Hark upon the gale

Thanks to a little extra time before my interview at King's Daughters in Norfolk, I was able to return to William and Mary for only the third time since graduation.  There is something palpably magical about returning to your undergraduate institution after years spent away, especially when that institution is The College, located in the heart of Colonial Williamsburg, itself steeped in years of tradition and so much history.  Walking down D.O.G. Street bring back memories with every step.  A journey such as this would leave anyone hungry, so our first stop of course was....

The Cheese Shop.   House dressing, bread ends, and Chowning's Tavern root beer... plus the Hot Smoked Salmon...  this epitomizes my favorite meal in all of college.  After stuffing myself full, it was time for a stroll through memory lane.  In a town that's 300 some years old, nothing much had changed in the couple of years since I had last been here...

Bruton Parrish Church still standing strong...

A new coffee house which greatly disappointed me because it doesnt actually serve any beverage or food, it's just a building you can tour... whose terrible idea was it to not actually serve coffee and hot chocolate?? They would have made so much money...

The Capitol... I rarely made it this far through CW on walks, but occasionally on runs I'd come this way, or long walks with good friends and long conversations.

There's something utterly magical about CW.  It's the feeling you get when you're there, amplified by the many memories made there during college.  The real ghosts of CW (and there are quite a few for all those of you who never took a ghost tour) are joined by the ghosts of your memory, full of close friends and precious free moments when we'd steal away from the real world and get lost in a historical wonderland.

One of the things that I miss the most about W&M is the tradition.  The sense of countless students, countless generations, who went before you and paved the way, going through the same rites as you, since 1693.  This of course is Wren Building, where most of our favorite traditions took place (Convocation, Yule Log, Wren Tens, Beta Theta Pi ceremonies, many ceremonies surrounding Graduation, to name a few prominent ones).

There is this true sense of pride, of nostalgia, of belonging, that comes from being here, even this many years after leaving these hallowed grounds.  The nights that I spent with Alex / Adam / Will / Stephen smoking cigars and talking on the steps of the Wren and throughout CW are some of the most profound memories of friendship and belonging that I know.  The times I spent on the terrace with friends, the nights spent figuring life out with the Barons and all the SBs, it all comes back in wave after wave, like an ocean of myself washing back to me. 

And of course, the Sunken Gardens.  It's impossible to describe the sheer emotions that standing at the head of the Sunken Gardens arouses in me.  I once spent the night in a sleeping bag with a couple amazing people here.  Adam and I completed step 1 of the triathlon not even a couple weeks into our first year here.  Many lazy afternoons spent here.

There is a part of W&M that never leaves you, and a part of you never leaves W&M.  I suspect that this is true for everyone of their undergraduate experience, yet I imagine that there is something about the sheer history, the sheer magnitude, the sheer quiet mystery of William and Mary, that captures you in a way that is somewhat unique.  

I believe that the most amazing things from W&M, however, are the things that I have been lucky enough to take with me.  The friendships that have borne the weight of time and distance and have seen me through everything in my life post-W&M.  The acquaintances who none-the-less have forever shaped me and my life in some shape or form.  The self-realization and identity gained during my time at W&M.  The mission to take forth everything I have learned and serve all of humanity.  

Hark the student's voices swelling, Strong and true and clear

Alma Mater's love they're telling, Ringing far and near

William and Mary, loved of old

Hark upon the gale

Hear the thunder of our chorus

Alma Mater hail