Can I just say how happy I am to be back on campus at UT? I mean, ever since first grade, I’ve always been the “I-love-school!” kinda kid. But if I’m being completely honest, college has put a damper on that kind of enthusiasm. Don’t get me wrong – I still love school, but that love now coexists with a host of less positive feelings. Stress from the onslaught of work, dread from the knowledge that I’m getting closer and closer to being shunted into the real world to be a real adult (whatever that means), weariness that comes from sleep deprivation – you know, the usual. And it’s those unsavory feelings that have me clinging tighter and tighter to each passing summer.

However, this summer was the first one in a long time that I genuinely felt campus-sick (Campussickness: an emotion akin to homesickness where the patient feels mild pangs of sorrow from being separated from their beloved campus and university friends.) I had a lovely internship experience and a lovely summer, but I still longed to be back at school.  And now that I am back, I can tell why.

College campuses have a certain kind of vibe that doesn’t exist anywhere else. It could just be all my awesome friends I didn’t get to see during the summer. It could be the fact that you won’t find this many people of our age all crammed into the same area and working towards a higher goal anywhere else. It could be the fact that everyday is a little different and life never feels too routine. Or it could be all that “pursuit of knowledge” and gorgeous.

But in all seriousness, campus feels so alive. Especially GDC with it’s constant agenda of events. There’s always something going on and always something new to do.  Everyday can be an adventure if you choose. But what I really missed, and didn’t realize until school actually started, was the sense of community. Personally, I think computer science majors at UT experience a unique sense of community (that many other majors don’t) just because of the existence of GDC. It can be easy to underestimate how important the building is. GDC acts as a hub and pulls us all together to the same place, so that we’re not scattered all across campus. It does a lot to foster a sense of belonging.

Then there is always the possibility that it’s my senior year and that’s unearthing all my sentimentality… But either way, I’m glad to be back! 

Happy Friday! :) 

Meghana