As a first year, last month was my first time going home for winter break. Here is a summary of some things that I learned when I went back home.
1. You will feel very old very fast.
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As a first year at Gettysburg, I always feel very young and inexperienced walking around campus. I became used to always being one of the youngest in the room and having no one really take me seriously. When I arrived back home I had the opposite experience. When my friends and I would hang out downtown, we would often find ourselves surrounded by middle schoolers. It was so strange being the oldest person in the room instead of the youngest. My friends and I never really stopped thinking of ourselves as thirteen, so this was really a wakeup call to us that we are no longer children.
2. Your friends will have had completely different experiences than you
I go to school in rural Pennsylvania. My best friend goes to school in the middle of Los Angeles. The first night I saw her, she showed up at my house complaining about how cold it was, right after I had celebrated the fact that I could feel my hands again. Her biology class had 300 students. Mine had 40. It was strange that we had such different experiences as in high school we had taken the same classes and had had the same friends. However, it is really interesting to find out what life is like at other schools.
3. Drama will happen
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Everyone changes in college, whether they notice it or not. These changes mean that the same girls who were your best friends in high school may not be the same girls you go to when you come home from college. Try to hold on to your closest friendships, but don’t be afraid to let some friendships die off. If these “friends” weren’t kind to you in high school, or aren’t kind to you now, there is no reason to remain friends with them.
4. Asking will be annoying
In college, you can pretty much do whatever you want whenever you want. You can eat when you want, go to the gym when you want, and on my campus, you can pretty much walk anywhere you need to go. At home, this isn’t the case. You have to ask to use the car to go anywhere. You have to ask how late you can go out with your friends. You have to wait for your family before you can eat. You can’t just leave the house at 10 P.M, no questions asked. This will feel very annoying, especially after you just found your independence.
5. You will miss your friends from school
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I live across the country from all my Gettysburg friends, so it was obviously impossible for me to see them over break. Although I was happy to spend time with my friends from home, there were times where I would think “oh Hallie would love this” or “Grace would get that” and just miss my school friends. Throughout college, there is always going to be someone you are missing. At school, you will miss your friends from home, and at home, you will miss your friends from school. It’s important to try to appreciate the people you are with, as you have such a limited amount of time with everyone.