Before coming to college, I thought every week would be packed with milestones. I imagined finding myself, reinventing who I was and blossoming into adulthood like a movie montage. And while some of that has been true, with only a semester left to go, the moments that have meant the most were not the big, life-changing ones. They were the mundane ones.
Celebrating the ordinary has been one of the most unexpected and beautiful lessons of college. Tiny moments, the ones I never planned for, have stayed with me longer than any major accomplishment. I still remember one random Tuesday during my sophomore year, nothing special on the calendar, when I tried a chicken tender dipped in barbecue sauce for the first time. It sounds silly, but I was sitting with friends, laughing over nothing, feeling completely content. Or the time one of my best friends and I discovered the magic of a homemade Greek yogurt bowl with our secret ingredients. Learning how to efficiently use the metro? I felt like a superhero. Those simple moments have become the memories I return to when I think about what made college feel like home.
Romanticizing the small moments matters because everyone enters college from a different starting point. Maybe someone had never done their own laundry before, or never taken themselves out on a solo thrifting date. What seems ordinary to one person might be a huge milestone for someone else. By learning to appreciate the simpler things, like cooking your first meal, navigating a new city or managing your time, you start to see growth in ways that are not flashy, but are deeply meaningful. These moments mark real, noticeable points of change. They reflect a growing independence, confidence and grounded sense of self. Not all at once, but one small, beautiful moment at a time.
So, how do you actually start romanticizing the ordinary? It is simpler than you think. It is in the little things: playing your favorite playlist while walking to class instead of rushing with your head down, buying yourself a coffee (shout-out to the Brown Sugar Shaken Espresso with vanilla cold foam from Starbucks) after a long study session or noticing how the air smells after it rains. It is dressing up for no reason other than to feel good, snapping blurry 0.5 pictures of your friends just because or treating a solo grocery trip like an adventure. It is slowing down enough to savor the tiny victories, like finishing a tough homework set, getting out of bed on a hard day or choosing joy when no one is watching. Romanticizing college is not about pretending every day is perfect. It is about realizing that even the messy, ordinary days are worth celebrating.
It is easy to think that the “real” college experience is found in big, Instagram-worthy moments, like landing the dream internship, studying abroad or pulling off an epic graduation party. Those are valuable experiences. But in reality, the heart of college is built on everyday memories: late-night dinner runs, walks back from class in the crisp fall air and inside jokes whispered during lectures. When you learn to romanticize these ordinary moments, you realize that joy is not reserved for the future or the milestones. It is happening right now, often when you are too busy to notice. The magic of college is not just about becoming someone new. It is about appreciating the person you are in the quiet, unfiltered moments in between.