College can be a major adjustment period. From new friends to new experiences and everything in between, sometimes it is easy to forget just how much you've learned since you've been away at school. Here is a list of some of the things I have learned that I could not imagine experiencing anywhere else but in college.
1. I learned how to be alone.
Like, really, truly, utterly alone. I learned what it was like to eat meals alone, work out alone, walk to class only to realize that it was cancelled... alone. I really did not realize the amount of time I would spend by myself in college until I was by myself in college, but it made me more comfortable with myself. Nowadays, the best coffee dates I have are the one's with a good book or my laptop, and now I never feel the urge to fill moments of silence or solitude with noise or people. I learned how to be alone and how to like it.
2. I learned how to not be alone.
Like, really, truly, never alone. Eventually, I learned what it was like to never have any time to myself.
Suddenly everything in college became a group event, and I never understood how much of my life would be spent with other people, either. What comes with the territory of spending an inordinate amount of time with people though, is conflict.
Whether it was leaving all of my make-up on the bathroom counter every morning in our suite (this is my formal apology to my roommates from freshman year), or having a roommate who always left the fridge open (still love you though), conflict was bound to happen. Never being alone helped me learn how to deal with disagreements while still appreciating the people around me.
Still working on the make-up-bag-counter-thing, though.
3. I learned how to say no.
To friends, to boys, to taking eighteen credits hours, to going out on Mondays, to pizza at 3 am.
4. I learned how to say yes.
To friends, to boys, to going out on Mondays, to pizza at 3 in the morning. I still have an unwavering "no" to eighteen credit hours, though.
5. I learned how to care more.
About school, about family, about friendships, about things that matter. I have mastered the art of caring a lot.
6. I learned how to care less.
About social status, about boys, about comparing myself to others, about things that don't matter. I have mastered the art of caring a lot less.
7. I learned how to love someone.
Like really, truly, utterly love someone. I learned what it was like to care more about someone other than myself at times, but also learned that I could not stop caring about myself in order to care about someone else. I learned what it was like to really believe that love actually existed, and what it was like to find it the very moment I began to believe that it did not exist.
8. I learned how to not love someone.
I learned what it was like to be on the other side of things- to have someone care more about me than themselves, but also learned how unfair it was for them to stop caring about themselves in order to care about me. I learned what it was like to really believe that love actually existed, even if it wasn't with them.
9. I learned how to lose myself.
In everything. In books, in boys, in yoga, in nature, in pistachio ice cream.
10. I learned how to find myself.
In everything. Especially in books, never in boys, usually in yoga, sometimes in nature, and always in pistachio ice cream.
Through all of the laughs, tears, and "Mom can I transfer?" texts, I have come out on the other end learning more outside of the classroom than I ever thought possible, and I could not be happier.
