Fifteen minutes can feel like forever. Starving, sweating and toting laptop bags, we trekked to Sargent Hall mere hours after arriving. While I found the food at Sargent (aka Sarge) better than its reputation, I worried about the distance between me and my meal.
As my friend Cara Huang of Los Angeles put it: “By the time you get back from Sarge, you are more hungry than when you got there.”
But as I got to know my fellow cherubs (and grew my stash of supplementary snacks in my dorm), the walk became more of an opportunity than a nuisance.
During lectures at Fisk Hall and writing sessions at Jones, mere hours before deadlines, we bonded over shared stress. But every Sarge walk gave us an uninterrupted 15 minutes to share real conversations beyond small talk and assignments.
I treasured my time bonding in groups, but my favorite walks were one-on-one chats. At first, when I found myself next to a cherub I didn’t know well yet, I’d exchange pleasantries and awkward moments. Then I’d find myself already nearing Sarge, deep in a discussion with a new close friend about where we see ourselves in five years.
As I walk to eat my last supper at Sarge, my eyes linger on the ivy lining the walls of Main Library, the squirrels that run along the path and my now best friends walking ahead of me. One sparks up a conversation about how we are going to meet up after the program ends. Suddenly, 15 minutes doesn’t seem long enough.
