Attending a college far away from home was always top criteria on my college criteria list because I thought "getting away" was the right thing to do. New people, new experiences and new opportunities. Coming from New York, applying to a school like Wisconsin resulted in skeptical remarks. The idea of going from the East coast to the Midwest seemed questionable, but it was all I wanted in my college experience.
After being in school for almost two years now, I’ve come to appreciate it all. The university offers challenging, yet interesting classes, social life and greek life allow me to be friends with a large range of people from all over the nation and the spirit demonstrated by the student community allows me to feel a part of something greater than myself.
But sometimes, we get caught up in it all. After a long weekend of doing school work, spending time with friends and tailgating for the football game, it’s the time we spend laying in our bed on a Sunday night, unable to fall asleep, pondering the idea that we’re actually growing up and life truly moves fast. It's in those moments we realize that we’re just not kids anymore. It makes us think about home and truly appreciate it for what it is.
School makes us appreciate home for plenty of reasons. Firstly, our parents. College is the first time, for many of us, where we are forced to become independent. Whether it be planning out meals, doing laundry or just scheduling our days, there’s no one doing it for us anymore. Our parents are only a phone call away, yes, but college is the time to buckle down and learn how to stay on top of responsibilities with no one forcing us to to be diligent besides ourselves.
Additionally, the idea of freedom is overwhelming. It’s an exciting knowing college is basically life without rules. We can do what we want when we want and no one is stopping us. If I want breakfast for dinner, that’s what I’ll have. If I want to go out every night of the weekend, there’s no one telling me that I have to wait until my room is clean and my homework is done. However, the freedom is exciting, but if you do make the wrong decisions, you can find yourself not knowing how to balance each task resulting in stress and nervousness.
They say “home is where the heart is.” I am now able to put meaning to that cheesy, yet extremely true phrase. The idea of missing home, even though we love our college, solely reinforces the fact that we’re lucky enough to have something that we feel attached to. If there was nothing in the world we were attached to, then we wouldn't miss anything when we're away from home.
