Whether you’re a senior feeling nostalgic about the good times you had at Nerd Nation or a frosh overly eager for the memories to come, I hope you can find comfort in reading about just some of the little things that make Stanford so great. Here’s a list of 23 little things that I miss about Stanford.

1. Finding that one sandwich shop hidden within Mem Quad, enjoying the sandwich with a friend on the Oval as we reflected on Stanford and the people we’d met so far, observing the picnic-like nature on the Oval with people playing music, laughing, playing frisbee. Bliss. 
2.  After Afrobeats practice, eating dinner at Arrillaga with students from Burkina Faso, Kenya, Guyana and New Jersey and realizing how diverse the Black community is as well as Stanford at large.
3. Eating athlete’s breakfast with all non-athletes, watching the automatic orange-juice squeezer do its thing, and trying persimmons for the first time, feeling grossly out of place as a non-athlete 
4. Biking under the night stars experiencing a sense of adventure, feeling low-key scared but also terribly excited, witnessing the most beautiful view of Hoover Tower possible, feeling on top of the world. 
5. Sleepovers in Huang, followed by watching the sunrise, a night of snacks, laughs, games, videos and feeling eternal with newly made lifelong friends. 
6. Fountain hopping in four fountains in a row, being soaking wet and biking around campus, taking pictures of our conquests, watching friends climb the Claw in White Plaza, creating a whirlpool in Old Union fountain, followed by stomping in the water jets in the engineering quad fountain. 
7. Biking straight into Lake Lag and spending 30 minutes in the pit fixing someone’s bike because it broke; venturing through the tunnels near Lake Lag, not going all the way because of being too scared and claustrophobic about the narrowing.  
8. Waking up and hearing voices outside, getting ready to be woken up at an ungodly hour in the morning because of a roll-out, waking up at 5:30 am because of a FAKE roll-out designed to murder someone during a game of assassins, waking up before my roll-out and greeting the people at the door; the moments before getting ready to pound on someone’s door for a BIRTHDAY SHOWER :D. 
9. Waltzing into career fairs knowing full well that I wasn’t looking for a career, but rather looking for the plethora of free notebooks, pens, mints, bags and t-shirts that I am still using ‘till this day (thanks Locate AI and Pear).
10.  Walking to the Caltrain, sitting in the booths, seeing all the little cities I’d never heard about on the way to SanFran and excited for adventure in the city and to explore more of NorCal. 
11. The EXQUISITE view when biking on Jane Stanford way in the morning on the way to class with the Oval to the right and MemQuad to the left, experiencing the bike traffic, the hubbub of people heading to and from their classes; choosing to walk to class instead of biking and observing how hectic yet calm the circle is. 
12. Loudly singing broadway and opera songs in Stern dining hall after everyone left and just being boisterous li’l Stanford students  
13. Hearing Billie Eilish being played on the Hoover Tower bells. 
14. Seeing everyone’s secret talents and Stanny superpowers slowly reveal themselves; seeing someone unexpected playing a sonata at the piano, actually discovering two-thirds into the class that the person I was sitting next to in section was in the IMO, which up to that point had only been something that I’d read about in books.
15. Being sleep-deprived because of a conversation that overextended itself and lasted long into the hours of the night, the unexpected insightful and emotionally wonderful, intellectual conversations at the dinner table with dorm mates, learning how soap and other everyday things work after an interesting and informative late night conversation. 
16. Indulging in multiple rounds of the taro ice cream at the Chinese New Year’s celebration at Wilbur, experiencing new tastes I never thought possible, staring in awe at the transformation of the dining halls, learning about foods and traditions that I’d never eaten or heard about from friends, feeling warm inside. 
17. Seeing the tourists on campus, getting pictures taken by a tourist while in my CS class, granting a tourist access into one of the buildings during school hours ;). 
18. Walking through that forest-y part of campus to go to EBF, walking back and then running screaming because I saw a coyote. 
19. The unexpected late night grind session turned p-set parties, laundry parties, the spirit of collaboration, humility and willingness to explain problems 
20. At midnight of dead week, opening the window to scream out into the void. during primal scream.
21. Getting my ping pong on. 
22. Stopping to admire the beauty of Meyer Green, studying outside on the evergreen fields and basking in the immaculate vibes from the weather.  
23. Seeing Stanford full of life, anywhere, any day, any time and being grateful to be alive and here and well.

Making this list really made me realize how much my two quarters on campus at Stanford meant to me. I hope that whether you have one quarter left or 10 quarters left on campus, we can be grateful for the times that we did have and for the times to come. Stanford is by no means perfect, but it is a home away from home that I will forever be grateful to have come by. I’m happy for the memories made and those to hopefully come, and wish everyone good luck with their physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual well-being. 

Contact Ecy King at ecyfemi ‘at’ stanford.edu.