Not as scary as I thought it was going to be.Â
Hard but not impossible.Â
Challenging but in the most enriching way possible.Â
On August 26, 2024 I moved into my freshman year dorm room. Room 455 down at the end of the wall facing the window. I still remember what it felt like walking into that tiny room for the first time. Concrete walls filled with stale bed frames and empty walls and a big window overlooking campus- my new home. I remember unzipping all of my bags filled to the brim with clothes, toiletries, and my favorite stuffed animals to remind me of my room and bed from home which I adored so much. I was nervous, excited, scared, hopeful, and a million and one other emotions all at the same time. I didn’t even realize feeling all of these things at once was even possible for one day.Â
I spent the last two months of summer hearing everyone in my life go on about how these will be the best four years of my life, and it goes by in a blink. If I’m being honest I didn’t love hearing this statement. I enjoyed high school, my friends from home, and the comfort of my own house. I wouldn’t say I wasn’t excited for school- I was extremely excited for this new chapter in my life to start. But I still had an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach that at the end of move-in day, I would hug my parents goodbye and stay at my new home, room 445. With brand new faces.Â
September was a drag. The first three weeks of freshman year are something I would rather not relive. Trying to figure out your new schedule, living with someone for the first time, eating food you’re not used to. Trying to put yourself out there to meet new people and hopefully make some new best friends, but also trying to seem as cool as possible. It is demanding. The biggest learning curve I went through was the first month of freshman year and by the time October 1st rolled around I was a brand new version of myself. In the best most rewarding way possibleÂ
I think what I was most scared of was leaving the life I knew behind. Thinking about it now sounds ridiculous but in June, July, and August I would think about this before I went to bed every night. It ate me alive. My life at home is still there. My friends Facetime from their schools in the south. I send them pictures of the snow covering the pavement of the walkways, while they send me pictures of the palm trees on their walks back from class. Our lives may be in different worlds now but the connection that we had still stays strong.Â
Worrying so much is natural for the new chapter of anything in your life. But knowing it’s all going to work out and be ok and you’ll find your way eventually no matter how hard the beginning may be will make it all worth it in the end.Â