Column: A senior’s listicle for South Campus living

I lived in a magical land called South Campus for two years of my life at UNC.

It’s a beautiful place where all of your dreams can come true — if your dreams involve sharing a bathroom with seven other people and climbing into your lofted bed only to be kept awake at night by miscellaneous noises.

If you’ve never heard of it — because you live in Granville Towers — it’s the place you had to walk to when you figured out where the cashier’s office is.

Some discourage living there because of the long walks to class, the curtains that served as bathroom doors in Ehringhaus or because the high-rise residence halls kind of look like really tall motels.

These people don’t see South Campus for its true beauty and vivaciousness.

Here is a listicle for why I love South Campus.

1. The people

The best kinds of people live on South Campus. They hold the door, press elevator buttons for you and acknowledge the weird elevator mistletoe with you around the holidays. They’re friendly, polite and involved on campus, and they still always find time to catch the P2P to go out on the weekends.

2. The newness

There’s no more sighing with annoyance every time you see Celine from chemistry in the high school cafeteria. South Campus is not only full of awesome people, but awesome new people.

They come right along with new places to be explored, experiences to be had, and because it’s probably your first year, mistakes to be made. (For example, Country Night.)

3. The social life

It could be hailing in the middle of a hurricane, but if it’s a Thursday night, the P2P stop at Hinton James will be filled with pre-med students in bandage skirts and black North Faces ready to head into the night.

The bandage skirt thing might have ended after the class of 2015’s freshman year, so I apologize for the dated reference. I’m not sure what the “youths” are up to these days.

4. My business proposal

This is an open invitation to anyone interested in opening a club on South Campus with me called “SoCo.”

It will have a coat check, which will be a game changer, so sign up soon. I’ll send out a Google Doc.

5. The late-night noms

Late night at Rams — which is not to be confused with “Late Night with Roy.”

I truly miss going there after long, four-hour rehearsals to be replenished by the minerals and nutrients that only a diet of grilled cheese and Cinnamon Toast Crunch can bring you. I would then rationalize it by telling myself, “It’s fine, you’ll burn it off on that long walk to class.”

6. The words

The lingo. Mesopotamia, the grotto, HoJo — all mysterious nicknames only South Campus-ers know.

7. The excitement

Once you move northward, a cappella groups no longer show up on your doorstep to serenade you. There are no more resident advisers throwing free food at you. And while you get older and more cynical, you lose sight of the fun you had on South Campus, even if it took you 20 minutes to walk back there after class.

8. The memories

Studying in the lounges, listening to the guy downstairs playing guitar on the balcony, writing passive aggressive notes to our upstairs neighbors who played one too many games of Dance Dance Revolution and figuring out why the hell I had dark brown hair and bangs.

Though trivial at the time, experiences like these really made UNC feel like mine.

9. The relationships

The friends. Mostly, I love South Campus for the friends I made there.

They’re the ones who drive me to the airport and give me a knowing glance when I’ve lost my One Card for the fourth time. And, one day, they’re the people whose children I’ll fill with sugar for two hours and then give back — I mean babysit.