I spent a lot of time over the summer wishing I was back at school. It was nice to be able to watch eight hours of Game of Thrones at a time and spend nice days poolside with the awesome kids I babysat, but something was missing. I wanted to be in Morgantown, where I could live my life without having to tell someone where I was going and what I was doing and who I was with. I missed my friends dearly, and I missed the total freedom I had at school. I expected to roll back into Morgantown in August and just go back to my life as I knew it, but I wasn’t prepared for the changes associated with starting year two. My life was not the same, and I wished I’d had a little bit of warning.
Not living in the dorms is weird.
As much as I didn’t like sharing a bathroom with distant suitemates and the repetitive food of the dining hall, I didn’t realize how much I missed living in the dorm until I moved in somewhere that wasn’t the dorm. I live in my sorority house this year, and while it’s awesome to be in the most convenient place on campus surrounded by my sisters, I miss being able to escape to the non-Greek space of my dorm. My freshman roommate is my closest friend on campus: she was there for all the late nights studying and sharing memes, all the emotional breakdowns and all the embarrassing stories I couldn’t wait to tell her. I still get to see her often, but there’s a big difference between sitting together in Stats and sharing the same tiny room in Honors Hall.
Your friendships will shift and change.
Speaking of friendships, there are a lot of people that were my friends last year that I haven’t seen or talked to since I came back on campus. It’s hard to coordinate times to get together, since figuring out how to get to the other side of town without a car is a lot different than popping over to the dorm across the street. Plus, everyone’s workload has gotten heavier and more difficult with the start of a new year, which makes it even harder to figure out a mutually convenient time to just hang out and catch up. You’re forced to figure out new ways to spend time with your old friends and figure out how to make some new ones as well. Despite the separation that a new year can bring, it also means you get closer to people you weren’t as close to before. My big sis spent the spring semester abroad, and while we talked every day, there’s a big difference between Facebook messaging and actually hanging out at her place or walking on the Rail Trail. The new year has brought new opportunities to connect with my big and watch my little sis grow as an active member, and that is something to celebrate.
Some of the magic is gone, but most of it isn’t.
Remember all of the exciting firsts as a freshman? First day of classes. First meal at the Lair. First ride on the PRT. First football game. First free t-shirt. First night on High Street. The longer you hang around, the less magical these experiences are. Suddenly you realize that all the things you thought were special the first few times around really aren’t that special anymore. It’s discouraging to think that school isn’t as shiny as it once was, but I’ve realized that there are a lot of things that never lose their sparkle. Walking past Woodburn at night, when it’s lit up like Disneyland. Driving with all the windows down, blasting “Closer.” Making a midnight Sheetz run for candy that you really don’t need but really, really want. The magic of firsts may be over, but the magic of college hasn’t gone away.
My life may be 150% different than what it was this time last year, or even this time five months ago. But isn’t change what life’s all about? I have no idea what state of mind I’ll be in six months from now, or even standing at the starting line of my junior year. What I do know is that it will be different, but it will be the start of another exciting chapter in my collegiate adventure.