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My first day in Ann Arbor, my parents and I had just flown in from Turkey. After the long flight, we were tired from all the travel and were looking for a place to grab some food before sleeping off the jetlag at a nearby motel.

Once in town, we immediately thought the Gerard Ford School of Public Policy, which is the first U-M building you’ll see on your way up from S. State, was “the campus.”  We then somehow managed to get lost on S. State, i.e. one street in town that connects the main campus to downtown. That night, we settled for some tacos at a restaurant on E. Liberty and a much-needed sleep on lumpy motel mattresses.

It wasn’t until Orientation Week that I actually got to see the Diag. People are always on the move, and somehow it never is empty (even during the pandemic, there is always at least one person on the Diag). To me, it’s very much representative of what the college experience is like. College is always dynamic, and its pace is more of a run than a stroll. We always have somewhere to be, someone to see, and something to do. It is perhaps this aspect of college that a majority of alumni miss the most.

Across the Diag, stands the building that I call, “the Angell Hall Complex.” At first, this building seems to have a confusing floor plan (it is actually four different buildings merged into one). Everyone on campus probably has had at least one class or discussion section in this building, so if you’re here and lost, ask for help!

Libraries are neutral grounds. They symbolically hold so much potential, just like a university education. I’ve yet to find a person who dislikes our libraries. There is one for everyone’s personal tastes. If you’re grinding for a midterm or a project, the Undergraduate Shapiro Library (UgLi) is probably your spot. If you’re the type of student who prefers silence over the motivation of seeing others work, Hatcher or Law Library is your best bet. And if you want to engulf yourself in the diverse population of engineers and art students, the Dude (otherwise known as the Duderstadt Center) on North Campus is the place to be.

When people ask me which part of the campus is my favorite, I don’t need to think long. It absolutely is the picturesque Law Quadrangle, which can be found right across the street from Hatcher.

It is pretty with its faux historical architecture and relative silence. It’s easy to imagine yourself walking to a class with your folders in your hand and a coffee in another, or a multicultural group of students having a small picnic on the yard.

As a senior, walking through the campus is not simply walking through a campus. It is reliving many  moments I’ve had during my college years. I have not had the chance to properly go to a library since the beginning of the pandemic, but not being physically there does not bother me since I still read, study, and reflect – but its physical presence is still missed. However, it is Law Quad that makes me want to take the long road, just to walk through its evergreen lawn once again.

The campus will mean different things to everyone. Where you go, who you meet, and what you do will differ for every single prospective student. For me, the effort and disappointments went hand in hand, but the dream always remained. While I am not looking forward to the competitive grind of a future work environment, I’ll always cherish my time at Michigan.

I sincerely hope you’ll be lucky and resilient enough to hold onto a Law Quad for yourself during your college experience, too.