If you’re from a small hometown like mine, then you could agree that your home friends are like comfort: you have been friends since elementary school and they know everything about you. For me, my best friends and I started out climbing trees, jumping on the trampoline, and secretly watching Pitch Perfect, 3 times in a night. Being around them feels safe.
Picking up our lives and moving to a brand new place with brand new people from brand new places was a huge change, to say the least. Heading into week 6 on the Hill, I’ve made some pretty solid friendships. I am so grateful for the new memories I am making, the new jokes I am picking up, and my new routines, but my hometown friends still sit in the back of my mind.
On that note, here are the main differences I noticed in my college friendships and hometown ones.
The awkward, getting-to-know you stage just doesn’t exist in college.
This was the first thing that came to mind when I started writing this. I believe the dynamic is different because we live together – we share a bathroom, showers, kitchen, living space, and see each other every day. Back home, making a new friend meant a somewhat awkward start. Deciding on something to do, figuring out who’s driving, where we are meeting- it’s just new. Nonetheless, it’s awkward. Here, I feel like those kinds of options just don’t exist. If we want to get food, we go to Kimball. If we want to go somewhere in Worcester, we Uber. We are literally showering next to each other and sleeping in the same building. The environment we are in forces us to be close, and I am grateful for that!
My friends from home know me at home, and my friends from college know me at college.
This concept was a weird one for me to accept. When I think about it, I am a different person here than I am at home. Back at home, I have my car, a job, and go to Dunkin’ everyday…This is how my hometown friends know me and remember me. My college friends don’t even know what kind of car I drive at home. Here, I walk everywhere, live in a dorm with 400 teenagers, and have a different sense of humor. Even my weekend’s look completely different than they did at home. My college friends think of me and see this person- they know my order at Cool Beans and my favorite things to do in Worcester. My friend’s at home don’t even know what Worcester looks like. I can’t imagine mixing the two. I don’t even know if they would get along.
We live two completely different lives.
Being a 6-week old freshman, the college lifestyle change was a huge shock for me. Back in Maryland, my day-to-day life with my friends consisted of driving around, nail appointments, walking on the trails, getting coffee, tanning, and midnight swimming. Here, we go to Kimball, the library, out to eat in Worcester, or take ubers. We wear different clothes, and even talk differently sometimes. The kind of connections I have with my hometown friends are completely different than that of my college friends, but I love it. I can see two different ways of life, and it is enthralling.