Around this time a year ago, I remember feeling so anxious for the start of school. I was going to begin my freshman year of college on the other side of the state. It was different from the three years before in which I comfortably transitioned into each school year knowing all of my teachers and who my friends were. This time around, I was starting over.
For me, the first semester wasn't easy. While I was having a lot of fun and getting the hang of my classes and schoolwork, I felt homesick. I wasn't exactly feeling comfortable just yet. I had friends, but just wasn't sure where I belonged. In the effort to adjust to college life, I also felt that I was losing my sense of self.
When you move to a new city and live on your own, you will notice a change. You won't have all of the same interests that you did in high school. Things that mattered before won't anymore and things that didn't matter before will start to. You'll have the opportunity to evaluate yourself and maybe realize new ideas, thoughts and beliefs you didn't have before. Sometimes removing yourself from what is familiar is the best way to find who you are.
As some things in your life begin to change and you become more involved in your new life at school, you may start to feel yourself distancing from your friends and family at home. You may begin to have disagreements with them due to the fact that your interests have changed and you both may not feel the same about certain things anymore.
It's okay to have disagreements. My biggest piece of advice for an incoming freshman, however, would be to not let those disagreements hurt your relationships. Don't lose touch with people back home. Your new college friends will be great, but they can never replace the ones who saw you at your worst and still stuck through it all with you. It will be difficult when they're all across the country at different campuses also starting a new life, but small actions can go a long way. Texting my best friend from high school every day made me feel like we were still experiencing college together. I FaceTimed my family once a week so I felt like I was still coming together with them at the end of the day like we did at dinner every night. I hung out with my high school friends as much as I could over break and I felt like we picked up right where we left off.
It's okay to love college and your new life, but don't make it so it's all that you have. As I'm sure you learned in high school, four years goes fast. Enjoy it and make sure you still have those friends you made growing up when you come back home for good.
