To me, U.Va. is...
By Grace Muth | April 28, 2016Trying College Inn cheesy bread for the first time.
Serving the University Community Since 1890
Trying College Inn cheesy bread for the first time.
After coming from a series of small private schools, it was jarring to begin my academic experience at U.Va. not face-to-face with a beloved teacher.
“I mean, it’s not like I care,” she said to me as we walked down Rugby Road one Friday night, headed home in the chapped fall air.
A month ago, I felt the now-familiar tightness, the now-routine clenching of my throat. Another wave of hushed conversations, another empty space in a familiar, yellow house.
We walk quietly together, the lights and warmth of the Lawn behind us, through the construction and past the deepened slopes of Mad Bowl to our homes.
We sweat in lines of backpacks — sweat under arms and in places I didn’t know held pores. The trees of the Lawn don’t move in salute because the air holds them heavy and slow, their leaves still in oppressive late August heat.
My friend sat down across from me in a corner of Newcomb, hair unbrushed, belt forgotten. It was late March and tendrils of spring had began to sneak into our routine walks from Watson-Webb to the Chem building.
120 polished and confident girls with shiny Pantene hair and clear smiles stare at me. I don’t recognize most of them, but they form a mass of perfection, of poise.
My inbox is filled with messages from my new major head and subject lines saying “Sign-Up for Honor Week” or “Attend a Philanthropy!” Another emails read: “Can we reschedule the meeting from 2:30 to 3?
