Wow. Fall of 2017. After a summer of domesickness– or perhaps even longer than that for those of us who decided to spend our spring semester frolicking around foreign countries – the return to Our Lady’s campus brings us back to the normal and the familiar.

Or does it?

Much has changed around here for this new semester, which is already filled with new classes, new friends, and new experiences. To ring in this exciting time, I thought it would be appropriate to discuss some of the other new things at Notre Dame that everyone is experiencing right now.

LimeBike: Therese was right to jeer about these LimeBikes, with their eye- melting paint jobs and fancy iPhone apps. Surely, they’re the hottest fad in transportation since Uber drivers discovered the AUX cord. The idea of Limebike is actually pretty great, and it’s sort of entertaining to see flashes of neon streak across campus. I’ll admit, though, that it might take a while to get used to seeing Notre Dame’s campus treated like a bicycle warzone (evidenced by the three bikes I saw slain on God Quad just this morning).

Taylor Swift: The old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now. While I’m totally ready for angry, zombie Taylor, I know a lot of you folks might feel personally betrayed by New Taylor unceremoniously killing Old Taylor. But regardless of any dissenting opinions, new Taylor is here, and probably here to stay, and I think we should just embrace it as part of this general culture of change that’s happening around campus.

Reckers Hours: I have one word to truly encapsulate my feelings about the new Reckers hours – why? Why why why why why? Why on earth must you forgo your beloved 24/7 status? We loved you for that. We cherished you for that. We deserve answers!

North Dining Hall (and other dining related news): Die-hard SDH apologists are having existential crises right now, because New North is blowing minds. Everything is unstable and the world is coming undone. The eclipse is probably to blame.

When it comes to dining halls, I only know one thing to be true anymore – that the newfound ability to eat in the dining hall with off-campus friends by using your unused swipes is beautiful, right, and good. Nothing existential about squad brunch.

The Football Stadium: Sure, Notre Dame Stadium isn’t entirely new. But if you went to that Rudy watch on the field, then you know that not all is exactly the same as it was in 1975 when Rudy did his thing (or at least in 1993 when the movie was released). The benches are no longer wooden, the box seating is pretty 21st century, and the shiny new video board sneers triumphantly at angry ND football purists who, for some reason, hate the idea of getting instant replays of stellar athletic feats.

Lacey Silvestri is a senior English and history major who listened to the entire Taylor Swift page on Spotify while writing this article. Recommend favorites to her at lsilvest@nd.edu.