Welcome to Notre Dame!
I want to congratulate you all for your admission to the University of Notre Dame! You have worked incredibly hard to get to this point and should feel super proud!
I’m a senior this year, so I’m coming up on my last few months at this university–while I’m sad to leave, I’m so grateful for the amazing experiences I’ve had thus far. While you make your final decisions on where to attend college, I wanted to share some items from my Notre Dame bucket list, hopefully showing you the awesome things that happen on this campus and beyond!
Visit Each Residential Hall
I’m still trying to complete this one, but I think this is a fun way to connect with others across campus! One of my favorite ways to do this is by visiting each hall’s food sales, as each of the dorms sell something during the week to raise money. I live in Flaherty Hall, and we have BearlyBaked (edible cookie dough) on Mondays and FroNana (frozen banana dessert) on Thursdays. Some other fun ones include Alumni’s Dawg Pizza and Knott’s Waffles and Macaroni. If you are up late studying and need a snack, you are bound to find some food within a residence hall! You can also achieve this goal by attending dorm masses, as every hall has a chapel and weekly masses on certain days. Dillon Hall’s Milkshake Mass is every Thursday and is a great way to unwind with friends, faith, and fun milkshakes!
Indulge in the Performing Arts
Another way to stay involved on campus is by attending performances from all sorts of groups and clubs. The Debartolo Performing Arts Center puts on amazing shows, film series, and cultural services that ties students to the local South Bend Community. This venue also hosts many student organizations, from the Symphony Orchestra, Concert /Jazz Bands, and DanceCo to the Glee Club, Voices of Faith, and the Magnificat Choir. If theater is more your thing, watch our student run theater group PemCo, or laugh along with the Humor Artists. It's fun to be involved with the productions, but watching them is just as entertaining! See as many performances as you can; everyone behind the scenes works incredibly hard to put on a great show!
Cheer on ND’s Sports Teams
While watching Notre Dame football games is an incredible experience, it’s also so much fun to attend other sporting events! This semester, I’ve loved cheering on Women's Basketball and Men's Hockey, but here you can check out all of the amazing teams and their schedules. All of our student athletes work hard, and it truly shows on the field! Last year, Men’s Lacrosse and Fencing won national championships; it's incredible to see them play and master their craft.
Travel (Internationally or Not!)
One of my favorite things about ND is the incredible reach and opportunities available around the globe! Outside of Notre Dame, I have had the ability to travel to Sydney, Australia for a semester abroad last spring and to Dublin, Ireland with the marching band to cheer on the football team. In addition, this summer I will be heading to London as a program assistant for the Engineering Summer Study Abroad Program. I have always wanted to travel, explore new places, and immerse myself in different cultures, so fulfilling that through Notre Dame has been a dream! Even if going abroad sounds daunting, it should definitely be on your bucket list to travel to the dunes in Michigan, take a weekend and explore Chicago, or even get a pretzel at the University Park Mall.
Romanticize Daily Life
Everything else on this list involves some level of coordination and planning, but something simple you can do every day (even starting right here right now!) is to romanticize your life. If this term is unfamiliar to you, it essentially means to enjoy the small things and be present in every moment. On campus, this can look like taking a walk around the lakes, listening to some music and enjoying the scenery, or even trying out that new smoothie at the Hagerty Cafe in Duncan. I know that I’ll miss those little moments, so soak them up when you get here to campus! If you want to take a closer look at what daily life is like at ND, follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Youtube!
I hope you can use this guide as a baseline for your Notre Dame journey, but the most important thing to check off on your bucket list is to enjoy college! You get out what you put in, and as long as you are connecting with others, making memories, and not taking life too seriously, you’ll be just fine.
Congratulations again, and I wish you all the best!