My return from winter break was reluctant, punctuated with melodramatic sighs and complaints about my incoming course load. I dragged my three giant suitcases into my residence hall on East Campus, already picturing all the unpacking and reorganizing. My tan from traveling abroad would fade into blinding paleness, and soon my room would be littered with textbooks and color-coded notes. Before cracking open my suitcases, leering at me with large zippered smiles, I went over to my window and looked out over Warwick blvd. The sky was icy grey, stretching cleanly over a glittering campus. I could see the distant gold dome of CNU Hall, and the Freeman center’s classic brick frame. Someone on the sidewalk beneath me screamed in delight as she embraced her friend. Everything was fresh and snowy and new. The front door clicked open, and I heard my roommate (and best friend) hauling her luggage into the living room. My stress melted away in my gorgeous snowy school, in the bustle of Warwick blvd, in the hug of my roommate as she listed off her new Christmas presents. Maybe I wasn’t quite ready for school to start, but I was home.
