If you were to ask me who in this world has seen me in my most vulnerable, most hideous and most out of sorts state, I would reluctantly admit that it is anyone who works at the Go Greek on Bedford Drive. I first discovered the yogurt shop as a third grader on the way to a playdate with a friend after school. As a kid foreign to any dessert that didn’t include red dye 40, the taste of Plain Tart and frozen organic gummies that get stuck in your teeth were revolutionary. In the years since that transformative day, Go Greek’s meaning in my life has shifted. Don’t get me wrong, it is still a holy place — maybe even more so now. The best way to describe what Go Greek has become, not just to me but to the greater Los Angeles area, is a Mecca. It is where you travel to at any time of the day, any weather conditions and with anyone who will accompany you. I have gathered at the Go Greek on Bedford drive with almost every single one of my friends. We sit in our car with music blasting, eating yogurt and hashing over the same three topics. Go Greek is a ritual for me and my friends and something that feels like a ritual in my high school experience.
Leaving for college means leaving behind nights spent on Bedford drive and the many other rituals that have defined the last three years. Looking back on my time at the school, it’s easy to feel like it was all filled with study sessions and endless weeks in Weiler Hall. However, it was within all those moments that I developed traditions without even knowing it. The daily activities like grabbing Alfred before layout because I was severely sleep deprived, going to the dog park with my dad when I got home, dancing on the Quad with my friends and yelling at the juniors on The Chronicle to finish their pages are what I will miss most when I move away and what have truly made an impact on me.
It is in having rituals that we learn to define ourselves. The unique things we do to fill the ordinary days are what build our character, shape our values and form our communities. Leaving behind the routine I’ve developed during my high school career feels scary, but also completely necessary. I will build a new routine when I go to college filled with new people and places. Saying that out loud is terrifying, but also assuring because I know it will push me to continue to develop my sense of self and personal values. I don’t know what traditions I will fill the next four years with, but I am sure they will be as central to my life in college as my current traditions are to my life in high school.
