The first year of college is one filled with changes and new experiences. While most of the changes encountered happens during first semester, a big wake-up call that my life really is changing was celebrating my birthday away from home for the first time.
I knew that it would be a strange day, especially that it was in the middle of my sorority rush experience. Waking up on my birthday, I found many messages from my family and friends at home. It was weird to not go downstairs to find balloons in my kitchen and my mom grinning from ear to ear screaming "Happy Birthday!"
Opening presents from my family was also an interesting experience. After lugging three boxes back to my dorm, my mom insisted I wait until at least my sister was home from school so I could FaceTime them while opening my presents. This was one of the few times I was glad my mom was as ~extra~ as she usually is. It made at least one aspect of my birthday somewhat the same.
Planning for dinner was also stressful. It was a Monday and I am not the person who loves celebrating their birthdays, so I just assumed my friends and I would just eat at the dining hall. When I asked my friends when they wanted to go to dinner, they were appalled that I was not doing anything special.
It took some convincing, but I told them that I was 100% okay with just going to the campus dining hall and eating cake with them in my dorm room. While this was simple, I enjoyed being able to celebrate with my friends even if it was just for a little while.
Although my first birthday at school was definitely different, I still had a good birthday. I was shown how loved I was and got to talk to friends that I had not really kept in touch with throughout college.
I may never get completely used to not having my family there on my birthday, but each year I think celebrating my birthday will get easier as my friends start to feel more and more like family.