First year of college: check!
Getting home from college: check!
Wishing I didn't pack so much: check!
As I get back from college and finally think I have some time to relax while home for a long summer break, boy was I wrong. As I went to college, I packed a lot. When I came back from college, I came back with everything that I brought, but times two... or times three...
In your first year of college, you have no idea what to expect going into it. No matter how much advice people give you and no matter how many times people have told you about what college has been like for them, you still will have no idea what to expect, as you hadn't experienced it yourself.
No matter reading this article, the chances of you still overpacking are very big. For one, you'll have empty closets and empty drawers at home because you will think to yourself:
"Hmm... will I wear this? I don't know, maybe, I'll bring it in case."
That thought will go through your mind for every article of clothing you have. That thought will also cross your mind for every piece of make-up, jewelry, hair product, accessory, and anything else you can think of.
For one, you will go shopping during your time at college, whether for clothing or food, you will somehow end up with more than you came with, trust me. You will have plenty. In the end, everyone looks nice maybe every once in a while, but you'll almost everyday end up wearing comfy clothes to class. It's college, you will most likely get in the habit of waking up 5-10 minutes before class, throwing something on, and calling it a day. What you look like for class everyday really does not matter, unless you have a presentation that day or something you need to look presentable for. However, when you are sitting at a desk itching for the answer to a math problem, or at a writer's block, you can get away with wearing something comfy.
When packing for college, you have to haul all of your belongings from your car to your dorm room. It is not as easy as you would like to imagine it to be, especially if you bring a lot of stuff. Be meticulous with what you pack because odds are you won't need or even look at or use half of what you would pack. As the course of the year went on, I started to find more and more things I didn't even know I had or packed.
As moving out, all I could say to myself was, "I wish I did not overpack". And the look on my mom and dad's faces was most definitely an "I told you so!".
