When Jamie (C’23) weighed her decision on whether or not to return to Philly for the fall semester, she was convinced that the social factor wouldn’t be too significant.

“Staying home won’t be too big of a deal since I’m still super close with the friends I made during Freshman year, or what was left of it!” She gushed. “This summer, we texted almost every day, and Facetimed a few times a week for movie and game nights,” she added, seemingly oblivious to the fact that communication was so frequent because every person in the group was separated. 

Although the rest of her entire friend group is living together for the Fall Semester, undoubtedly spending a lot of time together because of the travel restrictions imposed in place, Jamie is certain that she would remain an integral part of the “Squad in the Quad” circle. 

“They’ve already promised to Facetime me into their dinner cooking plans,” added Jamie, unaware or perhaps unwilling to acknowledge the practical difficulty of Facetime while her college friends struggle with cooking pasta for the first time in their lives. 

Jamie did note, with some sadness, that her friends had already made a new group chat, purely for discussing the move-in logistics they had to sort out, but she remained confident that she would still be in on the “memes and banter.” To make extra sure though, she has taken to sending the group chat 5 Tiktoks a day to keep the friendship alive. 

Jamie also continues to believe that an online semester will improve her work ethic for the fall, and optimistically awaits a response to her Tiktoks.

“It’s been about 2 weeks since anyone responded in the chat, but I’m sure they’re still getting settled in.”