You spend four years wondering when it will ever end. You think you'll never make it out of high school alive. You look forward to senior year when your class becomes the top dogs, but that feels like an eternity away. Before you know it, you're applying for college, writing scholarship essays and panicking because you have no idea where the time went. One moment you're thinking, "I have plenty of time before I have to become an adult." Then you blink and your next thought is, "What am I actually supposed to do when I don't have parents there to help me?"
I grew up in Indiana and thought that, after high school, you either went to Purdue or Indiana University, and there was no other option unless you wanted to go to community college for the first two years, then transfer. I never knew there was so much more out there.
However, I discovered this decent-sized university far enough away from home to be on my own, but close enough to have family close by. I never heard of anyone going to this university before, but I decided to give it a try. I'm so glad I did.
When a college town becomes your home away from home...
On freshman move-in day, you're hype. You're so excited to finally be on your own and live the college life. You take every chance you get to walk around campus, meet new people, join clubs, go through sorority recruitment or fraternity rush. You get a high from this new life you have started for yourself, but that's all it will ever be: a high.
When a college town becomes a home away from home, the thought of going back to the place you grew up is always in the back of your mind. You count down the days until summer break so you can get away from this "hell hole" they call school.
When a college town becomes your home...
College is what you make it. I'm not saying everyone's college experience has to look the same by any means. I'll recommend Greek Life to you until your ears bleed, but if it's truly not for you, don't do it. If you don't want to join a club, don't do it. However, I will tell you that you must make friends and how you decide to do that is completely up to you.
When a college town becomes your home, your friends become your family. Instead of calling your mom, you call the person who lived in the same residence hall as you freshman year, with whom you became inseparable. Instead of going home on the weekends, you plan trips with your sorority sisters. Instead of worrying about what other people think, you'll realize there are so many other people in this world besides the people you went to high school with. There are people out there who are just as weird as you are!
When a college town becomes a home, you'll start wanting the school year to slow down and the summers to go by fast. Gone are the days of dreading the depressing last days of July and the first of August. As soon as you take your last final, you download a countdown app and update your social media every week to let everyone know, "X DAYS UNTIL I'M REUNITED WITH MY BEST FRIENDS!"
When a college town becomes your home, you realize who you are. You realize what you want to do with your life. You realize you worried about all of the wrong things in high school, and your life has barely even begun.
