The “Big” Transition

I meant to write this particular blog entry much earlier in the month, but as all of these feelings still exist in me, I’ll go for it now.

I’ve always been a very independent person, and I don’t generally shy away from changes. Regardless, the entire time I was applying to college and all the way until the summer before college started, countless people of varying ages and backgrounds told me that the transition from high school to college is a big one and it might take me up to a semester to grow accustomed to all the differences, “but don’t worry, that’s normal,” they all said. These sage perspectives on the transition being a “big” one were surely meant to warn me that it wouldn’t be easy for me to get used to my impending new life. In that sense, all those people were wrong. It was a big transition, yes, but only because it marked a large milestone in my life, not because there was anything to “get used to” per se.

At this moment in time, I’d say that this has been my biggest surprise about college: how I didn’t notice a “transition.” I was expecting to feel myself jump over some proverbial line in the sand, but it didn’t go like that at all. It was more like one day I was at home and the next day I was still at home, but the address of my “home” had changed.

On August 27, by the time my family left and I was truly on my own, I had already found a rough little group of friends and was completely absorbed in the myriad orientation activities. I do remember thinking that orientation was frustratingly overscheduled—all I really wanted was a chance to relax, legitimately make friends, and plan out the courses for which I wanted to register—but in retrospect, there was some merit to the busyness of orientation in that there was no time to notice a transition of any kind.

Before I knew it, September 1 had arrived and I was actually starting classes at college. If anything, that should have been the moment I stepped back and thought, “Wow, I’m actually at college,” but even then a moment of transition didn’t hit me in the form of some sudden realization.

Presently, as we move on from midterms and actually begin to prepare for the registration of second semester classes, it feels as if I was just always here, at the University of Rochester. These people were always my friends, these classes were always my classes, my dorm was always my room. I never actually went through any tangible transition like everyone said I would; instead I naturally fell into the routine of my new life and moved on from high school without looking back.

College is just the natural next step in my life, not some insurmountable change. And because, parents, I know you’re wondering, the answer is no, I didn’t even notice the sudden responsibility of doing my own laundry instead of having my mom do it for me, that just kind of happened too…