I am a freshman here at Ohio University, in my second semester. I am from Toledo, OH, about 3.5 hours from OU. During my senior year of high school, I swore that going to college hours away was the right thing for me. Where my mom couldn’t tell me what to do, my siblings couldn’t bug me, I could do whatever I wanted, and I could start over. Yet here I am, sitting in a coffee shop, writing about how I miss it all.
Please, go to those sporting events and be obnoxious in the Student Section.
While it might seem lame to go to those away football games, that girls basketball game, or dress up for the theme, it’s not. It is so fun to dress up and cheer on your classmates, soon you won’t see any of them again. Support them, especially during their senior seasons!
There are so many little things that you aren’t thinking of that you’ll miss.
I can’t stress this enough, you will miss the smallest things when you get to college. Things like showering without shoes on. Showering without having to carry everything you want to use in a caddy back and forth. A bathroom that isn’t all the way down the hall. Free meals. Having a car to drive everywhere. Family dinners. Please appreciate what you have at home.
You will miss your siblings and parents, as much as you want to deny it.
I am a triplet so I have 2 siblings my age, a brother and a sister, along with an older sister. My brother is at OU too, so I see him often. But my sister decided to study at the University of Findlay, and while I am so proud of her, I miss her more than I can explain. My older sister and I fought a tremendous amount about sharing the bathroom, sharing clothes, sharing anything. Now I would like to have her around to bicker with, at least she’d still be around! The moral of this story is that you will miss your siblings more than you think you will. Please spend all the time with them that you can. Your parents are your biggest supporters, it’s a huge change when you don’t have them around anymore.
While starting over is important, leaving your friends at home never gets easier.
Senior year is when I got close to one of my best friends that I know I will be best friends with for life. Her name is Rachel. We did everything imaginable together. I never got tired of spending time with her, because we were always laughing. Singing our brains out in the car or going on small errands, we would do anything just to hangout. Moving away to college without her was one of the hardest things about leaving. We are now 252 miles apart, and it still stings. I have made many friends and a few best friends since moving to college, but friends from home are different. I miss my best friends from home every day, please cherish your time before you all separate. When I was graduating I didn’t take it that seriously, but it’s real. I would do anything to have just one more car ride, store trip, or movie night with my best friend.
You can’t wait to graduate now, but in a year from now, you’ll miss it.
Right now, looking back on everything I was involved in. I miss it terribly. The friends I made, what I learned, how much fun it was. Senior things like picnics, superlatives, pictures, all of that might seem silly but take it seriously. These could be some of the best memories you have with these people!
There’s so much more I could tell you about, but then that would give away your whole freshman year! Good Luck at any college path you take and enjoy the rest of high school while it lasts.