Lena Vail Davis Hall, you treated us well. Although you were old, you stood beautifully and offered a warm welcome to so many of us freshmen girls at Samford. Here are just some of the wonderful thoughts and occurrences that came with living within your walls:
1. Smiling awkwardly with your roommate as your moms snap hundreds of pictures on move-in day.
2. Pulling all-nighters in the lobby as you hate yourself for waiting until the night before to finish this paper. But hey, at least we’re all hating ourselves together. That’s fellowship, people!
3. Getting lost.
4. Running and jumping to get on your bed because you refuse to acknowledge the fact that you need a stool.
5. Friends piling in your room to watch "The Bachelor" and screaming when the girl you can’t stand gets a rose.
6. Filing a maintenance request for your leaky air conditioner.
7. Finding the weirdest little spaces to Skype in private.
8. "Is this an actual fire or did someone microwave mac and cheese without water again?"
9. Vail Beach.
10. Raiding each other’s tiny closets.
11. “Who wants Sonic?”
12. Creepily overlooking Lovers’ Way.
13. "Please tell me that one guy is baking in the kitchen right now."
14. Pillow talk with your roommate.
15. Feeling like a major outsider walking by Eno Village every day.
16. “Who wants break-up cookies?”
17. Cuddling in twin beds.
18. Shoving personal trash in the little bathroom can (and covering up the evidence with a few paper towels on top).
19. Struggling to carry three weeks’ worth of dirty laundry down four flights of stairs.
20. Wondering how the you are beautiful chalk is still there.
21. The guys from Smith totally overtaking our ping pong table.
22. “Who wants Krispy Kreme?”
23. Loudly chatting with your shower neighbor.
24. Living in a sauna or a meat locker…there is no in between.
25. Having pet fish and plants. One time, a girl snuck a dog in…still not sure how that one happened.
26. Disregarding quiet hours.
27. Trying and failing to nap during loud hours.
28. “Who wants Momma G’s?”
29. Stepping out of your room in a towel only to hear a roaring “Man on hall!” and turning right back around.
30. Decorating your door for each holiday.
31. Sitting on top of the washers and chatting with randoms while waiting for a dryer to open.
32. Getting nervous for room checks for absolutely no reason whatsoever.
33. Hosting dance parties for anyone who was procrastinating like you. Things got weird after 2 a.m.
34. Knocking until a kind soul lets your keyless self inside.
35. Dramatically barging into friends’ rooms to vent.
36. Microwave lunch dates with your desk on days the Caf’s selection is slacking.
37. Making people go to Target with you.
38. “Who wants Taco Mama?”
39. Hearing your neighbors’ TV through the wall.
40. Those short and sweet “hey” “hey” conversations in the bathroom before your 8 a.m.
41. Doing workouts on your friend’s floor that turn into laughter and chatter, like nearly everything else does.
42. Noticing that each hall has its own distinct smell.
43. Loving those angels who leave candies outside of your door.
44. Realizing you’ve never seen that one girl on your hall in the bathroom, and it’s five months into the school year.
45. Going to your R.A. with anything and everything.
46. Walking outside barefoot and shameless to pick up your Domino’s.
47. Taking pride in your hall (4 West West is best).
48. Late night powwows.
Vail, you set the bar very high for my next three years at Samford. I know I will go back and visit my old room and still feel like it belongs to me. Your strong sense of community is unlike anywhere else. You will be sorely missed. Thanks for the memories!
