If I close my eyes tight and turn on music from Colbie Caillat's first album, Coco, I'm transported to my junior year of college.
Opening the door in the morning to see everyone waking up, making breakfast, Natalie and I watching VH1 music videos. Donning scarves and walking to class together. Sitting in my room on a Saturday with the window open, overlooking the little bits of wilderness on our campus, the wind blowing in through my sheer white curtain with the flower decals.
Staying up late and talking about nonsense, eating microwaveable brownies, and cutting out pictures of shoes from magazines. Giggling and plotting over my pining for a silly boy. Watching The Hills, Grey's Anatomy, Dancing with the Stars, and Top Model. Knowing who was coming up the stairs just by the way they walked.
Walking across campus, carrying books; carrying art supplies; carrying a container full of candy corn and a pumpkin piñata. Going to lunch, dinner, wherever, and admiring our beautiful campus. Raising money at the local food store for RHA on an early Sunday morning, then having the whole day ahead of me. Speed walking on chilly nights to the spiritual center for Sunday night mass. Waking up at 8am on a Saturday to tape a video for the RHA conference and having a ridiculous amount of fun with the mascot costume. Going to conference.
Driving in my car, Natalie's car. Food shopping at Stop and Shop or Shoprite and using only one cart for four people. Buying supplies at the party store for a last-minute Halloween party. Stopping at Starbucks for a pumpkin spice latte. Shopping at Target and the mall, eating at Applebees, Joe's and Panera.
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If I close my eyes really tight and put on some Mika (Grace Kelly and Love Today), I can go back to sophomore year of college.
Pipe cleaners and foam dealies. Our Disney-themed dorm room. Mystery spot on the bathtub floor. Wearing the same colors on the same day, because we're secretly a girl band. Obsessing over SYTYCD. Off-putting drippy sounds coming from the H-VAC. Creepy bugs that disappear and have us turning the room upside down. The Infamous Flood and subsequent chaos. Photoshoot with the industrial fan.
Countless trips to Alli's dorm to have unofficial RHA meetings. Grueling walks to the RHA office at 9am on Mondays. Going downstairs to watch American Idol in Dan's room. Making t-shirts for Relay for Life. Spending an entire afternoon saving the Sibling Sleepover event. Pulling off Lions Fest as the new executive board of RHA.
Always ordering too much dessert. Buying grapes for $8. Mistake bites. Microwaveable Pasta Alfredo. Questionable microwaveable Thai meals. Trips to the convenience store all the time because it was so close. Watching American Idol. Imitating car commercials. The pre-relationship saga with Katie and her current boyfriend. Doing laundry in the basement. Realizing mid-year that we were using the garbage room the wrong way. Criticizing HSN, infomercials, Oprah, and Sandra Lee. Bambi wake-up calls. Underwear on the floor. The "fuck it" bucket.
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And sometimes, if I try very hard, I can hear C'est La Vie from B*Witched blasting from the girls' bathroom on my freshman floor (because we're cool like that) and remember almost everything.
Taking showers together (in separate stalls) with Linds at 2am. Walking around in slippers. Getting food from the late-night dining hall in pajama pants at midnight. Sitting in Patricia's room, studying microeconomics or talking about life. Hanging out in Andrea's room during fall semester finals. Spending inordinate amounts of time in Ivette and Lindsay's room and mocking our drunk floormates. Creating birthday posters.
Actually going to every class. Visiting C4 for date nights with Katrina. Getting my workout in by taking the stairs to W9 and sneaking food from Alli. Doing community service in the bad part of Trenton. Going to see my theater and music major floormates in performances.
Taking the Loop to the mall for numerous shopping trips. Getting stranded at the movie theater. Going out to eat with Katie's family when they visited. Coping with the John Fiocco incident. Floor meetings. Ice breakers. Rearranging our furniture. Painting a mural to leave our legacy.
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Note: Senior year was omitted because it kind of sucked.
