You would think that after a little over a month of being at college, the broad expanse of time would make the transition into college a bit more smooth. In my case, the realization that this is the real deal just hit me like a train going 125 miles an hour. It wasn't even after I took my first college exam. It wasn't even after I took my second college exam. It wasn't even after the already countless nights of staying at the library past 1 o'clock in the morning. Let me tell you what it was. It was me winding up at the library to ask for guidance in gathering sources for my first extensive research paper, getting pointed to the general area of where a certain book would be located, gliding my fingers along the spines of books that I didn't know existed, soon finding myself distracted by the overwhelming amount of intriguing book titles, realizing how much time I had wasted, desperately trying to find this one book, finding it, and then realizing that everything I had just done was indeed a metaphor that sums up my college experience up to the culminating point of recognition that I am in college.
Ever since us first-years set foot on campus, it felt as if we were just having an extended stay at camp. I'm not saying that this is relatable to everyone, but there was just a weird funk that took over and had me living the first month or so of college with this sort of la-la-land mentality. It's funny how even when I could recognize and address that I was homesick, I still could not fully comprehend that college is my life now and will be my life for at least another four years. Even when I religiously checked my calendar for when we get to go home for breaks, it still hadn't penetrated my mind that there probably won't be another time that I will be living at home like I had been up until move-in day—that I would just be returning home temporarily, then eventually getting a place of my own in the actually not-so-distant future, limiting my returns home to mere visits instead of stays.
It's hard. I don't know if I could believe anyone who says that they were fully prepared for the bumpy bus ride. Prepared or unprepared, we really must make the best of what we have. Things won't be as easy as sitting around a campfire holding hands and singing "Kum Ba Yah" no matter how much we might want it to; but, hey, at least lofted beds make a comeback from our childhood.
Kids, I mean, Adults...this isn't camp anymore—this is college.
