For many young adults, college is the first significant amount of time spent away from home. Whether you’re 30 minutes or five hours away from home, college can be both exciting and intimidating. Most high school seniors look forward to leaving for college because it’s the first opportunity to experience life outside the watchful eyes of parents. As surprising as it may seem, I considered myself “anti-college” and the main reason I even applied to schools was because I didn’t know what I was going to do with my life and college seemed like a good start.
My attitude may seem abnormal to some, but I was very content living at home and saw no reason why I should be excited to move away. What would happen to my friendships? Would summer be the only time I got to see the people I decided to keep in touch with? What if I got sick at school and just wanted to be in my own bed? Would I find anyone who gave hugs as great as my mom’s? These are just a few of the countless questions I had throughout the summer before my freshman year of college. After my first year at SMC, I am much more comfortable than I thought I would be and I wouldn’t want to go to school anywhere else. So if you’re worried about the college transition (even now, six weeks in!), you’ve chosen a great place to be. Everyone at Saint Mike’s is warm, welcoming, and here to help!
Some of my greatest fears as an incoming freshman were how I would make friends, and whether I would be the only person dealing with homesickness. I quickly realized that, even if they didn’t want to admit it, many people were in the same situation I was. Regardless of whether you’re expecting to be homesick, college life is much different than life at home and it takes some getting used to. I think having friends around is ultimately the best way to deal with any homesickness you may have, because while your family is always just a phone call away, it’s nice to have someone right there with you during those moments of discomfort. Here are a few things that will help make your transition to Saint Mike’s a little easier:
1) POW-If you were lucky enough to have befriended someone on one of SMC’s summer orientation programs (or if you met someone on Summer Registration Day), shoot them a text or Facebook message and ask to get a meal together. You never know if they might be looking for a friend too. If you didn’t participate in a summer orientation program, that’s okay. Just do your best to be friendly and reach out to others. Remember, everyone is in the same boat as you – new school, new place, and new people looking to make new friends!
2) Check out Her Campus and SMC blogs-Throughout first semester, you can be sure that the Her Campus SMCVT staff will have some great articles (such as Campus Cutie . In addition, the SMC bloggers will be posting about different ways to get acclimated with campus, classes, etc.
Before my first year at Saint Mike’s, I followed one particular SMC blog religiously (link here). Once I got to school I introduced myself to the blogger (her name is Alex Byrne) and we became friends instantly. So if you like a particular SMC blog, talk to the blogger…you never know what could come of it!
3) Personalize your room¬-Your dorm room will truly become your home away from home. Posters of your favorite bands and pictures of your friends and family from home will bring a smile to your face when you walk in the room and remind you that even if you’re far from home, you’re never alone.
4) Get Involved-Not only are extracurriculars fun, they are also a great opportunity to meet new people. Last year I got to know some of my floormates better because we participated in the same MOVE mentoring program. Also, every Wednesday I would look forward to seeing my friends from Liturgical Choir, especially two of my best and most giggly friends Alex and Emma.
5) Be an active floormate-I’m sure you will hear this many times, but one of the best pieces of advice I got last year was to leave my door open. That way you can greet people as they pass through the hallway and become more familiar with your floormates – after all, you’ll be living with these people for the whole year. Also, I cannot stress enough the importance of going to floor meetings. Not every floor has the same kind of dynamic, but some of my greatest memories of freshman year come from my floor meetings. The topics my RA presented led to great conversations which allowed the floor to open up to each other and feel more like a family. So although you might not always be in the mood to go socialize with your floor, do it! You’ll be more comfortable knocking on someone’s door to ask if you can borrow their phone if you lock yourself out of your room, or if you simply need some more tape for putting up pictures on your wall.
6) Take advantage of the resources available to you-Not everyone is able to make the transition from home to college on their own, and that’s totally okay. Saint Mike’s has a great set of personal counselors who are always available to sit and talk with you. I saw a counselor a few times last year and it really helped me to realize that what I was going through was normal and that even if the road was a little rocky at times, I would survive. Some other resources SMC has to offer include: peer tutoring for whatever class you might need some extra help in, office hours where you can meet with professors if you have individual questions, and a nutritionist to ensure you have access to whatever kind of food you may need.
7) Calling Home¬-Before arriving on campus, I was told that not calling home for a few weeks might be a good choice because hearing a family member’s voice has the potential to make you unexpectedly homesick. If you’re nervous about calling home, try emailing or texting instead. If your parents are the type to hover over you, it might be helpful to ask them to let you be the one to call. As my mom says, “No news is good news.” Hopefully your parents will understand that if you aren’t calling them, that means you’re having fun and making friends.
8) Alone time¬-If you haven’t already, you will soon realize that you are rarely alone while at school. You may be alone in your room, but chances are people are only a few feet away. If being by yourself sometimes is important to you, make an effort to find somewhere on campus (or off) where you can do that. When I need or want to be alone, I usually either go for a walk around campus or go across the street and sit on one of the rocks that overlook the picturesque Mt. Mansfield.
In one of my classes last semester, I found that our talks about nostalgia could be applied to my college experience. Something my professor said was that the problem with nostalgia is that we tend to remember things as being much better than they actually were. If and when you find yourself wishing you could rewind your life or be back to somewhere you used to be, remember that the more effort you put into making a life at SMC, the more you will get out of your time here. It is so important to be present rather than constantly wishing you were someplace else.