I grew up an only child, and it is safe to say that I came to college with a fear of shared spaces — communal bathrooms, a roommate, common rooms and all the cohabitation that comes with a college experience. In my time at Occidental, I have learned to love these spaces, cherishing every moment I have had the privilege of sharing them with the people I’ve gotten to call my best friends over the last four years.
Dining Halls
One of the first places I saw when I came to Occidental was the Marketplace. Truly, everything happens in the MP or Cooler.
I remember sitting with the Ultimate Frisbee team, WAC, to watch one of their players perform her music on the patio before I could call them all teammates and friends. I remember my first lunch with my first-year friends, and the breakfasts I have after my 8:30 a.m. class this semester.
Most vividly, I remember watching all my friends get accepted into their Fall 2024 study abroad programs with my dead phone in my pocket. I remember the pride I felt for them, but the anxiety brewing in me, only to settle once back in my room with a phone charger and an acceptance.
Freshman year, WAC would go to the Cooler after each practice. We played board games, watched our teammates get eliminated from the rugby team’s assassination game and ate more fries than I can count. We bore witness to the ‘C’ in ‘Cooler’ on the sign falling off the wall and watching in horror and shock.
Newcomb Hall
On that very Marketplace patio, I selected my sophomore housing: Newcomb Hall. Nearly the entire class of 2026 on WAC joined me, including my random first-year roommate, who remains perfect to this day.
Newcomb was the best decision of my life. We never got a third roommate (unless you count our friends and neighbors), something we feared every time we received an REHS email. The AC was a wonderful change from Chilcott, and the communal bathrooms… well, they built character.
We would all leave the dorm shortly before 8 p.m. on Monday and Wednesday night, and it was truly a great migration. Anyone who was kind enough to hold the door would have to stand there as around 15 sophomore girls exited the dorm.
On one of our last nights as Newcomb residents, we visited all the WAC rooms in Newcomb, with representation on all three floors. Each room had a different theme, and we all truly committed to the event.
Patterson Field
They’ve been name-dropped numerous times throughout this list, but WAC’s importance to my growth as a player, person and teammate cannot be overstated. During my freshman year, my now-roommate dragged me to my first practice. My then-roommate said she claimed I wouldn’t make it: I hated running, had no hand-eye coordination and had never thrown a frisbee before.
Ultimate Frisbee has taken over my life. I attended practices with new teams when I studied abroad, and now I spend a lot of time calculating our (much too small) budget and even live with people I met on the team.
We have won at Patterson, lost at Patterson, cried at Patterson and become the people we are at Patterson. When I toured Occidental in 2021, Patterson was all but a hole in the ground. Never did I think that so much of my identity would come from my time on the field. Now, the turf of Patterson is ingrained in my rug and in my cleats and I will probably carry it with me for a long time.
My living room
I have spent my senior year living off-campus, and I can safely say this is where I’ve truly learned to love shared spaces. From movie nights to Secret Santa to studying for midterms to filming my comps, our living room has become a defining space for my senior year.
I wish I could pull a specific memory from this space, but honestly, I don’t want to — I can’t — select just one moment. I don’t want this period of my life to ever end. I want to stay on our used $50 couch with the AI-generated dog pillow forever. To me, declaring one moment my favorite will mean this time is coming to a close, and I’m not ready to accept that.
Thank you, spaces, for giving me a place to grow and to find myself. Thank you to the people who filled those spaces.
Contact Abigail Montopoli at montopoli@oxy.edu
