On March 15th, I booked a plane ticket to Vail for spring break with my friends. On March 19th, I booked a one-way flight home, scheduled to leave the next morning. In the span of 2 days, spring quarter of my freshman year of college was postponed for two weeks, which turned into all of the quarter. I had one night to pack up my dorm as best as possible and say goodbye to my friends.

After months of quarantine, long distance friendships, and zoom classes, I was finally able to return to campus to finish packing up my dorm, and everything seemed so different.

First, the once buzzing and crowded staircases and walks were completely empty. I walked my normal route to class and could count the number of people I passed on one hand. Seeing campus empty is a weird feeling to describe. It feels like a completely different world compared to the campus I fell in love with.

Campus being empty, however, did not take away from its beauty. For the first time I was able to walk around and pass blooming trees and flowers. The normally bare trees I was so accustomed too were now bright purple, a beauty which only enhanced my appreciation for calling this place home. Those people trees showed me how beauty could grow from virus and infection. Corona emptied the campus, but it did not make it any less beautiful.

pc https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/jacaranda-trees-la/

I spent the majority of the plane ride over preparing myself for the tears that were to come when I had to shut my dorm room door for the last time, and say hello and goodbye to my best friends all in 48 hours. As I sit here and reflect on my trip back, I found that those expected tears never really came. Yes, leaving my dorm was hard, but I know that I will always be able to call this place home. Seeing my friends again brought me so much happiness that there was no room for sadness.

This trip taught me that good grows from the bad, and that the good will always be there. I will always have my friends, and I will always have my campus. So, my advice to anyone preparing to return to campus and say goodbye: it will be hard, but not as hard as your expecting. Being able to be back on campus is a bittersweet feeling, but there is beauty in every situation, even one that seemed as if it was stolen by Corona.