This advice is for everyone as we start the 2014 school year:
Find a Grotto, and visit it as often as you can.
You don’t have to go to the actual Grotto and pray, although that always is a rewarding experience and one that comes highly recommended.
But find a place on campus that you love. Maybe it’s the Grotto; maybe it’s your best friend’s common room, a library study space or a particular sunny patch of grass on South Quad.
Find a place that makes you feel at home and be there whenever you can. Take time out of your week to relax there. Stop by when you have a spare moment.
You’re not here for long, as I’m sure you know all too well. People like to tell you that about college, about Notre Dame.
You can come back for a football game after you graduate and experience Gameday all over again. You can walk from your dorm to DeBart if you’re that nostalgic and want to relive the trek to class. You and your friends can have a reunion in front of Main Building.
But you can’t go to those places every day once you’ve graduated. You can’t wander past the Dome on a whim once you’ve left. The beautiful spaces of this campus will be available to you always but never as often or as richly as they are now, unless you return for another degree or to work here.
So take the time now to figure out which places touch your heart the most. Soak in the opportunities and experiences available to you, everything from research grants to a night watching movies with your friends.
This isn’t an idyllic paradise. Keep your eyes open for ways to make this campus better because Notre Dame isn’t a perfect place.
But it’s a good place. As you begin a new year, find the spots on campus that express this most deeply to you.
