May 21, 2018. That was the last time I saw my best friend in person.

Over the weekend, I booked my plane ticket for Ithaca in August.

I finally get to see my best friend, my workout buddy, my go-to to watch TV shows and movies with, my hiking counterpart and so much more.

For three days we get to go hiking, visit campus, eat incredibly good food and see our favorite places in Ithaca, including Wegmans. Nicole and I became friends before we even stepped foot on campus.

Before college started, all of the incoming freshmen posted bio’s in the Class of 2018 Facebook group to try and find a roommate. We both said that one of our favorite TV shows is Chuck and we started talking and quickly became friends.

She then stopped talking to me until we all arrived on campus. Nicole told me that she hadn’t seen the series finale yet and I kind of told her how it ended.

The two of us met up after convocation. We have been inseparable ever since.

We studied together every day in the library. We took turns complaining about class and the amount of work we had to do. We wore (and still do) very similar clothes and would occasionally accidentally match. We are both just as picky and would take turns buying chicken tenders and fries because one of us could never finish them on our own.

We would go hiking and we had our system down to help me with my eye problems. We would go walking in the natural lands behind campus while blasting music. We would go to the gym and had a workout that we did together.

The two of us are friends with each other’s mom. Nicole would threaten to (and would and still does) call my mom when I wanted to wear shorts and a t-shirt in 45-degree weather. On breaks, we would watch our favorite TV shows and movies on FaceTime. Now, we spend hours talking and laughing on FaceTime as much as we possibly can.

The two of us practically roomed together all four years of college. There were more movie and pizza nights than either one of us could count.

I was able to visit campus last year, but I cannot wait to get back so the two of us can walk around talking about all of our favorite memories.

Over the four years at Ithaca, we spent countless hours walking around the fountains. Any time either one of us was having a bad day or something was wrong, we would meet up at the fountains, walk the patio and complain about anything we needed to for hours on end. Some of my favorite photos of the two of us were taken at the fountains in our graduation cap and gown.

The two of us have been talking about what we are going to do in Ithaca, especially all of the restaurants we want to go to. There are two places I miss the most — Waffle Frolic and The Ale House.

At Waffle Frolic, I eat more sugar in one meal than what should ever be allowed. I order a waffle ice cream sandwich which has two scoops of homemade chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream in between two waffles with chocolate sauce and whipped cream on top.

The Ale House is a typical burger place with the best hamburger I have ever had.

Then there is Purity Ice Cream Co. — homemade ice cream and home of the ice cream sundae. They also have incredible brownie sundaes that got me through many, many late nights at The Ithacan.

The best part of Ithaca is the waterfalls. Taughannock Falls is taller than Niagara Falls but super skinny. People can go swimming in Buttermilk Falls. Ithaca Falls is absolutely beautiful and is surrounded by trees at the bottom.

We might only have three days in Ithaca, but it will be jam-packed with fantastic food, waterfalls, so many laughs and more memories.

Caitie Ihrig