Nostalgia {in the form of a Dining Hall}

My husband & I are college sweethearts. We met during our first year, through mutual friends, and started dating almost immediately. We had our silly, dramatic, adolescent-y ups & downs (after all, he was 19 and I was 18 when we first met), but overall we have had a really solid, trustworthy, happy relationship.

Since the first 3 years of our relationship was at school, we made a lot of memories on campus. But since graduation 4 1/2 years ago, we haven't been back. So this past weekend, I surprised Sean with a Saturday evening "mystery date" to campus, where we had a really amazing time reminiscing!

First, we took a walk through the academic buildings. We visited the only lecture hall on campus, where Sean took many science courses and I took my one (and only) science elective (my least favorite class during all of undergrad).

We stumbled upon a bulletin board of Alumni Profiles in the science building, and we so excited to see Sean on the board! (He had filled out the questionnaire many months ago and had completely forgotten about it until then!) 

Can you tell that I'm a proud wife or what?!

We saw this beautiful quote on the wall of the education building, which I loved and deemed 100% photo-worthy.

We also saw a board for English Club, which was a little thrill for me - this club didn't exist when I was in college so I revived it and was thrilled to see that it is still going strong! (Ok, I realize there are only 3 things posted on it but it was the very beginning of the school year, after all.)

After wandering through the academic buildings, we walked through the (rainy) quad.

Then, we walked through the campus center where Sean spend many nights playing pool and/or poker. The campus center is in the same building as the dining hall, my freshmen & sophomore year residences, and an entertainment area that often hosted comedians, musicians, etc. This stage area is where I saw Sean for the first time; I was at a comedy show, saw him across the room and asked a friend who that "cute guy" was. (The rest is history.)

As we walked past the dining hall (the site of our first "date"), we saw Norma, a sweet woman who greets students and swipes their ID cards at the beginning of each meal. Both Sean & I remembered her and always thought she was incredibly sweet, so we stopped by and we shocked that she remembered both of us! She was so excited to see us again and to know that we were married and expecting a baby. We also saw Larry, another dining worker, who remembered me (by name, no less!) and gave me a great big welcome back hug.

While we were there, we decided to grab a bite to eat and enjoyed a meal from our favorite place - the "Wok." Mmmm... it was just as tasty as we remembered!

It's amazing how nostalgic this date was. Taking a trip down memory lane was just what we needed pre-baby. I can't wait to bring our little girl to campus someday and show her off. After all, she wouldn't exist if wasn't for our alma mater!