As a senior at Pace University, you would think I’ve sufficiently explored the Pace University campus by now—but you’d be wrong! Up until this past weekend, I had never even had TIME to step foot onto the Pleasantville campus. On the NYC campus, I’m graduating in 3 years, having spent one of those semesters abroad. Luckily, I got to join Honors on October 26 for a field trip to watch the Homecoming game on the PLV campus, and it made me reflect on my Pace Path thus far. 

I’m just going to say it: I’m not a huge football fan. I know, I know—why would I go to specifically watch the homecoming football game then? I feel like a homecoming football game is a quintessential part of a college experience—one that we miss out on in an urban campus—so I sucked it up and watched a football game. My favorite part was, of course, the halftime show. T-Bone and University President Marvin Krislov attended to induct Pace athletes into our Hall of Fame, the dance team performed, the cheer team cheered, and a marching band played a piece. It was a very peppy, and a very classic football experience. 

My favorite part of the day, however, was actually exploring the PLV campus. The campus is so different from the NYC campus, and it was nice to pretend I was a student there. I knew the area already because I grew up in the Lower Hudson Valley, so the nature surroundings made me feel right at home. This weekend was the perfect weather to experience PLV as well—the leaves were changing colors beautifully, and the air was crisp. I toured around the campus with the Project Manager of the Honors Advisory Board’s Marketing team, Allison Lee. We wandered throughout the campus and checked out the Art Barn, the multi-level library, and the PLV Honors Lounge. 

The grass and trees got to me at some point and made me start to reflect on my decision to go to an urban campus, rather than a traditional college campus like Pace PLV. I’ve discovered that I miss the constant access to nature and the feeling of safety that NYC just doesn’t provide. However, I love the ability to have free reign to choose from activities to do in NYC that you don’t get from living in the suburbs. This experience gave me a newfound appreciation for being 20 and in NYC—this is the best time to live out my dreams in the best city in the world. So yes, sometimes I need to get out to the suburbs to smell some dirt, but there’s no other dirt I’d rather smell than that of New York City.