El Paso is a place I have called home for 21 years. It’s a city full of friendly faces no matter what side of town you’re on. When you want to get away, you can drive through the mountain roads, park somewhere, and get a view of the entire city. Every Mexican restaurant you come across tastes like a genuine home cooked meal. It is a city that unites its people. Despite all this, I outgrew the city. I needed something more.
I graduated high school in 2017 and had planned to leave for Texas Tech in the fall of 2017. Come July, I got too scared to leave and ended up canceling my housing and instead enrolled for classes at UTEP here in El Paso. I was excited to start college, especially since I knew I would have my whole group of friends from high school. Nothing was going to change and that comforted me. I was wrong. I quickly realized how hard it was to have a typical “college experience” and before the fall semester ended, I had already applied to UNT and I knew that if I got accepted, I was going to transfer. And look at that, here I am almost three years later. Sophomore year was tough because I was, of course, a transfer. Most days of my first semester I was homesick, somewhat lonely, and sad. My roommate felt the same way, so we were always there for each other and I’d always tell her we just needed to give it the full year to fully adapt to this change. I was right, by the way. By the end of spring semester, I had a good group of friends and new roommates for an apartment. Each semester that I have spent at UNT taught me something new while bringing new people into my life.
Leaving El Paso taught me that there is so much more out there but in order to find it, you need to get out of your comfort zone. It taught me to be even more independent because nobody here could tell me to go to my classes or to clean up my dishes–it was all up to me. Moving to Denton was a culture shock, but in all honesty, anywhere outside of El Paso would have been a culture shock to me. That city is primarily Hispanics, so I was used to having friends who liked the same things I did, ate the same things, or even talked the way I did. Never would I have thought that I had an accent, but friends from Denton love to point out the little things I say wrong which is funny to hear. Now, I have two roommates and we all learn from each other in some shape, way, or form. Denton taught me the most important lesson, and that is how not everybody likes reggaeton, but that is okay. Well, it’s not the most important, but it’s up there! I learned how to be alone and how to manage some of my problems alone. I was always used to running to my mom and asking her for help with something. Sometimes I had to handle it myself even when I didn’t think I could. I was able to experiment with my being and grow from it in order to become, well, who I am today. Nothing was stunting that growth anymore. I closed one door, but 100 more opened for me the day I arrived in Denton. I cherish my friends and family back home even more now. This experience is something I am so grateful for because I grew as a person, I met amazing people and I continue meeting more, and I have tried such good food while being here (El Paso doesn’t have much variety).
If you are feeling homesick and thinking that being away from home isn’t for you, I ask you to give it another semester. This also requires a lot of effort on your part. You have to be willing to try new things, join a new organization, or just talk to more people. Eventually everything will fall into place and you won’t have any regrets.
And remember, the air is always cleaner on the other side of the state!