallway of Gilbert Hall.
Although recalling these memories can be hard sometimes, as it’s a reminder of what used to be, it’s going to make me appreciate those little things so much more. When I get back to Newark, you’ll never again catch me complaining about how the line for my pizza at Snap took forever, or how the Dunkin in Perkins made my iced coffee wrong. UD, I hope you’re ready to welcome us back soon, because I’ve never been more ready to come back to my home away from home.