College.
/ˈkälij/
Noun.
1. an educational institution or establishment, in particular.
What an odd word, or should I say experience? Everyone always talks about college, but the actual idea of it doesn't set in until you've been here for a while. Living so far away, living independently, trying to figure out what it means to live like a grown up; all these factors come into play when you think about school. It's all so weird and so new. New is good, but change can be really difficult. It is awkward and makes things messy sometimes. You get used to how things are and then change comes along and boom, you're back to fumbling around trying to figure your life out. There is no guide on how to successfully "college" unless you count all those weird books your estranged relatives give you for your high school graduation (if you know, you know, if not, consider yourself lucky). College brings change, and many things come with that change.
Along with change, college brings freedom. Free of the past, free from your mom's spaghetti pie and free to be whoever or whatever you want. Freedom is weird too. It is not as awkward and messy as change, but still weird. Starting over can be the best feeling in the world. Who you were in high school no longer defines you. No one can tell you who to be or what to believe. That boy you loved in high school no longer determines if you go out with your friends or not. That mean girl that sat next to you in math no longer determines how you feel about yourself. At the end of the day, it only matters what you think, and how you feel about yourself. Experiencing what it is like to have all the weight and pressure of having to be someone you've always been lifted off your shoulders is alleviating to say the least. Hey, if you're a bird, I'm a bird, right? So fly high all you college kids that spent your entire high school career with an 11:00 p.m. curfew, but not too high because failing out might result in the reinstatement of that horrendous curfew.
Sure, college also makes you broke and tired and hungry just about 24/7 and you feel like your next mental breakdown is right around the corner, but it is so worth it. Worth it because the happiness it will bring you once you graduate will be unmeasurable (or so I have been told, freshman). Your life begins when you go to college. You find out who you want to be and what you want to do, even if that means changing your major five or six times. But that is the beauty of it, isn't it? You can change your major six times, you can forget to shower for a couple days and you can forget what actual good food tastes like (shout out to you dining hall, you never cease to make me question what I'm eating). And through all of those forgetful, and sometimes embarrassing moments, you don't have to worry because every other person around you is scrambling around too. Yes, your mom still schedules your dentist appointments, but that doesn't mean you can't decide what you want to do with your life and then change your mind 1,947,926,975 more times. Your life begins again when you graduate and heck, you can start all over then too. Go ahead, you daredevil.
Thank you college for teaching me how to accept change and to be excited over freedom...oh and yes thank you for the education too. I guess that's what is actually most important.
