The Little Pieces
When I came to Exeter in the fall of my upper year, I was feeling what most of the other 350 new students were feeling. I was nervous, terrified, in fact. When my dad pulled our maroon Jeep up to Lamont Hall, my hands were sweating and my teeth were chattering. It was a warm day, but there was a hint of fall in the breeze that caught my breath when I stepped out of the car. My mom put her arm around my shoulder and squeezed. After we hauled everything from the car, up a flight of stairs, and into room 233, my parents were saying goodbye. I smiled and told them it was going to be alright. They assured me they weren’t worried about me, and asked me to call after my first day of classes. Twenty minutes after I watched the Jeep disappear down Tan Lane, I was on my phone, dialing the familiar number of my dad’s cellphone. I hung up before the phone started ringing. I wanted to be independent; I was nearly 17. My sister hadn’t called after she got dropped off in New York; nor had my brother when he was left at college in Flint, Michigan. I can do this, I told myself, as I put away my phone and began unpacking my belongings.
I remember missing so much about home, especially my first term here. There were so many reminders that I wasn’t at home here. D-hall’s food did not compare to my mom’s home- cooked meals. My dorm mates were unfamiliar and made me miss my brothers and sister. Traditions I had at home quickly got replaced by new, not-so-fun customs; slushie-runs with my brothers at 1am were replaced with late night homework sessions with my hall-mates.
Now that my short time at Exeter is coming to a close, I have begun to give thought to what I am going to miss about this home away from home. I no longer feel terrified when I arrive on our campus. I don’t call my parents as often as I used to. I spend more time than I ever thought I would at D-Hall. I have found a family in that tucked away dorm on the hill. I have so many fond memories of late night conversations, when we can’t sleep because we still have too much homework to do.
It was a late one Thursday evening, probably after 12:30, when my friend piped up. “This is what I’m going to miss,” she said, and I turned to look at her. I was sitting on the ground at her feet while she was braiding my hair. My other friend was on the bed, singing and working on an essay. I guess I didn’t fully understand what she meant when she said that at the time. Most alumni come back and say that they miss Harkness. They don’t talk about the Thursday evenings in the dorm or Sunday afternoons spent at D-Hall. They don’t mention the silly traditions you and your friends make up, nor do they talk about the walks you made in the blizzards. But those are the reasons I love Exeter so much. When I came here, I was terrified. There were so many things that I was leaving behind; my home, my family, and my little traditions. However, Exeter found extra space to squeeze in amongst all the stuff cramped in my heart. It made my siblings being far away seem bearable, just as it made nights without slushie-runs okay. It filled those spaces with other people and things. But that’s what I’m going to miss: all of the little pieces of Exeter that I have found, and that I will leave and forget about. I hope I can hold on to some of my favorites and think of them when I need a reminder of what a truly amazing place this is.