Dear Berkeley,

After a week away, we have returned back into your life of academic rigor and crowded streets. Some of us escaped to other states, some even traveled across seas. Some of us kept safe distances from the libraries, and some of us even logged out of our Berkeley emails. Despite how each of us chose to spend our spring break, we can all collectively agree that we were hesitant to return.

Don’t get us wrong. Most days, we truly appreciate the opportunities and inspiration you provide us, but after these past 10 long and rainy weeks, we can’t help but feel a little worn-out. So before we fall completely back into our busy college lives, we have a few requests that will make our time together a little easier.

First, we would like to see a little less rain and a little more sun. We understand that we are living in rainy Northern California, but could you give us just a few more sun rays? Over the past 10 weeks, there have been maybe five truly sunny days. And every time the sun shines, we prepare for the long sunny afternoons on the Glade and weekend hikes in the hills, but each and every time you betray our trust — it rains the next day. So, for these remaining weeks, could you grant us a few consecutive sunny days?

As our enrollment periods come closer, we would love to actually get into the classes we need. After years of being waitlisted in every class and taking art history classes for our environmental science majors, we would to love to see just a few more green dots in that enrollment shopping cart. Whether that means expanding class sizes, or offering multiple times slots, please let us into the classes we need. Because as much as we would love to be super-duper seniors and spend the rest of eternity at your campus, we do eventually need to graduate and begin paying off those student loans you so graciously gave us.

Finally, could you give us just a little more time for ourselves? As much as we love constantly being pushed academically and emotionally, and studying long hours into the night, we would love to take just a little more time to spend with ourselves. Whether that be keeping classes to only two midterms, or even making sure the 51B bus actually comes on time, we would truly appreciate just one extra hour in the day, or even a few extra minutes to stop, take a breath and enjoy this crazy place.

But in all sincerity, we love you. We love your busy streets full of sounds, smells and colors we never thought could all exist in one place. We love your blossoming flowers. We love your historic buildings. And we love the incredible people you bring together. But most importantly we love calling you home.

And when it’s time to disappear again in just six short and hopefully sunny weeks, we can all collectively agree that we will probably, maybe, sort of miss you.

With love,

The people who call you home