New territory. New people. New home. New everything. On top of it all, I had to make this big change in my life during a pandemic.
I come from a low-income home in which I am the first to leave for college. My parents were already scared of letting me go to another city, for the simple fact that i was going to be away from home for a long time, but with this pandemic my parents were terrified and didn’t completely agree with my decision. I still made the move and came to austin.
My first week here I was very scared and didn’t know what exactly to expect. Everyone kept joking around saying that knowing UT students, I would be back home in two weeks. I thought it was so funny but at the same time i didn’t want it to be true. On August 20th I moved in. I couldn’t sleep at night because I was never used to sleeping alone. I shared a room with all 3 of my sisters back at home, so having an ENTIRE room to myself was a bit shocking.
The next week I started classes. All of my classes were online so I was fine, given that i didn’t know exactly where most things/places were on campus… I still don’t. The first week was pretty easy. All we did was introduce ourselves and get a feel of what the classes would be like.The second and third week i was just in my room doing homework and studying because i was having exams soon. But i realized that i hadn’t gone out much or met many people, so i decided to go exploring a bit.
After exploring a bit, I realized that my dream of having a target down my street had come true, so I began to go almost all the time. I don’t know what it is about Target, but I just find it so peaceful there. I Also realized I didn’t have any real friends but only acquaintances, so I decided to start being a bit more social. I found a few people with whom I clicked with and now hang out with all the time.
Trying to get used to college life has been hard and it is much harder given that there is a whole pandemic happening. I’ve tried to make my life seem or feel as normal as possible by setting plans for myself and trying to go out and get some fresh air when needed.Although I try to do these things there are some things i just can’t change. For example, i can’t step out of my room without a mask… not even to use the restroom. It was a bit nerve racking at first having to make sure i don’t forget my mask, even if it’s to open the door when someone knocks, but i’ve gotten used to it.
Isn’t it so weird how we have adapted to this new “reality”?
It definitely has not been easy adapting to this new life at all. Being a freshman at a huge institution like UT is already hard enough since there are so many of us… and now with Covid? Yeah well it’s been something. I’ve steered away from large gatherings or going out as much as possible, but still maintained a social life through different forms. Also, although I’m taking all online classes, I just think of how I’m saving the long walk to my classes in this heat and I feel better. I started to look at the bright side of things to make it easier to adapt to these drastic changes and honestly I don’t think I’ve done too bad.