Adjusting to college is hard for everyone whenever the time may be. You are living away from home, in a small dorm room with a roommate, using a communal bathroom, surrounded by people 24/7, trying to manage college courses, and you are 100% responsible for yourself.
Being at college, finally on campus, is definitely a sensory overload. I went from being at home doing online classes in my attic, only spending time with my family and not seeing my friends who actually went to campus, for months. For the most part, I was on a set schedule. I had my classes. I knew when I would do my homework. I knew what time my job started each day and then at night I would sit in front of the TV with my family, enjoy my home cooked meal and crawl in bed early to do it all over again the next day.
However, now being in a controlled environment with the COVID rules and restrictions, socializing all of the time with my roommate and the girls on my floor, having an in-person class for the first time in almost a year and spending majority of my time in the dorm room or with a mask on in an academic building is a huge adjustment.
The anticipation of going to college is there since junior year of high school when you’re taking standardized tests, applying to college, getting into college, and committing to college. But with COVID and having a remote first semester, all of that anticipation was squashed at the last second. Hearing that there was a high chance we would be on campus second semester was the saving grace we all needed. The excitement was back, and although I didn’t want to believe it until it was actually happening, I could not wait to be a real college student.
To finally be here, on campus, could not make me any happier. The change of scenery, the new lifestyle, being away from home and my family and being with other people my age, who are in the same position as me, is exactly what I needed. Sure, it isn’t the college experience that we have watched, talked about, heard about and dreamed about, but I can assure you that it is a step up from being at home, alone, in my attic, all online.