Like every year, I was greeted with the arrival of Hurst Day not by the bagpipes, but by email. On that fateful Wednesday, I instinctively woke up at around 6 a.m. when my alarm generally does not go off until 8 a.m. for my classes; it was almost like I knew that it was Hurst Day. Once I opened my email, all my suspicions were confirmed. Sadly, I was never able to hear the bagpipes in person. Besides Hurst Day not happening during my sophomore year due to COVID, the first three years of my time here were spent in the Mercy Apartments, where the bagpipes never played due to sensitivities among the residents. This year, I am living in Ryan Hall, so I was excited to be able to finally hear them, only to learn that they only went to the freshman residence halls, so I was pretty disappointed about that.After eagerly getting dressed, I met up with my friends and we went down to the Mary Garden to check out all of the costumes. There were plenty of amazing costumes, from the two different Wizard of Oz groups, a team of three guys all dressed as Saul Goodman, a group dressed as traffic cones to a group wearing bedsheet togas. I was somewhat sad because my friends and I had plans on being a team for the scavenger hunt with all of us in our fast food uniforms (I worked at McDonald’s over the summer while one friend worked at Arby’s and the other at Sara’s), but we could never find a fourth person. Despite this, it was a lot of fun seeing everyone dressed up. Additionally, I feel like the activities they had available were a lot more fun than in previous years. In the past, I would only ever watch others attempt the obstacle courses and other games because I did not have anyone to do them with. This time I had a lot of friends to hang out with, so I played the obstacle course, the wrecking ball game and the meltdown game. I also thought that the theme for the food this year was really interesting, and the lunch and dinner were both amazing as always. Seriously, I do not think I can ever get enough of that brownie sundae and this Marylander hopes that they bring back the ravioli with crab sauce sometime soon. This year’s Hurst Day was both nostalgic and sad for me as it was my last Hurst Day because I am a senior.However, I do plan on remaining in the Erie area while I finish my advanced degrees after graduation, so who knows: maybe I’ll wander onto campus during a future Hurst Day and take in the fun all over again.