Looking back on the past 10 years, Eva Kalajian B.S. ’22 M.S. ’24 Ph.D. ’26 has a conversation with her younger self. She addresses her personal accomplishments and lessons she has learned in her journey through college and graduate study.

We all have them. The sensory experiences that transport us back in time and envelop us in the warm embrace of reminiscence. But is this sentimental recollection the only power of nostalgia? Or might this distinct yet universal experience actually have something to teach us about the present?

This past January, my parents and I visited the place they had met 25 years prior: Cairo, Egypt. While all my previous travels have offered insights into the country I was visiting, this trip in particular allowed me to see firsthand what I had learned in History and Government classes at the College of William and Mary. Egypt has been a vibrant place for over 5,000 years, and I was able to experience the brilliance of both ancient and modern Egyptians.

Studying abroad invokes a range of emotions, including exhaustion and burnout. Continue reading for a brutally honest appraisal of a semester abroad in Granada, Spain.

Ethan Kula ’24 explores the bridge between East and West laid down by fortune cookies from Sadler Center Court. Even though their fortunes are meant to be a comforting act of trust in one’s future told from the East, he discovers that the Western mindset towards the future has seeped into the heart of the fortune cookie, betraying any pretense of its Asian origin.

I have aphantasia, the complete inability to visualize.

After spending my freshman year at the College of William and Mary, I uprooted myself from my new family and moved across the Atlantic — 3,537 miles away — to Scotland. When I applied to the Joint Degree Programme with the University of St Andrews, I knew it was going to be an amazing adventure: two years at two separate universities, two distinctly different college experiences merged into a singular degree. In this coastal oasis, I have found another community that I can honestly call home.

We are our own worst critics. Join Emma Henry ’25 as she discusses her journey with trichotillomania, a compulsive hair-pulling disorder.

This semester, Flat Hat Magazine held its third short story contest open to all students at the College of William and Mary. Participants were asked to write a short story based on the song “Reflection” from Disney’s Mulan. Katie Kauppi ’23 and Mateus Dutra ’23 wrote stories incorporating literal and metaphorical reflections on the self. Kauppi evokes nostalgic simplicity in her story of a young adult reflecting on life through the lenses of a father’s sunglasses, while Dutra examines the experience of self-reflection at a pond. Congratulations to our winners, and thank you to everyone who submitted!