I’ve been reading in the park, but it’s getting cold and I can’t concentrate anymore. I dip into the French bistro + cafe overlooking the park from across the sidewalk for some warmth, and when the feeling comes back to my body again, I remember that I haven’t yet eaten lunch. I opt for the onion soup gratinee — it’s French onion soup gratinee, but the French is implied — and of course I go for a cappuccino as well.

We had just finished the main event of our day mid afternoon and I was ready to head back home and turn in, but instead, we walked the opposite way to explore the neighbourhood a bit more. We stumbled upon Plenty Cafe, which I had visited before but at a different location, but since Alice hadn’t, I agreed to checking it out with her.

In college, everyone is so physically close together, making it really easy to hang out, and so we do, all the time. As someone who really cherishes her alone time, I felt like I couldn’t find enough of it. When it came up in conversation, I would often lament that I could go days without talking to or seeing people. So it has come as a surprise to me to realise this summer that… I need to see more people.

This is the part that I tell you it wasn’t as dreamy as it looks. The sidewalk overlooking the park was crowded, so we got placed around the corner facing a building, but could still peek at the park if we looked to the side. At least it was quieter than the main sidewalk. But the sun glared in our eyes and the wind blew bits of dust onto our table. And still, it felt perfect to me.

It’s hard enough pulling the whole squad together for a brunch, forget a breakfast! Only the most special occasion could motivate us to wake up and haul ass for breakfast at a cafe. And indeed it was a special occasion: to bid Grace a temporary farewell. (Note: This post is massively delayed, like, by five months. Grace graduated Fall 2017, a semester before the rest of us, so we were saying goodbye until she came back for our graduation ceremony in Spring 2018.)

I had Louise and Steph over at my apartment for an evening in of cooking, chatting, and eating. It was their first time in the suburbs of Philly, as they’re Penn students and so are in the city of Philly all the time, and they were struck by Haverford’s “small town life.” I had never thought about my town like that before as it had always been my normal, but when they commented on it, I realised what a contrast it was from the city. In the evenings, it was quiet. When the occasional car passed by, you could hear the friction of tires on asphalt. String lights shaped as snowflakes decorated the street lamps (they’re there all year round, not just the winter). I began to see my town as my own lil Stars Hollow. But then I visited the town of Ambler, and boy is that town a Stars Hollow!