The first week of freshman year can be tough. Living away from home, meeting new people, and adjusting to a new environment isn't easy. However, I found that I learned a lot throughout the first week.
I learned that move-in day is NOT as fun as I imagined, it's just exhausting. I had always imagined move-in day to be a smooth day full of fun decorating and bonding with my roommate. Little did I know, move-in day involves waiting FOREVER in long lines for hours in the humid August heat just to find out that your room is smaller than expected, and that you actually have to unpack all the stuff you've been stuffing into boxes for weeks. Nevertheless, the whole process of setting up your new home is definitely rewarding at the end, because you now have a cute new room and a new best friend to live in it with!
I learned that friendships that happen organically are the best kind. The first week is daunting enough, and can be even more terrifying when you have to go to all the welcome week events not knowing anyone else. As tempting as it is to go into the Facebook group and try to meet up with every person you see, the best types of friendships happen organically. A simple "Hey, my name is ___" to the girl sitting next to you can spark some of the best relationships.
I learned that going to all the welcome week activities doesn't make you a loser. Once getting settled in, it's tempting to want to stay inside your immaculately decorated dorm room instead of venturing out onto the quad to participate in whatever dorky activities your school has planned for you. However, nobody is too cool for Giant Jenga. Trust me on that one. Going out on the quad and meeting new people is how you get accustomed to the campus and make this place start to feel like home.
I learned that I'm not as badass and independent as I thought I was. The first week, I missed my home more than anything; I was constantly thinking about what I would have been doing if I had been home, in turn making myself miserable. Coming in to college, I was not expecting to feel this homesick. However, feeling homesick is just a part of adjusting to your new environment, and as soon as I made new friends and started seeing my lovely campus as my new home, the homesickness faded.
Lastly, I learned that I am capable of being an adult. In the three weeks that I have been here at ISU, I have taken care of myself much better than I have in the past 18 years, quite frankly. Without anyone there to nag me about eating healthy or cleaning my room, I had thought that my life would be in shambles by now. Fortunately, I ended up making choices that were good for me, like not having ice cream every single day and getting some fresh air every once in a while.
Though the first week was tough, by making it past that I proved to myself that I can take on whatever obstacles come my way. I feel more confident, collected, and capable than ever before, and I can't wait to see what the rest of the year has in stock for me!
