I have watched all 153 episodes of "Gilmore Girls" at least three times through. This amounts to about 345 hours of my life or at least two weeks during which I lived in the fictional town of Stars Hollow.

The show revolves around a single mother, Lorelai Gilmore, and her 16-year-old daughter, also Lorelai but who goes by Rory. Following their lives as Rory goes through high school and later Yale, "Gilmore Girls" explores a variety of highly relatable themes: familial bonds, education, class, race, ambition.

When I was in high school, I could not help but be drawn to the first episodes when Rory transfers from a public school to a competitive private college preparatory school, the Chilton School. Like Rory, I transferred to a preparatory school where classes were impossibly more difficult and the students more intense. I remembered my first Spanish class when the teacher spoke nothing but Spanish for 80 minutes, and I sat in complete confusion and embarrassment. Everyone else seemed to know what was said and done except for me. Watching Rory struggle through her first few years at Chilton not only dulled the sting of my own struggles and failures but also helped me acknowledge that my pains were valid. That I was having a hard time and that, at the end of the day, it was normal and sometimes even healthy.

When I was in college, I could not help but be drawn to the episodes when Rory drops out of Yale for a semester. After a disastrous journalism internship under her boyfriend’s father, Rory loses all ambition and motivation to stay in school. She had always wanted to be a journalist but when her boss told her she does not have what it takes to be successful, Rory completely falls apart. She becomes estranged from her mother, moves in with her elitist grandparents, ends up charged with the theft of a yacht, and serves community service. As a jaded junior, I considered taking a break from school numerous times, though perhaps not as dramatically as Rory did. I still question what I am doing in life and whether or not I am doing anything meaningful with it.

But Rory bounces back. She finds that inner motivation and drive that used to define her. Watching Rory gives me hope. That I too will bounce back and find an all-consuming passion to devote myself to. That dysfunction, mistakes, and regrets are the greatest teachers in life.

"Gilmore Girls" is the best show on television, not because of its multi-million-dollar effects, or its artistic cinematography, or its sophisticated acting. It is the best show because it portrays life in the realest sense of the word. Some episodes have almost no plot points and are simply reflections of everyday monotony—Lorelai working, Rory studying. But those are some of my favorite episodes. They remind me to slow down and find comfort in the simple routine of life. To enjoy good food, good company, and good coffee. I have spent two weeks of my life with the "Gilmore Girls" but wherever they lead me I will always follow.