Walk down memory lane...

Each time I go back to Texas for a visit, I always want to go back and visit my alma mater, the University of North Texas. I know it's probably changed over the years, and it's been at least 3 years since I last stepped on campus, so this year I really pressed the idea of going to visit.

Fortunately for me, my sister also graduated from there, and on the 23rd her husband had to work and my mom and dad were driving into Plano to visit friends. So...I was able to convince my sister to go to campus with me (more like take me, since I didn't have a car) and that if we brought her kiddos along, I would help watch them.

It was exactly what I thought it would be! Every single park bench, building, bike path or "mushroom" we walked past brought back a very specific memory for me, and I couldn't help but open my mouth and say something starting with "there was this one time..." It really made me want to re-enroll and go back to graduate school! I wanted to go back into each classroom, and feel the feeling of listening to a lecture and taking notes...is that weird? If only I lived there!

Here are some shots from my trip down memory lane!!

The very first dorm I stayed in Freshman year! It was an all-girl dorm then!

And oh...Willis Library...I can't even begin to calculate the countless hours I spent in the basement of that building doing research and typing up papers! (And the occasional movie on my laptop to get out of my dorm room!)

This little brick thing wasn't here when I went to school, but I think it's a nice touch. I even got Sophia and Emma to get in the shot with me!

The gigantic tree in the middle of the student union building I used to work in - seriously, some of those ornaments were as big as my head!

Great shot of our Administration building...look familiar? You may have seen it in a little film called Necessary Roughness...it was filmed on location at North Texas! So everytime you see the admin building, football field - all the outdoor shots - that's North Texas!!

A nice eagle statue outside the Admin building, with my sister and her 3 little kiddos!

I just included this building because I used to have a Spanish language lab every Friday morning at 8 am in this building, and I HATED it because it was a good 15-20 minute walk from my apartment and Thursday night was College Night at all the bars in town! Guess how many times I made it to that lab. Fortunately, most of the classroom sessions were cancelled because we had to go into some kind of computer lab, but still. At least I passed!!!

It was great to go back, and I ultimately realized that I missed it and I wished I had really relished in it while I was there. I can never repeat those 4 years!

Nostalgia

So, for lunch a few days ago, I cracked open a package of Ramen I’d been storing. It was like a flash back to my freshman and sophomore year when, surprisingly, I lost 15 pounds because I didn’t have a cafeteria in my dorm, and I didn’t feel like walking across campus. Instead, I lived on microwaveable Ramen and Easy Mac (thanks, Mom!). Living only on about 400 calories for lunch and dinner really helps you lose weight.

It’s weird, but the lunch brought back all sorts of flashbacks from college, and I realized – I miss it! I miss the whole experience! I starting thinking about things like the fact that I didn’t have a boyfriend the first year or so either, so I wasn’t going out as much on the weekends. As a matter of fact, I was one of “those people” who lived so close to home, I’d just pack up my stuff, head to mom and dad’s for the weekend, and go back Sunday afternoon. I loved the time I spent with them, but I also feel I missed out on a lot of experiences you get your Freshman year. And I missed out on making friends and those relationships that “last a lifetime”.

Anyway, just something to think about. I definitely would not go back and do high school over again, but I would LOVE to go back to college as an undergrad!