There isn’t a moment without noise in college. I find myself in a disorganized symphony of ruckus during every hour of the day. I wake up every morning to a worker mowing his lawn before the sun even gets a chance to rise from its slumber. At first, I cursed the working man’s ability to wake before I have the ability to form sentences. Now it’s comforting to hear the hum of the man’s mower. On the hour, every hour, I hear bells from the building a little bit away from me. Once, when I was stuck in a slump from studying for hours on end, I heard a piano's melody emerge from its walls. It only lasted a minute or so, but I was fully entranced.

There are students who chatter as they walk through campus. Most of the time it'll be incoherent jumbles of phrases and sounds, but sometimes I’ll unintentionally pick up pieces of their conversation. Some would gossip, others would complain and, in moments of sacred rarity, I’d hear something oddly random or so painstakingly profound I’d have to stop and think about the information that I just heard. Other times, I'd hear something close to something that I would say. It's nice to know that there are kindred souls among people who are wondrously different from me.

Then, there are the sounds of the night life. The streets are just as, if not more, lively during the day. There is stomping of students in the room above me socializing, and the sounds of the boys' showers and neighbors who chat with family just before sleep. There's a boy who plays the guitar in the evenings. His melodies are always so sad. I think about asking him about it, but I leave it alone for the time being. Sometimes, things are better left between a man and his music.

It’s all beautiful but sad in a way.

I can’t say that I don’t miss the times when I am left alone with my thoughts. Home was always so quiet. Those moments when I can hear the clicks of my thumbs on my keyboard consume the sound of my own heartbeat, but it’s all part of the experience, I suppose. Maybe someday I’ll miss the little things that make my college experience my own.