I know you’ve heard what everyone is saying. They say that I’ve moved on. That remote learning has stolen my heart and that we’re planning to run away together and live happily every ever. But Campus, you were my first love! What we have can’t be replaced by a fast internet connection and a slick graphics package!

Would you think me cheesy if I listed the things I love about you? I love your sunny quads, your shady spots, and my study table in the library. The dining hall smells of bread and coffee make me swoon. I miss the student commons, watching work and fun come together again and again. I adore your studios, where I have my tools, abundant space, natural light, and a brilliant group of other students and teachers to push my work further.

Actually, maybe that’s what I love most about you—you hold all my people.

I know I complain endlessly about that professor who always looks over my shoulder, but you know I value her. It turns out, her suggestions and corrections are almost always right, and I’m better for it.

I cherish my study group. We met digitally this spring, but it wasn’t the same. Warped audio and frozen screens zapped our debates of their energy. I love our in-person discussions, pushing and pulling on ideas until we make progress together.

Come to think of it Campus, I love running into people anywhere, all the time, outside of your classroom walls. Friends, classmates, teachers, strangers doing something I’ve never seen, studied, or thought about with as much passion and dedication as I am putting into my own work. I love them all.

Campus, you were my whole world for a while. You gave me the time and space to be a learner—surrounded by other learners. You let me focus on my craft, my research, my future career—intensely—while immersing me in a universe of people doing the exact same thing. You made me open up to new people and ideas. You made me work hard to be better. You forced me to grow up a little. You gave me an education, not simply content.

This time we’ve spent apart has taught me so much. I know when I come back to you this fall, things will be a little different for a while. But we will get through it together. You will never need to doubt my fidelity again.

 

With all my heart,