Whether you were tanning at the beach or rotting in your bed at your parent’s house in the cold, I’m sure after the first few days of break, you started to miss Columbia. I guess absence does make the heart grow fonder.

• Since September, my shower shoes and I have developed an unbreakable bond. They were there when brown water started spurting out of the showerhead mid-shower, and they were there when a cockroach crawled into the shower with me (ahh good times!) My shower shoes have been with me through it all. The week away from them alone was enough to make me want to come back to campus. 

• I missed Liz’s chai lattes!!! Is it the best chai I’ve tasted? No. Are they ever out of chai? Yes, 9 times out of 10 they are. Still, there’s something so peaceful about walking over to Liz’s before my 10:10 and hearing Claudia (she’s the best, her commitment is just unparalleled) call out in a sing-songy voice, “Iced chai latte with oat milk!!”

• I honestly really missed arguably the biggest Columbia staple: sitting on Low Beach on a sunny day (and posting a picture of it on Instagram). Who needs an actual beach when you have Low? Like sure real beaches are nice, but in all honesty, nothing compares to sitting on those concrete steps laughing and people-watching with friends.

• The thing about going home for break is that there isn’t a Morton Williams next door to my childhood home. What am I supposed to do when I have a 2 am craving for a whole pint of ice cream and there’s none in the freezer? The inconvenience was simply too much for me. I had to come back!

• Ever since that fateful day of NSOP talking to the desk attendant in Carman, my Columbia experience has been changed for the better. Pericles (aka the best security guard at Columbia!!) gives the best unprompted pep talks and really just boosts everyone’s confidence. He’s always waving to my friends and me from his place in the booth by the main gates and asking us what we’ve been up to (no matter what we answer he tells us we’re amazing and that we are “changemakers of the world”). I definitely missed his positivity over break. Shoutout Pericles!

• I feel like I’m stuck in a will-they-won’t-they toxic situationship with the JJ’s milkshake machine, and we left for break on bad terms. One day the milkshake machine decided we should stop seeing each other, and then out of nowhere they were back and practically begging me to come and see them again. I know it’s probably a lot healthier for me to leave the milkshake machine behind, but I just needed to come back and mend the rift between us.

• Probably most of all, I missed my friends! There was no better feeling than walking through the gates back onto campus and seeing my best friends who just make my Columbia experience infinitely better <3

Image via Bwarchives