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            My greatest challenge is making my transition to college was just getting back into the routine of classes and homework after taking a year off school and anything academically related. I was so excited to start back up again, but once I got here I discovered that my brain was very smushy. It was like starting to physically exercise after not exercising for a year. Also, in middle and high school I lived about an hour away from my school and almost all of my friends. This meant that once I got home, all I had was myself to distract me from my work. Here, my friends live right across the hall or only a few minutes walk away. It’s so easy to just pop over to say a quick hi and end up talking and hanging out for an hour.

            At the same time, making new relationships was also difficult. Starting college is a new start in many ways, which can be amazing because you have the opportunity to get away from old grudges, enemies, and friends who can be confining and define you by what you were like in the past. But I also think that those who have known you for a long time can be grounding and comforting. It’s also been very difficult being so far away from everything familiar (not exactly “home,” but more familiarity). The newness of everything gives me some discomfort and has made me doubt myself, whereas I feel if I had stayed closer to home I would have felt more comfortable and perhaps my transition would have been easier.