No matter where you're coming from or where you're going, there's a lot of challenges with going to a college outside of your home state. I've certainly faced a number of them. Here's some of the ones that I struggle with even now.
1. The Weather is Never Quite Right
At first, I only had this problem when I was in Washington for school. It was the middle of November and there was no snow on the ground at my college. Much to the annoyance of my roommate, who had grown up there, I spent hours complaining about the lack of snow. In my hometown, it almost always snowed before then, sometimes even beginning as early as October. Now I'm starting to be perplexed by the lack of overcast days here in Colorado. It's just too sunny here compared to the weather in Washington. Regardless of where I am going now, the weather is just never what I'm expecting.
2. Seeing Double
Because of just how far away Washington is from Colorado and how limited space is in my car, I can never take everything home from college, and there was no way to bring everything I wanted from home with me. I've wound up with far too many blankets, and two sets of most of my toiletries. One set is at home, and the other is either in use in my dorm or waiting for me in a storage unit. The worst part is that I can't always remember what toiletries are where. I've spent more than one day looking for a particular hair care product that I left up in Washington since I've returned to Colorado. I guess I'll just have to go and buy a second bottle of it.
3. Homesickness Hurts More Than Ever
It comes and it goes, but you always miss where you've come from. While it gets easier the longer you're away from home, there's never been anything quite like the sting of remembering that your parents aren't nearby. While calling your parents and hometown friends helps keep you sane, you find that it's never quite the same for any of you. It especially hits home when you've got the flu in your dorm and your parents can't come out to take care of you for a few days.
4. Navigation Becomes Your Worst Subject
One town was enough for the navigational side of my mind. I knew what streets took me where in my hometown. I still do, actually; but I can't remember specific street names anymore. It doesn't help that when I return and show up with a car, stores have changed hands at least once in the last nine months. On top of that, I've never quite learned how to navigate the college town past the essentials. I know where to get groceries, books, and coffee. Anything more than that and I have to google it.
5. Purchases Make You Consider the Future
As much as I love reading, I've discovered that being so far from home is terrible when all I want to do is read more books. Even with school books, I have to decide which books are worth taking home and which books I want to keep with me for the next year. And no matter how many books I think I'm leaving behind, there's always way more than I thought that are coming home with me.
And even if you really want to buy that cool lamp, you have to think about where it's going to wind up. Are you really going to need it when you head home anyways?
6.Tuition
Whether you're thinking about it, dealing with it, or talking about, tuition is just not fun for an out-of-state student. This is doubly true if most of your friends are in-state. They'll be excited when the tuition comes down just a few hundred dollars, but you're not even sure if that change will help you at all. Honestly, tuition isn't a fun subject for any student, regardless of where they're coming from.
7.Going Home Feels Like Leaving Home
The worst part of going to a college far away from your hometown is that day when you have to pack up your car and say goodbye to your friends. Whether they were your roommates or classmates or just people you met one day in line for coffee, you'll definitely miss them all.
More often than not, when you leave your hometown, you lose contact with the friends you had made there. And it's not just because you're going far away; some of them went far away in other directions. When you make friends in college, they're the kind of people that you enjoy hanging out with, not just ones that live nearby.
So when you get into that car and you're ready to drive all the way back home, you'll find yourself already missing those people that have become part of your daily life, even if it was just a silly Snapchat of something on campus, or a text about some event on campus that they think you would like. And when you're at home, you're looking forward to going back to school and enjoying their company for another school year.
