One Month

Today I am celebrating my one-month anniversary of moving out.  (Ok, if you want to be technical, my parents left me on the 24th, but I haven't been home for a month.  So it counts).  I celebrated by buying chewy Warheads, just like Anne used to buy when she would come home from college.

At the risk of sounding cliche, I'm a little surprised it's only been a month.  I've already lived a lifetime here, yet didn't I only see my parents yesterday?  Moving must change the time-warp somehow.

Anyway, I wanted to jot down some lessons of what I've learned in this month on my own.

1. Everyone's standard of living goes down.  Or maybe it was just mine.  I just spent three years being the only kid at home, and I observed my parents--how they entertained, cooked, lived.  I've come to realize that box mix brownies are just as good as homemade raspberry bars for visiting teaching, and most people really don't care.  College students are very forgiving, especially when it involves food.
2. You really do need to branch out, but it's not as awful as you would guess.  I went into college with everyone telling me that I would have to branch out like crazy and talk to everyone.  I saw my roommate almost go crazy trying to meet everyone, and I realized that you don't have to meet everyone on the first day.  It's not as hard or as strenuous as I thought it would be.
3. You have to turn a blind eye.  No, I'm not just talking about roommate situations (even though you should sometimes do that too in regards to roommate quirks).  I'm talking about the comparison situation.  I've mentioned this before, but all of a sudden everyone is much more comparable.  You really do have to create your own life here.  For the first time, you aren't going through school with five hundred other kids with the same schedule as you.  You have to decide when to say no, when to go to bed, when to run, when to relax, and make sure you accomplish what is important to you.
4.  Everything is a million times more exhausting when you don't have a garage and laundry room in your apartment.  Seriously, going grocery shopping, doing laundry, cooking in an unfamiliar kitchen. Everything is so much work.
5. Alone time is important.  Or at least that's what I tell myself.  I've taken to walking up on campus by myself on Sunday evenings, and yes, I sometimes feel weird.  People really do think it's strange to do anything by yourself, but I can't help it, I love the empty campus.  I guess that's another lesson I learned.  You have to be ok with doing things because you want to.
6. The workload is really constant.  You always have homework to do, regardless of how 'caught up' you are.

That's all I can think of for now.  There have been times throughout this month that I look down at myself and I am amazed at how strong I am.  I have done things I didn't think I could.  I have literally sat outside of buildings, taken deep breaths, and waited ten minutes, praying the whole time, before I have been brave enough to walk inside.  I have really started cleaning my room and straightening everything.  I have said hi to people and gotten used to not always asking my parents if I can do something on Friday night.  I've written my first college paper, read countless textbooks, fallen in love with learning all over again.  I have walked on campus and marveled at my legs that seem to know where they are walking.  This life is new, scary, intoxicating, freeing, hard, natural, strange, and truly beautiful.

xo. Elise