I was the only person from my high school that went to my college. When my parents left me on move-in day freshman year, I was completely alone, four hours away from my friends and family. And being fairly shy, it was hard. Sometimes really hard. There were times when I wished I would have gone to the same school as my high school friends, where life would have been easy, where I would have had built-in friends. I would have people to eat with in the dining center, people to watch movies with on Friday nights, people to tell about the cute guy I saw in the library. But at first, I had no one.
I struggled to step out of my comfort zone at times. Even texting the girl from my class to ask her to go eat in the dining hall was scary at first. Everything took effort. I was so used to hanging out with my same group of high school friends every weekend and always having someone to eat with in the lunch room. Now I walked into the crowded dining center alone, having to choose between being the “Hey, can I sit with you?” girl or the one who sat alone, pretending to look at her Instagram, while inside she felt like a friendless weirdo.
Soon after coming to college, I realized I had two choices: sitting in my room alone or taking a leap and talking to some strangers. So I decided to inch my way out of my comfort zone. I had the semi-awkward “So what’s your major?” conversations with the girl living across the hall from me, a few awkward trips to Walmart with people from my classes and slowly, but surely I made friends. The awkward “So what’s your major?” conversation led me to become best friends with the girl across the hall. Trips to Walmart when I didn’t really need to buy anything and just wanted something to do led me to meet another great friend. With every step out of my comfort zone, I got stronger. I realized that there were other people out there like me, looking around for friends. I realized that talking to the cute guy in my class wasn’t that hard and that going to a movie with a girl I didn’t know that well was so much better than being alone.
Looking back on myself as an awkward freshman, nearly two years ago, I can’t believe how much I have grown. I feel like I can do anything now. I can walk into a classroom and feel confident when I don’t know anyone. I am OK sitting with people I don’t really know. I realize now that there are two choices—to sit in your room alone and wonder why you made the choice to go to college alone or head out to the lounge of your dorm and talk to someone. Even if the conversation with the person in your lounge is really awkward, and for a while, some of them were, I suggest the latter.
