While most of the University has packed up for the summer, seniors are still on campus for one last week to soak up the final moments of being a college student before heading off into the real world.
While some soon-to-be graduates choose to spend the last week attending bottomless brunches and bar hopping, Hatchet staffers shared some last campus to-do’s before the time of being an official student comes to an end. Though many graduates remain in the District post-grad and can easily stop by campus, nothing matches making one last pit stop at the Mount Vernon Campus or taking a nap in University Yard as a GW student.
Sit outside Point Chaud and people watch
Carly Cavanaugh | Columnist
In theory, spots like University Yard and Kogan Plaza are the go-to hotspots for congregation and socialization, acting as the beating hearts of our urban campus. However, once you spend your first afternoon sitting on a metal chair outside Duques and Funger halls pretending to do work on your laptop, you realize there’s nowhere else on campus that captures the GW spirit in quite the same way. What better way to bid adieu to your soon-to-be alma mater than simply sitting and observing its daily hubbub?
Over the past few years, I’ve developed a bit of a routine in between classes on sunny days: go to Point Chaud, order an iced dirty chai and a spinach and feta croissant, take a seat at one of the tables outside and practice some ethnographic research. Surrounded by business students, high school tour groups and friends recounting their latest gossip, you’ll quickly get quite a firm grasp on the zeitgeist of our campus community. You’ll see duos you never knew were friends, athletes exiting their Smith Center practices, professors scurrying to their lectures and agitated students complaining about their classes.
By simply paying attention, you’ll start to see yourself and your past experiences in all the new and familiar faces. So, I recommend sitting back, drinking your beverage, waving at the friends and foes you will soon say goodbye to and soaking it all in.
Take one more nap in a University Yard hammock
Ryan Saenz | Senior News Editor
Ever since their arrival on campus this year, the U-Yard hammocks have become a go-to spot for a mid-afternoon rot. These brief periods of relaxation can, if the weather is right, turn into a mid-afternoon nap amid the hustle and bustle of the University’s largest patch of green space. As the sun sets on your time at GW, make the trek back to U-Yard, settle in a hammock, put on a good podcast and take a much needed nap.
Although many GW students have already caught their trains, planes and automobiles back home for the summer, you can still expect to see the same pods of School Without Walls students marching from their Foggy Bottom campus to Western Market for lunch, playing spikeball and throwing frisbees about. Make sure to get comfortable with the brief sounds of car horns and sirens blazing by, a reminder that you went to college in the heart of D.C., and of course the half-hourly bell tolling from the aptly-named Bell Hall.
Your naps would likely be more peaceful in an apartment or a non-city college campus, but still, take advantage of the last chances you have to nap in the heart of D.C. this week.
Walk from the Mount Vernon Campus to Foggy Bottom
Molly St. Clair | Managing Editor
It was a sunny day in the spring of my sophomore year, and I had been waiting for the Mount Vernon Express Shuttle in front of Post Hall for about 30 minutes when I lost all hope. I was going to walk back to Foggy Bottom.
Only a short 14 minute drive, the walk from GW’s Mount Vernon Campus takes a little over an hour to complete. With my headphones in and a vague idea of the general direction I needed to head in, I started my trek through the residential landscape of D.C.’s Foxhall neighborhood. The colorful brick houses provide a break from the brutalist architecture of Foggy Bottom, a peaceful sight during a hectic finals season.
The suburban terrain quickly turned into a dense forest as I traversed through the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail. A thin dirt path led me through a lush woodland area, up a steep hill, and eventually spit me out into a Georgetown University parking lot. Slightly confused about my whereabouts, I made my way through Georgetown’s main street and finally back to my home of 2109 F Street.
My walk took me through parts of D.C. I had never seen before, and although students on the Vex may have watched as I emerged confused from the woods and onto the sidewalk of the Capital Crescent Trail, the journey was worthwhile.
Thinking back to your first year at GW, you may have dreaded trips to the Vern for University Writing courses, but four years later, that same trek becomes nostalgic and reflective. The walk from the Vern to Foggy Bottom may be long, but in one’s final days at GW, it’s important to slow down and appreciate the lesser known parts of the place you spent your college experience.
Make one last deli haul
Diana Anos | Culture Editor
All universities have one spot that is a must visit — and for GW, it’s the deli. For 80 years, the deli has pumped out bagel sandwiches and deli orders at a surprisingly quick rhythm, serving hungry and hungover students and Foggy Bottom community members alike. The lines are long, but the sandwiches provide salty satisfaction to each person who shimmies through the narrow and packed aisles.
Although the lines may not be out the door as they usually are on Saturday mornings and after 9:35 classes this week, pop into the deli for one last order. Walk through the aisles and pick out an unassuming snack or drink in addition to your usual order — indulge in a packaged cake or get a bowl of instant ramen to save for a later date.
Bid the deli menu farewell, and out of the kindness of your heart, do not make them use the GWorld machine — make it easier for the deli man, Apple Pay will do.
Take one last bite of a bagel sandwich overflowing with bacon and raise a beverage of your choice — Celsius, an aloe vera drink or a glass container of tart cherry juice — to four years of work well done.
