Yesterday I was engaged in a conversation with one of my coworkers while we walked out of work and she invited me back to her dorm. Because of covid, I hadn’t been in any other dorms in a long time because the campus had enforced rules that people could not socialize in dorms that were not their own until around a month ago. We walked from the dining hall, where we work, to Akin. As soon as I stepped inside memories from freshman year flooded over me.
I had stayed in Akin as a prospective student before I even decided to come to Lewis & Clark. One of my scholarships had a program that flew out a group of seniors to stay on campus for a weekend with tours, events, and games. It’s funny to think back that I was just meeting some of the people who are now the most important to me and I can’t imagine life without them. We each stayed with a student at LC who showed us around and invited us to tag along with them downtown. So many people seemed so excited whenever I told them I was thinking about attending LC and I automatically felt very welcomed.
Lewis and Clark are very welcoming and community-based, I decided to attend and to room in Akin because I had met so many cool people during my visit to Portland. The environment in my living hall was amazing. My neighbors left their doors open and we hung out together all of the time. The whole hall knew each other and we spent as much time in our own rooms as we did in others. We had nights of laughing and others of focused studying. I was living the college experience that I dreamed of.
Thinking back on these memories now they feel distant yet I know that I cannot expect to live that experience in the middle of a pandemic. A lot has changed since then, some of my closest friends transferred, some of the friendships faded away and of course, now there’s covid. As I reach the end of the semester and the weather is getting warmer so I can socialize again, I feel like there’s an essential piece of my college experience being returned to me. We’re in the final push so I’m thankful for the library is open 24/7. Seeing people sitting out on the grass in the sun with their laptops and notebooks reminds me of why I decided to come here. LC is a place for serious students, but also for people who care about connection and community.