I remember the day I moved onto campus last semester. Although it feels like it was just yesterday, it was August 18th. The day started out with saying goodbye to my best friends from home. It was so weird to me that they would no longer be a five-minute drive away. I knew they could always drive up and visit, or I could come home, but it was still a weird concept to me. Days prior, we said goodbye to our other friends and face timed them once they made it up to their campuses. We all gave the classic tour of our dorms to the friend group. It made me sad to think they were not there with us, but then it was my turn to leave. All my nerves hit at once while I was sitting on my sister’s lap in the jam-packed car. I had so much stuff to take with me that there was barely enough room for myself, so we were forced to share a seat. The thing I was most nervous for was finding friends and meeting new people. I repeatedly made myself scared of the thought of being alone and having no friends due to Penn State being extremely large. I consider myself lucky though, because that night when I moved in, my roommate and the friends she had already made were actually waiting for me at the door to say hi and meet me. My nerves quickly faded away and I soon realized how close we all would be with one another. The rest of the night we all spent together hanging out and getting to know one another a lot better.
Fast forward to present day today, February 11th. I am to move back into my dorm in exactly two days on February the 13th. From my past experience, I can say that I am not even half as nervous as I was the first time I moved in. I do have some nervous, but it is mainly excitement for what is coming. I get to be with my friends, meet even more new people, and I get the opportunity to feel apart of Penn State once again. Although, I am a bit anxious with finding my schedule that balances school and my social life. I feel so good and confident with the classes I am taking and how I am handling everything, so I am hopeful it does not change once I get back up on campus. I do not want to have a repeat of last semester. However, I understand it is a learning process and I know it will all eventually work itself out.
In the meantime, my main focus is to pack. That is something I am very behind on. It is difficult to think about all the things I will need without getting overwhelmed with it all. Something else that also bothers me is not only the process of moving back in and getting readjusted, but also still having to keep up with school. I know I can handle it, but right now it seems very time consuming and stressful. When I go back I already have three exams on my plate. Anyways, that is my rant for the week, but I will continue to keep you updated on my experience as a freshmen. When it comes time for next weeks blog post, I hope I can explain to you all how everything went smoothly and I was jsut overreacting.
Until next time 🙂
While I’m staying home for the spring semester, I can still relate to the feelings of anxiety surrounding the thought of moving to a new place and making new friends. I feel like there’s always this irrational demon at the back of our minds telling us that no one will like us and we will have no friends, but I’m glad that things worked out for you with your roommate and her friends.
I also have a lot of exams coming back so definitely stressed with the accumulating workload but I think both of us will be fine if we take a deep breath and break down the assignments into smaller, more manageable pieces.
I can completely relate to this post! It was sad to think that at Penn State my friends and my boyfriend would no longer be a short drive away, and I was really nervous that I wouldn’t be able to make new friends with Covid. I really wanted to go to a big school like PSU, but it was also very intimidating once I actually got to campus. Luckily, I found great friends in the fall, which I’m very thankful for. I still struggle with managing the overwhelming amount of schoolwork, but I’ve become a lot more organized and have formed good study habits. I’m happy to hear that you’re feeling good with the classes you’re taking, and I think I feel the same way about mine.
I like how you gave us a little piece of how you were feeling the first time you moved in back in August, and compared that to now as you are preparing to come back the second time. I am really happy that you are much less nervous but I totally understand how it can feel really overwhelming at the moment. I live in State College so I won’t be moving in, but I can not imagine how stressful it is to be moving in right now because I think a lot of students have a lot of big assignments and exams due this week and next week. I hope you are able to adjust back quickly and smoothly!