Today, like the past couple of days, has been spent almost entirely at the computer lab. Not just because I need to use a computer and my laptop is still in repair, but also to escape the heat. You see, it has been really hot here lately and my room has become unbearable during the day. And the computer lab? Is air-conditioned. The computer lab is on the other side of campus (that I live on), and so I have been spending quite some time on campus, studying, eating, walking around and riding my bike.
I had hardly ever been here before I moved on campus, because it is the sciences campus and all my classes took place downtown. So even now that I live here, I usually just walk to the bus stop to catch the bus going downtown. I have gotten to know the campus a little better, though, knowing where all the important buildings are, and I don’t get lost in the concrete jungle anymore.
Taking classes in the downtown part of the university is different from the sciences campus. Mostly because there is no downtown campus. The buildings are all over the old part of town, and we college students share the area with tourists and shoppers alike. Everything is more spread out, and there isn’t much of a community feel to the university downtown. The sciences campus is an actual campus, though, and all the buildings on campus are university-owned and used by various departments. And whenever I go places during the day, the campus is crowded with students, walking or riding their bikes to classes, to the cafeteria, etc.
Not only have I been taking classes downtown, I have not actually taken a class since the fall semester, and I have not taken a mandatory class in over a year. I wrote my thesis at home, and have studied for my exams at home and in the library, so I have spent very little time in the actual English & Spanish department buildings. I have not felt very student-y in a while.
And today, riding my bike across campus, carrying a backpack full of books, studying at the computer lab, eating at the cafeteria, I just felt so much like a college student. There were so many like me. I was by myself and I knew I was not one of them (a science major) but at the same time I felt like one of them.
In just 15 days, I will be taking my very last exam, after which I will be completely done with anything college-related, and I will no longer be a college student. I will have to move out of student housing, find a job, and start living like an adult. Until then, I will be cherishing every single one of my last days as a college student.
What do or did you love about being a college student?
This makes me wish I were still a student! I love your photos, they’re always so soft and vintage feeling. And your yellow toenails are fabulous :)
Ah, reading this really made me miss my College days…. the good thing is: I work on a College Campus, so I still get the ” college feeling” every now and then, when I walk on Campus :)
See, studying at uni wasn’t super ‘collegey’ (I know, that sounds ridiculous) – because you went to a class, maybe studied at the library or something similar, went to another class and came home. I think there were a few times where I felt like a student, but for the most part.. it was just like a job!
Wow, I’m not used to a computer lab with that many windows…probably because my university computer lab was in the basement. The cafeteria looks awesome!!!
What a beautiful blog you have here!
Ooh, this made me sad that I’m already out of school for the summer! My uni campus in Maastricht is spread out over the entire city so there’s not a very colleg-y feel to it. But I’ll be in Sweden as of late August and the campus there is just one big area of All Uni Related Things so it should be interesting whether, as you say, that will actually make me feel more like a “real” college student and less like just another girl living and studying in some city.
Also? I LOVE your bike for its very Dutch, vintage-y look and its amaaazing color. :)
Even though I am still a student, I don’t really get that campus feeling anymore because my current class is online. However, I will be heading to the main JHU campus in Baltimore for a compressed course next week. I am pretty stoked about it!
I miss the flexible schedule – having an afternoon off in the middle of the week, or a free morning to get other errands done. Now that I’m working full time in a 9-5 Monday thru Friday position, my only free time is on the weekends and they fly by!
I also miss my History classes. I wish I could afford to take some graduate level classes but they are so expensive.
PS – it’s been very hot here too – 103 degrees last week!
just wish I have laptop and internet during my college days.
guess my life would be easier than going to the library searching for information and typing it for several times because of wrong spellings. :(
college days….