Everyone says that transitioning to college is hard. And they are right. You are putting yourself in a different routine than you had for the last eighteen years. You are waking up earlier or later, and you’re not eating breakfast with your family anymore. No more fighting over the comics section of the newspaper on a Sunday morning, no more rushing to get homework done on the bus ride to school; all of that is gone now that you’re in college. I thought it would be hard for me to settle in the college life. But I was wrong.
When my parents dropped me off at college for the first time, I was excited and nervous. But my parents were coming back in five days, when everyone else was moving in, so I was just excited to have them come back so quickly. I was lucky enough to sign up for a pre-orientation program, so I moved into college earlier than most of the students. Once my parents left that day, I didn’t cry at all. Five days later before they left, I was crying for a good half hour before they left. But I was able to recover from my crying in five minutes, surprisingly.
For a good few weeks into college, it was hard to get used to my new schedule. But after a while, everything just fell into place. I was not dreading going home. It was a mini-vacation away from all of the schoolwork piling up on me. I had started getting used to college. And after a little bit, I realized that this is the kind of life I was meant to have. College no longer seemed daunting to me. My schedule fit me well, and I was making a lot of friends that made me feel wholesome for the first time in my life. I was able to do new things, like stay up late doing homework or going to the library at midnight to finish an essay, or even taking showers late at night.
College is my new home. People say that home is where the heart is, and my heart is in my college town. I’m at home where I have routine built into my day. Wake up, get ready for class, go to breakfast, go to class, learn, leave class, go to my other class, go to my room, do homework, go to dinner, get ready for bed, go to bed, wake up and repeat it all over again five days a week. Without a routine, or schedule, it’s hard for me to feel at home.
College feels more like home to me than my real home ever has. I am surrounded by a great community of people who support me throughout my journey through college. My routine is flexible enough for me to do anything I wanted to along with my education. The home I grew up is still my home, but ever since I left to go to college, everything feels different. I have to adhere to rules concerning my bathroom. My family is always busy, there is always something going on that I cannot control. It still feels like home, I just feel like a visitor sometimes.
