Whether they were familiar, semi-familiar, or you’d never seen them before in your life, I know you saw them.

They might have had smiles on their faces and the twinkle of memory in their eyes, but if you happened to (semi-creepily) watch those recent Vanderbilt grads that came back for Homecoming weekend, they looked sad. They appeared to be happy talking and drinking, but the long, nostalgic faces were hard to conceal as they took in the scenes of what they used to be a part of.

They could just have been thinking about the uncomfortable cot/couch/sleeping bag that they have to go back to at their Nashville friend’s apartment later that night, but my guess is that there’s a little more to it.

Things have got to be rough for these new alumni.

One, they have the whole real-world thing to deal with. Some of them still don’t have jobs yet and have to deal with the awkwardness of admitting that to those friends that landed the good consulting and i-banking jobs, the ones in grad school, and even to those undergrads that held better summer internships and have already landed positions for next year. The majority of them do have jobs already, and it must have been frustrating for them to know that this temporary world of midterms and fun will disappear once they’re back at work Monday morning.

Two, they were probably hit by a few realizations once they got back to campus. Once current students started whipping out their new Vandy cards, they probably realized that once the whole student body successfully switches over, alumni will no longer be able to sneak into the football games (unless, of course, they can pay an undergrad to go into the Commodore Card office and get a duplicate).

Also, they realized that they are now the “creepy alumni.” Unlike ladies in the real world, Vanderbilt girls are rarely impressed by occupational successes and would much rather have their friends save them from the weird conversation with the old guy than hung around with him. The alumni may not have cared as much about the creepy status this weekend, though, because they probably also realized that many of the new freshmen are actually too weird to creep on.

The biggest factor contributing to those long faces is the current state of Vanderbilt. These guys came back to relive memories, but things just aren’t the same. Some of them came back to find their fraternity house closed-off so that they couldn’t get in (or, at least, they weren’t supposed to be able to). Others came back to find that they didn’t have their old house at all, so they had to deal with Towers parties and pre-games before they went downtown. Vanderbilt football is back in the gutter, and it’s not as socially unacceptable to spend your one night in town in a girl’s Kissam room.

I am sure things will get better when it comes time for official reunions (respect to the Class of 1949), but until then, coming back might be just as grim as it is fun. I am not looking forward to that.

—Frannie Boyle is a junior in the College of Arts and Science. She can be reached at mary.f.boyle@vanderbilt.edu.