Shona Smith and Barb Cornor remember sitting in the "fishbowl" at Wanganui Hospital gossiping, as they watched fellow nursing students getting picked up by "acquaintances on motorbikes".
The two women were living in the hospital's Lambie building in the 1960s and 70s while they studied, and have fond memories of sitting in the waiting room, ready to be picked up by friends and boyfriends.
Mrs Smith, now a Whanganui District Health Board registered nurse, began studying there in 1977, while Mrs Cornor, a clinical services manager, started in 1969. The waiting room - known as the fishbowl - is undergoing $50,000 worth of renovations to make the reception area better and more secure.
"The actual centre is going to be extended out," Mrs Smith said. "There will be a waiting area that's more private."
The rest of the area will be secured, with staff cards needed to get in. Video footage caught a hospital visitor strolling out of the building with a toilet roll under his arm.
Now their fishbowl is becoming an office area.
"We've lost great memories," Mrs Smith - but, as the two women reminisced, it was clear those memories lived on despite the renovations.
There was Peter the payroll man - and a fellow student's future husband - walking past complaining about his pants being too short.
There were memories of Mrs Smith in her leathers with a new hairstyle "looking like a tart" as she waited for her "acquaintance on a motorbike" to pick her up.
And there were memories of watching who was being picked up by who and gossiping about it. They would grab their coffees and "congregate down there".
"You used to be able to sit in there and watch who was going out with who," Mrs Cornor added.