My freshman year of college has been full of "firsts," and experiencing my birthday away from home was one of them. I know that some people don't really care for birthdays, but I'm a huge birthday person. Although I do enjoy celebrating my friends' birthdays more than my own, I still like what a birthday stands for. It's a whole day dedicated to you and your existence -- who wouldn't want to celebrate that?
At home, my mom would normally wake me up on my birthday by playing "In Da Club" by 50 Cent. As weird as that sounds, I look forward to hearing the opening line and opening my eyes to my mom singing, "Go, go, go shawty. It's ya birthday." After getting woken up, I'd go out to breakfast and then go to school. I'd hear "Happy birthday, Toria" occasionally, and the day would be pretty normal. After class, I would go home, do homework, and then open a few presents later that night.
I normally wait to celebrate my birthday with my friends until the next day, because my parents like to have family celebrations first, friend celebrations second. This time around, it was friend celebrations first, and family celebrations are yet to come.
Being at school on your birthday isn't that much different from being home, but there were a few things that I missed. Instead of waking up to a musical performance by my mom, she called me later in the day, blaring 50 Cent so I could hear it through my phone. I didn't have time to go out to breakfast because I couldn't afford to miss my 9 a.m. pre-calc class, and obviously nobody looked my way to wish me a happy birthday while walking on campus. However, celebrating was fun all the same.
Instead of having a casual dinner with my friends and then calling it a night, I had the same casual dinner and then was thrown into the Westcott Fountain in freezing weather. At Florida State, it's tradition to be thrown into the fountain by your friends on your birthday. It's supposed to be good luck. After toweling off, I realized how great my birthday away from home actually was.
When you're home, you kind of set a routine for yourself. You do the same thing for holidays and it's easy to get into a rut. Being away from home, I realized that I could do whatever I wanted for my birthday. I invited whoever I wanted and did exactly what I wanted to do. Although I did miss my family, I was okay with being away. They did what they could to make the day special for me, and I know that they will want to celebrate whenever I see them next. I'm excited for what's in store for my future birthdays, and I'm ready to take on my 19th year and make it one of the best years yet.
