As I sit in the living room with my computer before me, the Christmas tree lit beside me, and my mother moving about the kitchen, I cast my mind towards a very different living situation that I have just come home from and will soon be returning to. After three semesters living at Shea, and with three semesters before my graduation, I sit exactly in the middle of my time as a resident of this dorm; my own home feels like the right setting for this time, a place of transition as I leave the first half behind and prepare to enter the second. And so, even 498 miles away, it feels right, at this time, to sit and reflect on my time at Shea.
The first few weeks of moving in and classes starting felt like the rolls of thunder, gradually building in volume before the lightning crash came with the Open House, and the storm at Shea started in full. From the traditional routines of daily conversations and weekly language corners to the newer traditions of mahjong tournaments and Run With BenTM, there was always something to do at Shea. Over the last two years, I’ve seen people move into Shea, move out, and even move between pods. But, regardless of the changing traditions and people, the sense of family is always the same. And it’s a sense that’s hard to leave behind, even while I’m at home with a different kind of family. There are just so many things around me that remind me of Shea. ABC’s Harry Potter rerun comes across the TV for the thirteenth time, and as the Great Hall comes onto the screen with its four long tables, I think of our own dining tables at Shea. Each house (pod) sits at their own table and eats in our communal time together, our defining house principles coming through in the languages we speak. We even have our own mini-version of the House Cup, with Hank’s every-running tally of mahjong winners. If “Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home,” then so will Shea.
Just a few weeks ago, as I was entering the rally and eating dinner at the End-of-Semester Party, I found myself growing sad at the thought that it’d be an entire month before I saw these people again, even as I sat amongst them. Now, with only a week until the spring semester starts and we all move back into Shea, it feels like no time at all has passed. The anticipation of my return to Grounds and Shea has overshadowed everything else, making me think of nothing but my excitement to be back with these pods and these people.
Whether you’re entering your second, fourth, or sixth semester at Shea, these amazing events and even more wonderful people will always be there to welcome you back, as if you were never gone.
Written by Chloe Ross '26