College Love on a Sunny Monday

I have realized that I spend an awful lot of time talking about the relationship and location part of my life on this blog... but the middle word in the title is New Career and what better way to approach that topic than by reaching back to the place where it all started: college. So here, for alumni and non-alumni alike, an ode to the place I called home for 4 beautiful years of my life. Dear Colby, my sweet alma mater, As spring approaches and I find myself in a highly spirited college community, I find myself missing you for all the things you taught me and the reasons I loved you to begin with. You are not a D1 school , no… and you are small and nestled away in my beautiful home state of Maine. You are not all over the news or flashed around. When you have status updates, it is about things going on in the world, your travels, or your outrage at some injustice. And for all those reasons, you were perfect for a girl with an insatiable hunger for the world and learning. I miss the feeling I got the first day I stepped foot on your campus and knew that I had found the school of my dreams. Of walking across the hill by Miller library on cold, starry nights with a long night of studying ahead and a hot coffee in hand. Of sitting on the grass when it FINALLY got warm and pretending to read while friends played Frisbee and held hands by Johnson pond. I miss chatting with professors on three hours of sleep about cyclical poverty in Brazil and feeling my heart race with excitement about the possibilities of field work abroad. Of round table literary discussions in Spanish. I miss packed ice hockey games against Bowdoin. Bonnie’s Diner for pancakes with Anna when you’re bleary-eyed before LSATS on a Saturday morning. Of going to my boss’s house for a homecooked meal and learning how to make cheesecake and cookies. I miss skating on the pond in the winter and 7 am yoga at the gym. I miss 9 pm a cappella rehearsals that were half about singing and half about sharing stories and ideas with some of the most incredible women I know. I miss sneaking champagne into the chem free dorms when a friend finished her thesis and lighting sparklers and running through the grass the night before graduation. I miss seeing the little kids trick-or-treating on campus in the fall and helping them carve pumpkins. I miss karaoke and college nights at the Blues Club. I miss having friends from five different countries sitting at a dining hall table with me. I miss working in my community diligently and feeling like I really belonged. I miss feeling inspired and empowered everyday by a passion for life and the knowledge that we can all change the world and do anything we set our mind to. I miss senior steps and Bro’s pet pig. I miss feeling lucky everyday that I was blessed enough to go to a school that shaped so much of who I am and my confidence in myself (thought it waxes and wanes as of late). I miss long talks and laughs with friends over pizza and copious amounts of wine. And I am thankful every time that I pick up an Alumni magazine that I was fortunate enough to have known people who not only talked about doing good, they have gone out and done it. Even if it means taking a smaller paycheck or being uncomfortable. More than anything, I miss being around people who understand and nod knowingly when you talk about the incredible experience you had, so often difficult to put into words. I miss feeling a part of something bigger than myself and being on the inside instead of a voyeur on the outside of something exciting like I am here. So Colby, please know my love for you is strong. And even though I will never live in a college town again where all my fellow alumni are, I will always think of you and appreciate the opportunities you gave to me. And that instead of a typical “college” experience, I feel daily that I got so much more… I had an experience where I learned til my brain hurt, pushed myself to do more for the world instead of just myself, and truly grew to realize what it is that matters in life. The road has not been straight and narrow, but you always told us that was the best way to live- to take chances, jump in headfirst, fall down and get back up and never feel like any dream is out of reach. Doing my best to continue embracing passion, make changes, and make things better wherever this journey takes me. XOXO