As you know, I will be traveling to Harding University (my alma mater) tomorrow for the annual Spring Sing. Spring Sing is a production that the school puts on every year. I explained a little more about it in this post from last year. Last year Pearson and I both went and it was a glorious weekend. You can read all about that here. This year, Pearson can’t get away from school so it’s just me, but I am still super excited. I will be staying with my BFF (aka my Maid of Honor, Ashley who I’ve talked about before, several times, and I made her a coffee mug) and her husband.

Me and Ashley on her wedding day 🙂

So I thought it was appropriate today before I leave to write an open letter to Harding and talk about all the reasons I miss it. Don’t get me wrong, I love my life now. I know you have to grow up and move on and I wouldn’t change any of my life. But I still miss my college experience. So here it goes (fair warning, it might be a rather long letter).

Dear Harding,

Thank you for being what you were to me and to so many students over the years: home away from home. We were young, on our own for the first time, and very impressionable. You were a safe place. Some people said you were too safe and didn’t prepare us for the real world after graduation. I disagree. You didn’t keep any secrets. You simply made the transition from high school to real-life a little easier.

I miss your safe atmosphere at times, but mostly I miss the people and opportunities that made you up. I miss your social clubs. Especially Chi Omega Pi (naturally). I miss the sisterhood I had in this club. I miss club week, functions, beauing, Spring Sing, and even bi-weekly meetings. I miss seeing all my sisters all the time and having that bond.

Spring Sing 2009 🙂

I miss dorm life. I miss living in one building with hundreds of girls in the same boat as me, and, for the most part, with the same christian values as me. I miss being an RA (resident assistant) and being able to help residents with anything from checking into their room to boyfriend troubles. I miss the sisterhood of the RA’s. We had to deal with a lot of not fun stuff and we bonded over that. Not to mention the training we had to endure together. I miss being tight with the dorm mom and deans because of my RA position and knowing what goes on behind the scenes to make dorm life so great. I miss staying up late with my roomies being ridiculous, laughing, and filling in our notebook of absurd quotes! I miss cooking with and for my roommates (and receiving the same favor) and doing the “awkward kitchen dance” in our little, poorly laid out, dorm kitchen.

Me and my beloved roomies!

And my other roomie pretended to kill me 🙂

Believe it or not, I miss classes. I miss how kind and helpful the teachers always were. I miss the small classes and how I always knew my classmates so well and we helped each other as well.

Also believe it or not, I miss Chapel. I miss coming together every day with the whole student body. I miss the unity of the school and the fact that the whole school experienced the same thing that morning. We all heard the same announcements and jokes and we worshiped the Father in the same way. I miss the hilariously awesome student announcements every Thursday. I miss “Cliff & Clax.” I miss fighting the crowd to get a chicken biscuit after chapel.

I miss the beautiful campus and how it changes but remains just a gorgeous with every season. I miss the infamous swings on which I had many deep conversations with my then-boyfriend, now-husband. I miss that anywhere on campus was just a relatively short walk away. I love that there were always things to do on campus. There were always movies shown on campus on the weekends, there were so many great concerts and fun festivals on the front lawn.

Just a portion of the lights on the Front Lawn at Christmastime

I miss the student center. I miss walking around and almost always seeing a friend because you know practically everyone on campus. Even going back last year we kept seeing and being stopped by old friends in the stu. I miss hanging out in the stu and looking at the time, realizing you were there for much longer than you meant to be. I miss checking my mail and getting so excited over a letter, let alone a package!

And lastly, I miss the community Harding provides. The way the entire community comes together in the midst of tragedy is beautiful. I love that the community is still around me. If I meet a fellow alumni now, we already have so much in common. We have so much to talk about and there is a bond that nobody can describe.

So thank you, Harding. Thank you for making my time in college the best of my life. I miss all these things about you, but I love that I can look back and remember the good times and that I am still so close to so many of the wonder friends I made thanks to you.

Love, a somewhat nostalgic former student

For those of you who stuck with me to the end, thanks you! And I apologize it this was too sappy or boring if you didn’t attend. What do you miss from your college experience?