1) I’m sitting in the TV Room with my friends at 1AM, making jokes and telling stories. The rest of the hall is quiet, everyone has a blanket and their laptops, some working on homework, others playing music or watching videos. We’re all just sitting around, talking, laughing, and just enjoying each other’s presence.
2) Waking up to no alarm on a Saturday morning. The room is a little chilly, the sunlight is peaking through the blinds. My roommate has left already and I have the room to myself and can take my time getting ready for the day.
3) I find a parking space within the first ten minutes of looking. Any college student can relate. Honestly, whenever this happens, it's the greatest feeling ever.
4) Christmas music comes on the radio or is played in one of the cafeterias. Honestly, Christmas music makes me so happy and hearing it around campus, seeing the decorations start to come up, and noticing all the students starting to bundle up just makes me feel so excited for the upcoming Christmas season.
5) Running into a friend I haven’t spoken to a while. They call me from across the Union or wave on a street corner and it makes me smile seeing a familiar face expectantly.
6) I catch my reflection in a window or mirror and my outfit looks good, especially now that boots and jackets are back.
7) A stranger in a school t-shirt comes up to me and hands me free stuff. Sometimes they pass out promo codes for Lyft or Uber, sometimes it’s a bag of objects promoting their business or club, and sometimes it’s a t-shirt.
8) There’s no line at Starbucks, but the room is warm and the smell of coffee beans floats around. There’s music playing over the murmur of customers. Students sit around tables with headphones and notebooks, others sit with friends or by themselves reading. The amount of noise is comfortable.
9) I check my emails in the morning and see that class has been cancelled for the day. It gives me an hour to get work done or maybe grab lunch with a friend. Sometimes I’ll do errands like laundry or catch up on Netflix.
10) I get lost in a song. The aesthetics of the sound, the voice, the lyrics, they all combine into the most satisfying three minutes of music each time it happens. When the music surrounds you, draws you into your own mind, away from the mundanes of reality, just for a little bit and takes you on a journey.
