As my first year in college comes to a close, I start to reminisce about this past fall and how difficult it was for me to leave my bubble to start a new chapter in my life.

Change is never easy no matter how old you are. One of the biggest life changes I have encountered in my 19 years was this past fall when I moved to Maryland from Pennsylvania to attend Goucher College. I had dealt with change before when I left The Philadelphia School, which I attended for 11 years, to go to high school at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy. However, changing schools was not as big as moving away to college because I was still in the comfort of my home.

Leaving my family behind was a big change and definitely put me out of my comfort zone. I had never been away from home for more than a week, so being away for months six months was a challenge. I was both excited and nervous for change. I was excited to venture out on my own and be more independent while at the same time figuring out who I was as a person. I was nervous because I would have to figure things out on my own and would not have my mother holding my hand telling me what to do and when to do it. Being raised as an only child with a single parent, I have developed a close bond with my mother. I knew the hardest thing about leaving for college would be leaving my mother.

This past year has been filled with many tears when my mother and I had to depart after spending some TLC filled weekends and holidays together. I would come back to school and check my calendar to see how many days there were until I would be able to see my mother again. One of my least favorite things about being away from home is having to miss family gatherings such as birthday dinners, weekend brunches, and sporadic shopping sprees.

Luckily I do not live too far, only two hours, away so I have the ability to take a train, car, or bus home for the weekend for special events. Just a few weeks ago I went home for my little cousins’ Bat-Mitzvah. If I had gone to a school on the west coast, I would not have had the opportunity to go home and I would have missed an important day in my cousin’s life.

Since coming to college I have learned to adapt to a new setting and I have made new friends, which makes being away from home a little bit easier. I know that after a long summer at home with my family it will be hard to leave again, but if I did it once and survived I can do it again.

There is no way to prepare for change, you just have to take that leap out of your comfort zone and have faith that everything will work out if you go in to a new situation with a positive attitude.