Now, let me just begin by saying that I am VERY grateful for my opportunity to go to college, and I do think that getting a college education is very important.
With that being said, I went to college with the mindset that it was going to be the best four years of my life. My first year of college was nothing like I expected it to be. I moved to Ireland alone at 18 and ended up transferring to SLU. I took it as a learning opportunity and don’t regret going to Europe at all. I learned so much about myself and met amazing people. Since transferring, I’ve realized a few things about college and experiences that I am going to share with you all.
It’s okay if you don’t love every aspect of college.
I know that I look forward to coming home and getting a break from St. Louis and school and everything about college in general, and that’s okay! You don’t have to love everything about your school.
No one is what they seem to be on social media.
This one I knew before I went to college but see more and more as my college experience progresses. What people post online is not real. This is including me, and I know that. No one is incredibly happy all the time, which is something people need to start acknowledging.
It’s okay to still love your home and home friends and look forward to seeing them.
These are the people who have known you for the longest and know who you truly are. At least for me, these are the people that I feel the most real with and those are friendships to be cherished. I don’t feel like myself at school yet, and that’s okay because I have so many people still in my life that I know I can count on and I always have a place to go back to.
It’s more than okay if you’re not a “college” person.
I know that I’m not a college person. I know that these four years aren’t going to be the best of my life. This is just another chapter and I am embracing it, enjoying it the best I can, and looking forward to the rest of my life.
I guess where I’m going with this is, you’re not alone if you aren’t fully happy in college. You aren’t alone if you don’t feel like yourself at college. Everyone has their own experience and no experience is the “right” one.