No college is perfect. From sub-standard food service providers (here’s lookin’ at you, Aramark) to an unhealthy obsession with football, every campus has its hang up, and Rollins College is no exception.

But it is pretty fantastic. Especially if you’re a Hamilton Holt student.

Everything is beautiful. Ridiculously so. In fact, in a 2016 list constructed by website TheBestColleges.org, Rollins College ranked in the top 40 of the 50 most beautiful college campuses across the United States, higher than my alma mater!

As a Holt student though, you typically don’t get to see the beautiful views of the sunlight casting shadows through the Florida moss stamped on the front of every prospective student handbook, or get to enjoy the strangely-adorable benches built like sail boats on the skirts of Lake Virginia. But when walking out of class at 9:30, yawning and wondering whether it’s worth the strange looks to sleep in your car, and you’re surrounded by views like these, how can you NOT be impressed?

Parking isn’t always a problem. At least, not if you’re the Holt student whose classes don’t start until 6:30. Hear me out! Sure, a good chunk of the parking spots are blocked off by an apparently necessary face-lift of the openings looking out onto the Comstock Avenue; and the “LOT FULL” sign is always out in front of the parking garage, even if the lot isn’t actually full; and we’re apparently not allowed to park in the signs marked “RESERVED” – but no one said anything about the tenant signs.

“Decal required Monday – Friday 8AM – 5PM.” Which means, between the glorious hours of 5:01PM and 7:59AM Monday through Friday, any old soul with or without a parking pass can park in these spots. No more driving in circles mentally criticizing people for driving the wrong way, or deciding five minutes before class time would be a great time to learn where the campus approved parking spots are. No, we poor students tried by the wiles of full-time work schedules and the traffic of Interstate 4 now have another option: taking advantage of specifically-worded signs and temporarily inconveniencing the residents of downtown Winter Park.

Class sizes are small, which makes discussions poignant, companionable, and intimate. Growing up in South Florida, my classes always had at least 30 kids in it. Sometimes we numbered close to 40, and I remember more than one occasion when there weren’t enough desks in the classroom on the first day of school. Classrooms were cramped, and loud, but when you don’t know any different you can’t really complain.

When I arrived on campus for my first day of classes, my class only had six students. Six. Seven adults in a classroom set up for maybe 25. It has been glorious.

Each of us has enough space to spread out our notes for the class. We’ve all become close in the last few months, and are quick to make jokes and tease each other. Due to the exceptionally small class size, my professor had enough “spare” textbooks to hand out to each of us so we didn’t have to spend money buying/renting our own. To be fair, not all classes are lucky enough to be this small (though I have to say, compared to my University classes, the breathing room is exceptional and absolutely wonderful). But I do feel the difference – having less students means having more attention from the professor, which means you’re better able to engage in the material and, overall, retain information.

I could go on and on. Becoming a Rollins student is the only reason I have some semblance of understanding of school spirit, because it certainly didn’t exist when I was in University. So thank you, fellow students; thank you Rollins professors; and thank you Rollins administrators for making the Hamilton Holt School one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had.

(And for all the other wonderful things you do, of course.)