There are so many things to love about this campus. There are beautiful cherry blossom trees in the springtime to upload to Instagram. There’s a relaxing hill that serves as a magnet to procrastinators, anyone with a guitar and the occasionally out of place sunbather. There’s your roommate walking out of LaPenta on their way to class…and there’s your other roommate, and your ex-roommate, and that RA that wrote you up last night, and that kid you could have sworn transferred.

Let’s face it. This campus is undoubtedly beautiful, but it is small, and I mean really small.

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t always a bad thing. But when your weekend’s a little blurry and you’re not quite sure who might have seen you, it can be pretty rough.

I’d put money on the fact that every single student here has had at least one unbearably awkward run-in on this campus. You were at the gym right? Or in track pants? Yeah. It happens.

How do we get past it? I’m assuming most seniors are just used to it by now, taking each compromising moment in stride with a fake smile that most likely fools neither of the run-in victims. This is just something we signed up for when we enrolled here…along with a subconscious 2 a.m. Cannones craving and the acceptance that there will be no more calm silence, only bagpipes.

Are all these run-ins and small-campus quirks really that bad, or do they make a good story?

With a population of 3,500 undergraduate students, give or take, versus a larger school like University of Hartford’s 6,500 undergrads, it’s easy to feel a bit trapped.

For sanity’s sake, let’s think of it as Cheers. Unfortunately, everybody probably knows your name – or at least your face, year or major. (In the fear of sounding overdramatic, let’s just say everybody recognizes you from something. Let’s just hope it’s not who you were dancing with last night.)

But seriously, even though being able to walk your entire campus in twenty minutes might have its uncomfortable downsides, there’s more than enough advantages to go around.

How many early morning classes would you have missed your freshman year if you needed a shuttle to take you from Loftus to your classroom? That’s real life. There are campuses that actually have a shuttle service that goes to buildings, and I’m not talking about the Avalon.

SUNY Oswego in upstate New York is home to nearly 9,000 undergraduate students with a 690-acre lakeside campus. This college was actually my top choice, until I heard they recently installed underground tunnels to get to class on days that hit the negative degrees.

Is that really what you want out of college? Obviously not if you chose Iona.

I guarantee you hundreds of Oswego seniors find themselves still meeting people at graduation. Hey, to each their own, but one of my favorite things about Iona, despite everything I’ve said, is the ability to walk ten feet and run into someone you know.

I like being smiled at. I like the occasional across-campus wave. I also hate the cold and tunnels freak me out.

Another thing to appreciate about Iona is the classroom size. When I began applying to college, I pictured every building to look like the lecture rooms from Legally Blonde: 50-60 students in a class, lecture style, raised seats and Mac books all around. What I got: more intimate classrooms with about 30 students tops (unless you’re talking about STL a.k.a. the Hunger Games of all courses).

I wouldn’t have it any other way. I appreciate that my professors recognize me outside of the classroom, on days that I didn’t oversleep of course, and approach me with a kind smile. With a smaller student population, these teachers are more than likely to push for their students to do well because they have the time and the intimacy to do so.

Whether we realize it or not, Iona is giving us so much more than an education. It is giving us the personal relationships we need in life. Granted, there are a few relationships I’m sure everyone can do without, like that out of place sunbather on Walsh Hill. Seriously, put a shirt on.

I’m not saying it’s unhealthy to avoid the awkwardness of a small campus. There are some things you can do to fight the discomfort. If you persistently bump into someone you would rather throw a rock at, change your route. Sometimes seeing someone you don’t want to see ruins your mood, and if you’re like me, that rut is hard to crawl back out of. Walk down Hubert instead of on-campus.

Walk with a friend. If it’s an ex you’re worried about seeing, this is definitely your best bet. Let them see you happy. Tell your best friend to distract you if they see them from afar and they see that you haven’t yet. If all else fails, have them tickle you or talk about Ryan Gosling.

I hate to say it but these tricks don’t always work. At Iona College, run-ins are almost inevitable. Just remember the advantages next time you see that person and, most importantly, keep walking, because odds are you’ll see someone that will make you smile again in about fifteen steps.

To contact The Ionian’s Meaghan McGoldrick, e-mail her at [email protected]