Almost exactly one year ago, I made the decision to move over 2,000 miles away from the place I knew as home for 18 years. Despite occasional homesickness that most college students are at some point plagued with, making the decision to go to college far from home was one of the best decisions I’ve made for many of reasons.
1. You are forced out of your comfort zone
2. You have a new city to call your own
The streets have unfamiliar names and you might find yourself forced to navigate public transportation across town. Sometimes, getting lost is the best way to find your way.
3. You learn who you really are
Take yourself away from the people who have known you since Kindergarten and throw yourself into classrooms of people who have no idea who you are. In the face of new things and a new place, you’ll figure out who you are as an individual--away from everything you’ve always known.
4. Your new friends are different, but a good different
They may not have known you since pre-K, but they live down the hall or in the building next door and they’ve probably already seen you at your worst (and best). They know you based on the sense of self that you’ve cultivated thus far in college.
5. Your relationships with people from home will change
You will most likely talk to your parents more over the phone than you do when you’re under their roof. You will stay in touch with the people whose relationships you value the most and you might differentiate your best friends from those who you happened to see in the halls every day.
6. You have complete independence
Most college students will have more independence just living away from home, but living more than just a car-ride away gives you a different sense of the term. When you’re sick and can’t just go home, you have to rely on yourself and your friends to get you through it. I promise they’ll come through with Nyquil when you need it. Homesickness can’t be solved by running back home, but you learn to surround yourself with people who make your homesickness irrelevant.
7. Going home is more special
While you may not be able to go home on the weekends, you will look forward to the scheduled trips home--making them that much more special. You will probably plan every minute of every day you’re home and you always have the next trip to look forward to.
8. Culture shock can be cool
The culture of an entirely new city can be intimidating, but it can also add to your experiences and provide a new perspective with which to view the world. The people are different, the food is different, but not necessarily in a bad way.
9. There’s SO MUCH new food
10. Home will always be home
In the months before you leave, you are terrified that when you return, everything will have changed. When you come back home, however, the silverware is still in the same kitchen drawer and your best friends still live less than two miles away.
