Xatal

At 4:30 AM last September, I woke up to my loud and annoying alarm clock for the last time. I threw the last of my luggage into the car and made one last quick check through my bedroom to make sure that I hadn’t missed anything important. As I turned on my iPod, I said one last goodbye to my house before leaving for college.

The drive was pretty long and I was definitely sad. Leaving the town that had been my home for the last nineteen years was definitely a weird feeling. Even though I’ve never especially liked the town, it’s always been “home” to me. I was sad knowing that all my friends (and my girlfriend) would still be back at home, and that I would have to hope I could make just as close of friends.

Moving in was a bit unnerving. Seeing the empty dorm room was very intimidating, knowing in the back of my head that I’d have to make it feel like home the best that I could. As I said goodbye to my parents that night, I knew that I was really on my own now, with a stranger as a roommate in a place where I knew virtually nobody.

June

9 months later, and I’ve fallen in love with my school.

My new home

By the time I moved out of my dorm, I’d become close friends with a great group of people. I’d learned a lot about myself, other people, and the world in general. I was exposed to things I never thought I would be — both good and bad — and I grew because of it.

Seeing the empty dorm room at first was scary, but seeing the same room empty at the end of the year was all but heartbreaking. As I walked through the dorms one last time before I began the long drive back home, I thought back on all of the memories from the year and smiled sadly. From the repetitive dorm food, to the trips to the beach, to the hundreds of inside jokes we made, it’s been one hell of a year. The place that I was so scared of coming to has become my new home.

Going to college has been the best choice I’ve ever made this far, and I really understand why people hold higher education in such high esteem. To those who don’t leave home for college, it’s impossible explain. The excitement isn’t just about huge parties and football games, but the experience as a whole: leaving home, meeting entirely different people, working hard for something, and learning to live.

I’m just glad I still have three more to go.