For almost all of us, picking which school to continue our education at was one of the hardest decisions to make in our lives. Moreover, facing the question of whether or not to move away from home to attend college is something that most future college students find exceptionally intimidating. For a lot of people, picking a local school that's easy to commute to is the most appropriate decision. Whether for financial or personal reasons, those individuals made the choice that made the most sense for them.
I have always known that I wanted to go away to school. Ever since elementary school, I dreamt of where my future would take me as I collected t-shirts, hoodies, lanyards and other accessories from different universities. I watched my older cousins and my big brother move away to their "home away from home" and couldn't wait to do the same. Once I was a senior in high school, I hadn't applied to one local school.
The funny thing was that, no matter how sure I was that I wanted to continue my education elsewhere, I still had to take that same nerve-racking leap of faith that almost every other teenager in the country was encountering. How was I supposed to just move away from everything I grew up with? But I wasn't going to let those jitters stop me; I told myself that I was going to move away no matter how hard it was at first.
Making the transition was hard. I remember lying in bed and staring at the ceiling on my first night in my dorm, thinking, "What did I do?" Luckily, I was warned that those feelings were likely to occur and that they could last for weeks or even months. That is something that every student moving away to school deserves to be warned about.
In hindsight, I would not have changed a thing. Moving away to school has provided me with so much more than just an education. The experience has allowed me to flourish and grow in ways I had never imagined!
One of the most risky but rewarding choices I first made was to live in a suite-style dorm with three strangers. I can recall "stalking" them on Facebook and Instagram, thinking, "This is going to be interesting." And it was interesting -- in the best way imaginable. Coming out of the experience, I learned so much from them. I not only had one of the best years of my life because of them, but I had three new best friends who I came to consider family.
Beyond dorm life, I began to fully understand what it meant to become an independent person. I no longer had the option to go running to my parents whenever I needed something or didn't know what to do. This was uncomfortable for me at first, but as I look at who I am today, I couldn't be more thankful. I've learned so much about how to take care of my own mental and physical health through managing school-related stress and having to choose and sometimes make my own meals. I have been taught how to build and maintain relationships with new people, in addition to being taught how to deal with difficult people in a responsible way. Most importantly, I've learned how to experience the world on my own.
It's still hard to go back to school after being home for a break or weekend, but as they say, you're a lucky person if you have something that is hard to say goodbye to. Going through those hard times is humbling, and it's something that I personally think everyone should experience. I can hardly imagine my life without any of the things that I have gained throughout my college experience, and I am immensely grateful that I was able to have the opportunity that I had.
