I spent a semester at Georgetown and I wish I’d never left
Basically, I miss it a lot
It’s about a year since I first arrived at Georgetown – lonely, jet-lagged, and quite frankly still not fully recovered from New Year celebrations.
I felt excited, but as anyone who’s ever moved continents will know, it’s pretty scary. I’d never even been on a plane by myself before, and suddenly I was supposed to set up shop on the other side of the Atlantic and actually survive? I wasn’t feeling very optimistic.
But needless to say, I shouldn’t have worried. Georgetown, you are amazing, and it’s such a cliche, but being able to spend just a few months on the Hilltop really did change things for me.
The first time I saw Georgetown
I arrived at Dulles feeling miserable from an embarrassing high school boyfriend break-up, and left feeling absolutely on top of my game – complete with an awkward American twang which everyone back in England loved to hate.
Me trying to fit in
But that’s a separate issue. In the UK, we have this pre-conceived idea that the American college experience is all frat boys and sorority girls drinking light beer, taking classes that end in numbers and smoking pot. And in some ways, Georgetown completely met these expectations. The Hilltop’s party scene revealed a campus-wide aptitude for holding their booze at which I could only marvel. What with the fake ID black market, the horrific Natty light and even more horrific Everclear-laced jungle juice, I was left feeling like an old lady at the age of 19. But it was seriously brilliant, and 100 times better than any nightclub.
And when the cops came to shut down a Georgetown Day party, and the first person they saw was me – a intoxicated, underage Brit whose visa was entirely resting on not getting trouble with the cops? Well if that isn’t the American college experience, I really don’t know what is. Props to you, Hoyas – you party like British 16-year-olds, but my God you do it well.
Georgetown Day = best day
Speaking of Georgetown Day, let’s talk about college pride. This is something that just doesn’t happen in the UK. If you told a British student their university was showing the rugby team’s match on campus, and providing pizza, wings and cupcakes, they’d laugh in your face. Firstly, because British universities don’t ever do anything nice for students, and secondly, because who gives a fuck about college sport? With this as my starting point, it’s probably not surprising felt pretty cynical about the whole “let’s go Hoyas” thing. But put it this way – I still wear my Hoya Nation shirt with pride, and I once saw a Hoya at a grocery store in London and pretty much lost it.
But it’s not really surprising that Hoyas have so much pride. I’m not saying the university I came back to after my semester abroad isn’t good, but Georgetown students are so diverse, motivated, and so fucking smart that you couldn’t possibly spend time there and not leave feeling significantly more educated. Like, I see you guys all giving each other a hard time on Georgetown Confessions about being too driven and uptight, but, while you could probably get away with worrying less about getting that internship at Congress, on the whole Georgetown students are the best kind of people.
Without wanting to be too slushy, the warmth and welcome I felt from my roommate (an angel who made VCE a bearable place to live), her friendship circle and the rest of the student body was more special than I could’ve ever hoped for.
<3
But that’s the soppy part over — if I’m being real, the thing I miss most about Georgetown is, without a doubt, the food. The British stereotype dictates that students exist solely on instant noodles, toast and alcohol. But not in America. At Georgetown, I probably ate better than I’ve ever eaten in my actual life (sorry, mom).
I miss 3am gyro wraps at Epi, and the sushi from Snaxa. I could probably eat 10 Wisey’s Oreo cookies in one go at this point, and a Liberty Cobb salad from the Hilltoss would certainly not go amiss. And damn it, I miss Leo’s. I miss its awful beautiful cinnamon rolls, and I’d do anything to taste its stir fry bowls just one more time.
Snaxa staples
But most of all, out of everything and everyone at Georgetown, I miss Suru… I don’t remember if that’s actually his name, but I’m talking about the guy who swipes you into Leo’s with a smile before you go and have ice cream and M&Ms for dinner, for the third day running. I’ve lost the nine pounds I gained from eating at Leo’s everyday now but – and I never thought I’d say this – I kind of want them back.
An actual meal I ate at Leo’s
In short, Georgetown, you were exactly what all those coming-of-age college movies said you would be — and I miss you every day.