To Our Readers:

Ok, I'll say it. I miss the Hideaway. When I heard over the summer that Duke's infamous, decades-old, on-campus bar was closing, I figured it wouldn't matter. "It's just a bar," I told myself. At the time, it was hard to imagine missing the run-down place that so many of us spent the year complaining about.

I don't miss the hours of standing, unable to find a place to sit, the countless beers spilled on me, or the broken jukebox in the corner. Instead, I miss the tradition that the Hideaway represented and the knowledge that no matter the day or time, I could always find a fellow Blue Devil within its walls.

Growing up my parents regaled my brother and I with tales of the Rathskeller, a bar at a local New Jersey college, and a place they frequented more times than they could count. But in turn, for every night they spent there, they had a memory to match.

The point is, all of us have our Hideaway, that college hangout we can't imagine going through a year without. It might be a spot in the Gardens or a favorite restaurant, but we all have a comfortable space we associate with school, that in our old age we'll tell stories about, a place we can't imagine our college experience without.

Maybe the Hideaway wasn't quite the same as Cheers, and certainly it wasn't as orderly, but it was constancy amongst changing dorm rooms, classes, and dining establishments. And though not everyone in the Hideaway was guaranteed to know your name, the benefits of the two places were the same.

As author Karen Kaiser Clark once said, "Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose carefully." But even while moving forward and reaping the benefits of college, it's important to find at least one place to ground you--that you can look back on as a reminder of who you used to be and what it was like to be young.

So whether it's your last year here, or your Duke experience is just beginning, make sure you find a place to call your own, that you don't take for granted or itch to get away from. Because someday, no matter where or what it is, you'll miss it.