Student tour guides lead prospective students and their parents through Crozier Williams (Cro), the student center. The tour guide offhandedly says, “And there’s the mailroom.”

“There’s the mailroom?” That is such a lackluster introduction. Our mailroom is a treasure.

At home, I was always excited to get mail. However, the feeling of disappointment usually muddled that feeling of excitement. More often than not, I would discover that none of the hefty-looking mail was for me. 

Here, at Connecticut College, any mail that comes to my mailbox is for me. All of it. AND, it’s not junk mail. 

Sometimes, I find myself online shopping just for the thrill of receiving a package. When you find a pink or yellow slip in your box, you know you have a package waiting for you. Walking across the mailroom to the front desk with that infamous slip in hand, you feel like a champion among the masses. You have a package. A few solemn people will slink past you—they did not receive a slip. You, however, received a slip. You get to pick up a package today. 

The actual process of picking up your package from the front desk is also very pleasant. The handful of people who work in the mailroom are so nice—and potentially omniscient. Once they knew I was sick before I did. As an employee traded my pink slip in for a package, he asked if I was sick. Although at the time I felt fine, the very next day I became very ill.

The mailroom is also a great place to hangout. When Cro is too crowded, my friends and I go to the mailroom and sit on the floor to talk. I don’t know how kosher that is, but no one locks the mailroom, so it can’t be breaking any rules. Honestly, late-night mailroom sessions have become the highlight of many Saturday nights, as weird as that may sound. A hangout in the mailroom can spice even some weekdays up. There was one day last semester when I didn’t have time to go to our main dining hall, Harris, so I stood in the corner of the mailroom and ate some sushi from Oasis snack shop. The shame, especially considering my lack of utensils, was surprisingly minimal. Why? Because no one can feel anything but joy in a mailroom.

So, yeah, on a tour of Connecticut College you will hear about academic buildings, dorms and dining halls. Hey, that’s all well and good, but the real gem on this campus is the mailroom.