For those who have lived in the same town for as long as they can remember, moving may be a foreign concept to them, while it wouldn’t be for those who have moved around a lot. On another note, some people come from a small town with maybe 500 people in their entire high school, while others have 500 classmates in their whole graduating class.
Imagine coming from a small town with only two stoplights and dirt roads. Now imagine someone coming from a small town to a big city having to learn how to drive on the interstate, having a stoplight every block and six lanes.
Learning how to navigate your new surroundings is exciting. You get to go around and learn about your new home and find your new hang-out spots. Eventually the driving gets easier each time you go out, and everyone else is getting used to their new home too.
Adjusting to the fact that your parents are not there anymore for you to fall back on takes a toll on some people. And for others, some couldn’t wait to get out of their hometowns and get away from their parents.
The amount of independence you gain within the first month of college is amazing. Suddenly you are expected to just start up a new life and start from scratch. You gain the independence of getting to wear whatever you want because you don’t have a dress code nagging you anymore. You are suddenly learning how to do things more independently and you are finally getting to make your own decisions.
Not to mention having to readjust to going to school again after spending the past two years online due to the pandemic. Having to re-learn how to be a student that physically goes into class is not as easy as it seems. Learning how to engage yourself with real-life actual peers can be difficult when all you’ve had for interaction has been your computer screen. However, having to learn how to make those real-life connections is refreshing in the grand scheme of things.
There are so many different things that you learn in your first month of college. As much as you are learning about your new home, you are also learning more about yourself. You’re learning how to take care of yourself and learning what is good for your everyday routine. In this time, you are learning to make connections for your own good, because in high school you were basically forced to make connections with people just because you had the same schedule.
Probably the most exciting aspect of college is that everyone is there because they want to be. Everyone is studying something that eventually they will make their new lifestyle. Your newest teachers, nurses, counselors, business owners, etc. College is overwhelming at first but it is all about what you make it.
