Nostalgic on a plane

Theres no better place to think about life than on an airplane or any form of transportation, I think. At least for me, I never find myself reading the book I brought or doing the homework assignment I said I would do – but rather I result in scrolling through my camera roll, my notes app, my texts – think any app that works without having WIFI. As I’m writing this, I have 3.5 hours left of my flight from Denver back to Raleigh after an epic few days spent skiing with my family over the UNC wellness days, and I’m spending them in the depths of my camera roll.

I’ve been feeling especially nostalgic recently. I do love feeling nostalgic. I love remembering past times and feeling so grateful for what once was. As I sit here and scroll through my camera roll, I find myself smiling at all the pictures of last semester. My last fall as a student here in Chapel Hill, time sure does fly.

My camera roll is filled with a lot of people I love so dearly. Friends I met freshman year who have turned into senior year roommates. New friends that I met only a year or so ago that I can't imagine my college experience without. Pictures from game nights, sorority events, silly moments in my house, lots of fall foliage (fall in Chapel Hill >>), and a whole lot of Carolina blue-filled game days.?

As I look at the pictures from all the football games, I think about my very first one. I spent the weekend with one of the first people I met at UNC, Ava Konopka , as we had gotten sent home from living in the dorms because of the pandemic. We wore face masks and sat 6 feet away from other students, but we were beaming all day long with excitement of finally being in Kenan and watching a game. We’ve come a long way since then, but I think I was just as excited going to my last game as a student in November and rushing the field after beating Duke.

I look at the pictures from the weekend in October when my mom and Aunt came down to visit for my sorority's family weekend. I took them to He's Not Here and made them get their first "Blue Cup" and got to show them my house for the first time. I remember feeling so excited for them to be in North Carolina and get a glimpse into my life and meet the people in it. ?

I look at hundreds of pictures in a shared album that my housemates and I have. I live with 5 of my best friends in a cute house with the best porch. I met them all at the beginning of Freshman year and my heart swells just thinking of how much we’ve all grown together these last 4 years. From navigating a pandemic together to now helping each other decide where to move post-grad, I am so thankful for them all and wish we could just press pause and live in these moments in our shared photo album a little bit longer.

Looking back on these moments from my senior year makes me feel so grateful for UNC and so lucky that I still have a few months left. Time is moving fast, and everyone is worried about what comes next, but I just want to stay right here a little while longer. I'm not sure what the point of this blog post is – except that it's ok to look back on memories and long for them while still loving where you are right now – I think it's pretty awesome.

So, with that - cheers to being a nostalgic plane rider!