Every alum misses their alma mater when this time of year rolls around. If you say you don't, I'm calling bullshit... Right. Now. Four years of shenanigans on an idyllic campus will give any sane person a healthy dose of nostalgia. But there's something about Trinity College in particular (read: biased, but whatever) that is undeniably difficult to get past once you've stood 'Neath the Elms and thrown your cap into the air--whether you did so last year, two years ago, or 25. So to quell your sadness, while perhaps increasing it momentarily, here's a list of the 10 things you miss most this time of year as a graduate of Trinity College.
1. Mather
I'm going to go ahead and get this one out of the way now, because as much as you'd like to deny it--it's true: you miss Mather, or at least, the ease of a meal plan. I mean, Rashima eggs and 1,000 tater tots (Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday only for those perfect little fried potatoes, if I'm remembering correctly)? Yeah, I'll take that over my sad, sad oatmeal breakfast any day. Also, the Kosher station. You're not Kosher. You're not even Jewish, but you love the Kosher station and those paper plates and that guy who serves the food and never smiles like you love a home-cooked meal.
2. The Quad
Everything about it, but especially during this time of year, when it's somehow simultaneously crisp and warm and everyone is back--ugh, it's delightful. Grabbing a six pack and playing frisbee (or if you're me, watching), creeping on literally everyone around you who you've only seen through a computer screen all summer. Basking in the beauty and shady reprieve of the Chapel. It's enough to make anyone sigh and smile.
You never thought you'd say it, or maybe you did, but either way: you miss the frats. Bad house music thumping into each basement corner and knowing every half-lit face dancing wildly around you--or at least recognizing them--is a contentedness not even your favorite bar or club can produce. Also: beer is the drink of choice at frats, and beer rocks. So in a way, frats rock. Science.
4. Fall
The way the Quad smells as that cool air sweeps over campus; soccer games conveniently taking place immediately after your 3 o'clock class lets out; homecoming--homecoming, homecoming, homecoming; keeping all of your windows open and snuggling up in a duvet to go to sleep because there's nothing better than the sound of people laughing outside your window--probably a little drunk off some Keystone or Natty Light--swaddled in blankets and Patagonia zip-ups (I'm rolling my eyes too, don't worry). But you know it's true. Fall at Trinity is delicious.
5. Sunday Mornings
Sunday morning recaps are some of the very best. Having all of your closest friends within a .5 mile radius of your bed really means something pre-11 am (or noon... 1 pm? Whatever struck your fancy back in the day) on a Sunday morning. Climbing into your best friend's bed after essentially crawling across campus, laughing about the night prior into the early hours of the afternoon: there's nothing better.
6. Goldberg's
Speaking of Sunday mornings: Goldberg's. Can I please get a ham, double egg, double cheese, with spinach on an Everything bagel? Oh, and a large hot coffee. Thanks, that'll be all.
7. Tap Tuesdays
We've all snuck in the back door to the Tap a few times--or, if you're a real badass/idiot, the window--when the line was too long. Or you did so if you didn't have an ID (hello, Class of 2020). And it was always worth it. Especially in those early days of being back on campus. Pitchers of Bud Light flow like water and you drink it like its the nectar of the goddamn Gods.
8. Dorm Decor
Okay, so I'm rather indifferent to this one seeing as every year my dorm looked like an older version of its freshman year self (complete with the same photos, American flag, and hats hung in the same order), but I know some people lived for the re-decoration process. An opportunity to start anew... or at least buy a new bedspread, which can sometimes feel like as fresh a beginning as any.
9. Closet-sharing
Boys, this one may not apply to you... but then again, maybe it does and I'm just being incredibly sexist. Either way: closet-sharing was everything in college. Don't "have a shirt" (you have 500) that speaks to what you'd like your Saturday night to hold? Just visit your friend's closet... or, if you lived on Crescent, any of the 7 or 8 friends' closets in your house. You always ended up feeling like Cher from Clueless (still with me, boys?). Now I actually have to buy my own clothes to "go out" in... which means that I'm usually wearing some type of tee-shirt that I've deemed relatively trendy. Ugh. Closet-sharing, I miss you.
10. Your Friends
No, they didn't disappear into the ether after college. But it sure as hell can feel that way. When you've lived so close to each other, often times in the very same room, or in the same house for the most impactful years of your life thus far, being a city or two--or 12--away can often make you feel like you're living on different planets. I don't know about you and your friend group, but my friends and I genuinely didn't give a damn pretty much the entire time we were at Trinity. As such, those years were the most fun, hilarious, and (now) cringeworthy of my young adult life, and I'll keep them tucked away in the most sacred space of myself forever.
