This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at U Penn chapter.
1. The little messages scratched into the wood of the study cubicles
Maybe they are illegal, frowned-upon, and sometimes ridiculously profane, but sometimes they are absurdly profound. Maybe you’ll find your next life mantra amidst your late night study session–so next time you’re hitting the grind, don’t forget to look up and read the writing on the walls.
2. The Falling Leaves
This might be too late, but we only get these kind of colors once a year before the entire campus turns into a giant brown slushie that is far from instagram-worthy. We’re so busy putting our heads down, our earphones in, and our sunglasses on while we trudge on to our next class. Locust walk is famous for its beauty; take advantage of the fact that you get to walk it everyday.
3. The Families/Normal People that use the campus as a sort of park to take their morning walk
Again, random, but when we see little kids using the button as a slide or two people using College Green for a picnic site, we are reminded that there is so much more to life than school. There are real people doing real things. It’s sort of taking a trip into center city and seeing that there is a life outside of the bubble we confine ourselves to, except this time the people come to us.
4. The Security Guards
Even if it’s just a quick “thank you” when they take your card, it’s nice to acknowledge the people one the other side of the desk as the people they are. Learning names goes a long way too. It also keeps you form having to pull out your Penn card every time you enter the building. You get to reach that sort of level where you order “the usual” at a food truck.
5. The Present
Seriously. I think we get so caught up in deadlines and workloads that we forget to be there, present, in time, right then. This semester has already flown by. In just a few short months Juniors will be feeling like they are getting “over the hill” and Seniors are going to start getting their first taste of Senior Spring. It goes by so much faster than we can register, and though we know that, and though we’ve heard it a hundred times, we never do much about it until we realize that once again, time passed us, and it’s too late.