Two years ago, I made the biggest decision of my life at the time. I finally decided on a University after changing my mind a countless amount of times, and it was time to pack up and move in. Most of my friends went to school an hour to two hours away from where we all grew up. But me? I decided to move to Wisconsin and leave Michigan in my rear-view mirror.
Ever since I was younger, traveling and not being at home was the best thing in my eyes. Not because I hated my family so much I had to get away, it was because I felt there was nothing left the state had to offer me. So Wisconsin is where I went. Moving into my first dorm was an exciting time for me. New friends, new opportunities, and new scenery (which looked oddly a lot like home) all around me. I was amazed at what I could do here. What I could be here.
Year one was a struggle for me. I missed the food I was so used to eating. Coney Islands are not something Wisconsin had heard of apparently, so eating out was hard at first. To this day when I go home, I make my mom take me to Leo's Coney Island to eat a gyro and lemon rice soup. I learned being six hours from home to appreciate the small things I used to take for granted. I no longer could drive a mile down the street and have anything I was craving at the time. Nor did I have the money to.
Not seeing my family every day was just odd to me and it still is sometimes. Though my mom and I fought often when I was home, we are so close now. Not seeing her every night when I got home was an adjustment. I tell her everything that's going on in my life. She gave me so much advice growing up and really set me up for success but teenage me did not realize that gift until after I was gone. I learned that my mom wouldn't always be there to step in when I needed her so I had to grow up and do things myself. So now she just gets daily phone calls -- sometimes three times a day -- just because I was bored and wanted to say hi. You learn to appreciate the time you have together at the holidays or the random four day weekend you decided to go home for. Family is forever and now I have a college family and a home family.
Being six hours and a time zone away taught me I needed to be patient. People will not always remember you live an hour behind them when they schedule a time to call. You, and they, think you wanted to talk at noon of your own time zones, so they call you at 11 A.M., but you're in class. Sometimes friends ask why no one from home has come up to visit. Every time I tell them its a six-hour drive and fairly expensive, as well as time consuming. So you have to wait until a holiday when you come home in order to catch up on everything that has happened the last few months they forgot to text you about.
College is a wonderful time but knowing you are so far from home can be difficult. You just have to remember you have a family here who loves you just as much as that family back at home. Making a life in a new state is hard at 18 years old, but you learn a lot about not only yourself, but your family.
