Two years ago, I decided to move 1,114 away from my home in the small town of Eatonville, Washington to a city 40 minutes away from Los Angelas. I was telling my mom the other day that I wish I knew what I was thinking at the time I decided to move so far away from home. While I’m not entirely sure what was so appealing to me about Southern California, I have no regrets of moving so far away. While there are obvious downsides, the good absolutely outweighs the bad.
So to my fellow out-of-staters: we're in this together. And to the people who are considering going to college out of state, here are five perks of joining to adventure to experience an out of state school:
- Freedom: Okay, that is a pretty obvious perk to going to school out of state. We have been under our parents roof for about 18 years, it's time to spread our wings.
- You get really good at finding your way through airports: I find myself at the airport about eight times a year. It’s gotten to be such a routine thing for me, I even plan what shoes to wear so I don’t end up barefooted or holding up the line trying to tie them.
- It’s unique compared to colleges in-state: All of my friends' colleges are different in so many cool ways; however, the environment surrounding my school is something that you can’t experience in any other state. For example, the beaches in California are not something I had ever experienced living in Washington.
- Home is just a little sweeter: Nothing feels better than finishing my semester and stepping off the plane back into my home state. The air, the people, and the scenery are definitely some things I’ve learned to appreciate a little bit more.
- It’s a continuous adventure: I love adventure, which is probably the reason I moved thousands of miles from home. Being so far away from home, I had to learn to adapt to an all new environment. I continually get to experience things that I never had the opportunity to experience back at home.
