Every college has a thing — some signature that sets it apart from other schools. There are the obvious ones, like architecture or programs of study; however, there are more subtle qualities that only a student who has attended the school for some time will understand.
For Providence College, these trademarks tend to come in the form of preppy clothing and the forever-dreaded Development of Western Civilization program. Think you’ve got PC mastered?
Here are eight signs you’ve fully adjusted as a student at Providence College:
1. You now own at least one article of Vineyard Vines clothing.
Maybe it’s a hat. Or a T-shirt from the school-sponsored fundraiser. But at some point in your days at PC, you realized that Vineyard Vines is everywhere, and you should probably own something VV. You know, just in case.
2. Golf party is no longer just a legend, but something you’ve seen with your own eyes.
By the time Golf Party comes around, you’re really glad you bought that VV dress, hat or shirt because every single person you know is decked head to toe in Vineyard Vines or Lilly Pulitzer. It’s unreal — you didn’t even know that much pastel existed in the world! You’ve heard the stories, but you always thought they were exaggerations. Turns out they weren’t.
3. Seminar has six letters. And so does torture.
You realized this after a particular grueling seminar, hiding your face behind your copy of Augustine’s "Confessions," crossing your fingers under the table that the professor doesn’t call on you. You tried to do the reading, you really did, but after awhile it went from making a tiny bit of sense to zero sense at all.
4. You don’t even need the Dunkin' Donuts camera anymore. You know when it’s prime time to get coffee.
At the beginning of the year, the Dunks Cam seemed like a godsend. You could check out the line from halfway across campus and know if you were going to have time to get your coffee fix in between classes. By the end of first semester, however, you mastered the Dunks line. You just need to see the time in order to know what the line will look like. (HINT 9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. will never be a good time to get coffee if you’re in a hurry. Never.)
5. It’s course registration day, and you have already admitted to yourself that Cyberfriar will crash.
Don’t hold your breath. It’s inevitable. The site will crash, freeze or kick you out right as you’re about to snag the perfect schedule. And your classmates will have no sympathy. At 7:30 a.m., it is every man for himself. Welcome to the 2016 Hunger Games — ahem, course registration for Spring 2016.
6. When Ray is serving French toast sticks, you might as well have hit the lottery.
Forget all those times you swore Ray food was inedible. It’s French toast stick day, and you will sing Ray’s praises for this food from the gods. All is forgiven as you dunk the sticks in warm syrup and savor their sweetness.
7. It’s 2:00 a.m. after a great Friday night with friends, and there’s no question where your late-night pizza is coming from: Big Tony’s.
The phone number is in your list of contacts, and everybody already knows how much they owe before the call even ends. And when the phone rings and the delivery is here, it’s a silent standoff as you wait for someone to volunteer to get it. You recognize the smell as soon as the pizza arrives in the room, and you all dig in as if you’ve never tasted pizza before.
8. You probably didn’t even realize it until someone pointed it out to you, but at some point in the year, you started referring to your dorm room (and the college) as “home.”
It doesn’t make sense. Home is where you go during the holidays and breaks. It’s where your family is. But PC has also become home now. Somewhere along the way, you made a new home for yourself. And there are worse things in the world than having two homes.
Now that you know PC like the back of your hand, slip on your Vineyard Vines Shep Shirt, swing by Dunkin' Donuts to get your medium iced coffee, and head to seminar — where you’ll spend two hours holding onto the memory of French toast sticks from this morning and picturing the Big Tony’s you know you’re going to eat tonight.
