The entire time I have been in school, I have struggled with change. I struggled with going into middle school, I struggled with the transition from middle to high school, and I struggled with the idea that I would be going to college, as well.
The idea of going to college felt something like I was a cartoon character with an anvil ominously hanging over my head, waiting to crush me for comedic purposes. Orientation came and went, I made friends and interacted with the people who would be joining my graduating class at ONU alongside me, but the reality did not set in.
Suddenly, it was August 21st and I was loading my Honda Civic with items from my bedroom, preparing to move away. I moved in, met my roommate, had lunch, and we all attended convocation and the ice cream social. Nothing was as bittersweet as I thought it would be, but I also was not moving to a new city hours away from home, a new state that was more than a day’s drive from my house, or even a new country like some of my classmates.
I did not cry. I did not even feel like I was really going anywhere. I mean, I only live half an hour from home. Am I really experiencing college yet?
I have had no trouble making friends. Everyone always says that it gets easier, socially, in college, but I never thought it would be this simple. Most people are more than happy to have a conversation with you, invite you into their game of pool or another game they are playing, or let you sit with them.
Sure, there are still cliques, but they are not nearly as pronounced as they were in high school. Groups are more based on shared activities, like a sport, club, or academic group (such as the Honors Program), and they are not exclusive. It is refreshing, in a way.
Welcome Weekend was packed with so much that I really did not have time to sit down and process that I was going to be here for the next four months. Sunday, August 25th rolled around and it felt like everything that happened in the four days prior was a summer heat induced dream.
I was starting classes the next day, yet I was not even nervous. As the week progressed, I had a very different experience than many of those around me.
Although I have 17 credit hours packed into this semester, I felt as though the work I had to do was so little in comparison to what my roommate and friends were doing. I was worried that I was forgetting something every time I would sit down to do homework because it did not feel like “that much”.
The great part about only living half an hour from campus is I can get my friends out and about. We have gone to the mall, Walmart (because what else is there to do in the rural midwest?), had pizza from places in Findlay that I love, and hung out with my cats.
I know we were not “supposed” to see our parents until the 21st of September for Family and Siblings day, but I had established my independence and ability to live independently long before college began, so seeing them does not feel like an emotional detriment to me.
I do not really miss them because they are not that far away. It might be more upsetting to my mom every time I come home and leave to go back to campus than it is to me.
It does not really feel like I left at all, and I want to share my home with my friends so that they might feel less homesick. My chapter at ONU feels less like a new one and more like an addendum to the first one; new beginnings, new people, but sharing the experiences and joys from the old ones.
This change is the best one yet.