With five weeks left of my first year at Davis, I’ve been overwhelmed with bittersweet feelings; overjoyed by the memories I’ve made with friends but also sad knowing I only have five more weeks living in the dorms. While mulling over these memories one night, I realized that what I’ll miss most are the small, typically overlooked moments I’ve shared with my friends over the course of the year. Instead of feeling sad about the school year coming to an end, I’ve decided to compile a list of all the favorite, somewhat inconsequential moments I’ve shared with friends.
Study dates
Finding time to hang out with friends when it feels like you have a hundred assignments that are all conveniently due at the end of the week feels impossible. In college, there is always going to be something on your to-do list: studying, reading your textbooks, or getting ahead for the upcoming week. Instead of waiting until I have absolutely nothing on my to-do list, because that rarely happens, I’ve opted for study dates with friends as a way of spending time together throughout the week. Living on campus has made study dates at Shields Library or the MU so convenient because everywhere is practically a short five minute bike ride away. Anytime I’m feeling extra overwhelmed by midterms, studying with friends always manages to ground me and inspire me to lock in extra hard.
Midnight Adventures
Davis is a small town and it’s easy to feel bored, especially when you don’t have the luxury of a car to easily travel outside of town. On nights when my friends and I find ourselves feeling extra bored, we like to go on midnight adventures. These adventures usually consist of us walking downtown and grabbing Raising Cane’s or In-n-Out, walking around campus, or playing card games back at the dorm while listening to our favorite songs. My favorite part about these adventures is the spontaneity that comes with walking around aimlessly. Even though we never have a set plan, some of my favorite memories have been made on these late night adventures.
Sharing a meal with a friend, or two
Grabbing breakfast or lunch with friends is my go-to hangout idea. During winter quarter, I often ate lunch and dinner alone because of my inconvenient class and sports practice schedule. I didn’t mind this and usually just listened to a podcast or did homework while I ate. Now that my schedule doesn’t force me to eat lunch at 2pm and dinner at 9:30pm, I’ve scheduled standing lunch or dinner dates with friends throughout the week. This way I don’t have to worry about finding time during the day to see my friends if I’m extra busy that week, and it gives me the chance to spend time with friends who live in different dorms that I don’t get to see as often.
Looking Ahead
Part of what’s made me appreciate these little moments has been knowing that these moments are unique to my freshman year of college. There’s no rule that says you’re only allowed to get dinner with friends or go on midnight adventures as a freshman, but these experiences are pretty hard to replicate beyond your first year. Next year, I’ll be living off campus with my best friends but we’ll have different schedules, so finding time to eat together might not be so simple. Our house will only be a short 7 minute bike ride from campus, and forgive me if this sounds lazy but the idea of biking back and forth between campus doesn’t sound nearly as convenient as it is right now. Because my life will look vastly different since I’ll be living off campus, it’s forced me to practice more gratitude for the little moments that have brought me so much joy these past few months.