
The letter was dated March 2, 1972:
Dear Miss Batog:
It is my pleasure to inform you that the Admissions committee has approved your application to the University of Miami. You have been accepted for the semester beginning in September, 1972 as a member of the freshman class to the College of Arts and Sciences.
And so began an exciting and memorable chapter of my life.
The photo above is the dorm where I spent that first year. The girls’ dorm is on the left. The boys’ dorm is on the right.
I started out living on the first floor with a roommate that made the mistake the first week to tell my mother when she called:
‘Oh, I haven’t seen her since yesterday. She didn’t sleep here last night.’
Time to get a new roommate.
So shortly after my arrival I moved up to the eleventh floor where I had the most awesome roommate. Messy but awesome.

(look closely at the title of the book…Contraception…ah, college life in the 70’s)
It was on the eleventh floor that I also met a wonderful friend. Our friendship has ebbed and flowed over the course of 36 years but we have continued to connect and visit at various points.

(if I remember correctly Biology was her major…grin)
Thus the reason for this stroll down memory lane. She recently opted for ‘early retirement’ (I can’t even believe I am saying that in the same post as talking about my early college years!!) and she is currently down in the Florida Keys visiting friends. Her next stop (this Friday) will be here!! I am so thrilled!

(this is actually my most favorite photo from this period of my life…all the others are either of me asleep or…..doing things that I will never tell my daughter about…after all…it was the University of Miami in the 70’s)
It has me contemplating today….am I really so different all these years later?









9 Comments
Yay for good old friends!! I hope you two have a lovely time together.
Yes, we all are! But isn’t that just as it should be? The years have been very kind to you, Danielle! I am more than just a little bit envious that your friend can retire so early!
It was quite cold here last night as well, 35 degrees as I recall. It was an “extra blanket night” at my house! Brrr.
interesting to get to know you a little more!!!
Cool photos! Have fun with your college pal. I love getting together with my old friends.
Hi. Nice meeting you.
I’m here from the Bloggers over 50 blog roll, and I’d love to have you added to the membership. There is one step you need to do before I can add your blog url to the list of members. You need to go back and copy the blog roll script and add it to your sidebar, and/or link the graphic in your sidebar. Either or both! That way, as the members are surfing the roll, they have access to all the others!!
So, when you have that added, let me know and then I will get your blog link[s] added. Also, if you want more than one of your blogs added, the roll has to be added to each one!
Find the instructions on the main site Here
I’m betting you are probably still very much the same, deep down inside, as you were back in 1972 -just a tad more mature. Not a thing wrong with that though, is there?
I hope you and your college buddy have a huge time during her visit… as for telling the kids about my college years? Can I wait until she graduates herself in a few years?
i think it depends on the lense we look through. there was a time, before my grandmother died, i think after my first baby was born, where she said to me, “You’re still the same Ame.” i took it as an insult. i had worked so hard in my life to *become* … not to *stay*
but she never did have ‘eyes’ to see me … she always saw only what she wanted to see. (a reflection of all my family)
i still love german chocolate cake, the beach, the sunrise over the ocean, the sound of the waves, the lightning storms over the ocean, italian food, my best friend from high school, good friends, God, studying and learning about God. i still love to laugh. i still have the same features (since i haven’t opted for plastic surgery to correct the effects of age).
but my heart has changed, become, not *stayed* … and for that, i am grateful.
totally wonderful. happy for you danielle.
kathleen