At a time when analog living is making a comeback, why not hop on the trend in a way that you’ll actually cherish for years to come? College is a prime time for making memories, but keeping them doesn’t have to be confined to your Instagram or some other digital medium.
Think of your college scrapbook like a personal diary, but better.
How To Start
Take pictures (duh) — and lots of them — in fact, why not take all of them? Go ahead and make your camera roll collapse under the stress of so many photos. From here, there’s no looking back.
Time starts rolling faster the second you start getting older. Live in the moment, but never be afraid to take that picture. Maybe you already have a thousand of Old Main or a million of sunsets over The Arboretum, but each picture captures a specific moment in time. Don’t let yourself lose it.
Write It Out
If you’re a person of many words, scribbling down notes on your pages could bring the images to life, like commentary on your favorite line in a book. Write down the feelings, the scents, impressions or simply the dates on each of your memories. Celebrate your achievements. Jot down your dreams.
Maybe your love language is words of affirmation. Write a letter to your future self. Write one to your past self. When all of this is over, you’ll have your thoughts to look back on to see how much you’ve grown. Maybe you can also get a few contributions in there from your friends or floormates à la high school yearbook if that’s your vibe.
Putting It All Together
Next time you’re scrolling through your camera roll, pick out the pictures that stand out most to you. Maybe it’s a group photo at a formal or a shot of your half-burnt toast from freshman year. If it makes you smile or brings back a particularly strong memory, print it out.
The big moments belong in shrines of our memories, but life is made in the little moments too.
Don’t hesitate to press a flower or sneak in a perfume strip. When you’re long gone from campus, you’ll appreciate the details you stopped to capture. Collect movie tickets, bar wristbands or just about anything else that will fit between the pages.
A scrapbook allows you to compile all of your memories like Instagram — a monthly recap complete with an OOTD moment or a dedication to a whole day, but it’s far more tangible.
The best part is it doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be real. The charm of the scrapbook is that it collects random snippets, scraps of paper and fragments of other memories you would otherwise discard. Don’t let those go to waste.
What memories will be going in your college scrapbook? Share with us @VALLEYmag on Instagram!
