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Life

How I Feel About Being Away From Campus

Rhiannon Dyment
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Holy Cross chapter.

Spoiler Alert: It’s not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. 

I have officially been in DC for a little over a month now. I won’t lie, it’s been an adjustment, and in an odd way it feels like a fake life. The experiences feel real, but it doesn’t feel like school. Don’t get me wrong, the workload for DC can be intense, but I have a pretty decent routine. I work 9-5, Monday through Friday, commuting 45 minutes both ways. When I get home I cook dinner, go for a walk, and then do work for an hour or two, shower, decompress, and then I go to bed. I’ve adapted to my DC life and I’m happy here. It feels like I am officially adulting—and I love it. 

I miss my friends though and I am nostalgic for the campus I’ve called home for the past two years. Autumn is my favorite season, and I love spending it on campus which makes it harder to be away. It’s weird to think about how I’ll only have one year left on campus when I get back, but I’m not having nearly as much FOMO as I thought I would. I think it’s because I know a lot of people won’t be on campus for at least one semester this year. I’m also having a great time in DC which fends off the FOMO. It makes it so I don’t really think about what’s going on back at Holy Cross. I don’t miss the big events like football games and the whiteout. I miss the little moments that I would be spending with my friends if it were a normal fall semester. 

I miss laughing at dumb jokes and getting compliments on how pretty I can make Kimball meals look. I miss Starbucks before class and dinners before club tennis. I miss seeing the ivy change colors. I miss impromptu UberEats orders and walking to class together. I miss yelling about shoes on the bed and getting a sweet treat at night. I miss our Dinand table and HerCampus meetings. I miss the excitement and the beauty of a New England Fall. I miss walking across the hall to steal a vacuum cleaner and getting baked goods from people’s parents.

But they’re off having their great adventures and I’m off having mine. Our debrief texts and little Facetimes keep me going, and so does the hope that I’ll see everyone in November.

Rhiannon Dyment

Holy Cross '26

Rhiannon Dyment is a junior at Holy Cross. She is double majoring in English and Political Science with a concentration in Peace and Conflict Studies. Rhiannon wants to continue on to law school after graduation. Outside of HerCampus she is involved with the Holy Cross Admissions Office, the Holy Cross Pre-Law Society, Purple Key Society, Feminist Forum, Pink Gloves Boxing, and Sigma Tau Delta English Honors Society. Rhiannon loves dogs, warm weather, açaí bowls, and playing golf and pickleball.