Leaving home as an only child was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. I was scared as usual, but I was even more excited to leave. I lost a lot of friends my senior year of high school, which was a blessing in disguise if I do say so myself. College was this glorious place where I would make this huge group of friends, eat whatever I wanted, and most importantly, have all the freedom in the world. After a few months of being away, I realized I held my expectations a little too high. Being away had it's pros and it's cons, but there are a few things that if you can't relate to yet, you should know.
1. It's not like high school, I can promise you that.
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College is nothing like high school, but you won't believe that until you experience it yourself. My biggest problem was that in high school, when a reading was assigned, in your head you had no homework that night. Trying to go by that motto for a semester left me with reading 300 pages of a textbook per class during finals week. You also aren't gonna get those five extra points toward your average like in your AP classes, and your not gonna have all your in class work that you did with your best friend there to save your GPA. Most classes I took had three exams, and that was your grade, which is a big transition that wasn't easy to get used to. One thing that I really learned through it all was ALWAYS read your textbooks, and the lectures are important no matter what you think while your dazing off.
2. You're gonna get homesick.
No matter what happens, your gonna become homesick from time to time. Some people tell you how they don't miss anyone or anything from home, but not matter what, you miss your sense of comfort. On a personal level, my family moved from New York, where I go to school, to Florida. For me that was very hard, for I was a part of a close family where we did everything together. Coming home from a stressful day are the worst days. Days like this when you lived at home you had your pet or some sort of family member or friend to pick you up. When you're away, its just you, and it gets lonely. No matter where your family is, or where your home may be, you will become homesick time and time again.
3. You're friends will say how much you've changed.
I was always a shy girl, granted I still am. All my high school friends, many of which I barley talk to anymore, talk about how much I have changed. They talk to each other about how different and distant I have become. Little do they know, I know that too. When you go away and really find yourself it's a great feeling, but hard for the friends left in your hometown to wrap their heads around. I can say that I have four good friends left from my hometown. No matter what you do, there will always be those few friends that can't understand how much you've changed. Sometimes they will try to bring you down about making your changed views on life to be a bad thing. But, you realize your finally happy with yourself and there are so many more people out there that will love you for being you.
4. Making friends at school is harder than it seems.
Being a shy girl like myself has made making friends very hard. My main goal for my first semester was to make the greatest group of friends, just like you see on TV. Little did I know it'd be one of the hardest things to do. Being shy is hard, especially without a common room on my floor or in my suite. Being in these conditions made it hard to meet people that lived around me. I also am not one to go out and party on the weekends, which makes you stand out, and people lose interest. After pushing myself out of my comfort zone I made two good friends, one of them being someone from home I barely knew. My piece of advice for you shy people out there like me, go out, talk to a stranger, and be yourself.
5. The freshman 15.
The freshman 15 doesn't leave many survivors behind, being a victim of the emotional title itself. The freshman 15 is a real thing, as much as I denied it for as long as I could. Here's why this happens. Where I go to school, the dining hall is open 16 hours a day with unlimited swipes in. What does a stressed student with the access to this place do? Well you use as many swipes as you can! I found myself going to the dining hall three to four times a day, making unhealthy options I might add. After all the years of home cooked meals and not having too much of an opinion on what was for dinner, how could you turn down this buffet of greasy food? Not only did the meals get worse as the semester went on, but they forced me to pick other unhealthy options to avoid those uninteresting main entrees. I could say that I did not gain the full freshman 15, but I did see many people around me have it hit them very hard. It's hard to be away and to get used to these new eating styles. But, my biggest piece of advice would have to be is to try everything in there and never forget about your fruits and vegetables.
