tours, time, and treasuring the moment

Every time I see a tour of prospective students walking around Tulane, I feel so old and weird. It sounds silly. I am only one year older than these people, why do I feel so different from them?? I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately with the end of my freshman year approaching.

I remember exactly what I felt like when I went on tours of colleges. While walking around the schools, I almost felt like it wasn’t a real place. After growing up in one town for my whole life, it was kind of weird to see a completely new, different environment that could potentially be my new home. I always listened to the information they gave on the tours, but I was always much more interested in the kind of people I saw walking around. I remember looking at these college students with a variety of emotions. Watching them exist in these strange environments as if they had been their their whole lives was both exciting and nerve-wracking for me. I got so excited watching them, knowing that I would soon get to be in their position, but at the same time i knew I wasn’t ready to be in their position. It was a weird feeling, kind of like I wanted to be in college that second but at the same time I really didn’t want the time to come when I had to go to college.

When I see the fresh faces on campus now, I feel a pang of sadness in my heart. Sometimes, I wish I could go back to that stage of unknown. It is truly such an exciting feeling, getting the chance to start fresh and create a new life for yourself. To any college applicants reading this, I just want to tell you how excited I am for you. This weird in between stage, although now may seem really scary and ambiguous, is actually such a special moment in time. Embrace the unknowns and don’t create any expectations about whats coming next. I promise you the next year is going to be one of the most unreal, eye opening experiences, no matter what you decide and what your situation ends up being like.

As I watch the tours pass by me as I walk to class, I also realize the power that time has in our lives. I think back to the fear I felt when touring schools, and can’t help but notice how much things have changed since then. All I want to do is go up to the students on the tours and tell them that everything is going to be ok. As hard as it is to become adjusted to a new life, it will happen. Whether you are happy or not with your situation, you will get used to it and learn the ins and out of the new normal. I really pride everyone I know either attending a new university, living in a new place, or just simply learning what its like to live being graduated out of high school. We just went through some HUGE changes, but here we are, living our lives every single day, discovering our independence.

I know some of the things I am saying may sound biased because I happened to have a fairly easy transition to this “new life.” But even with a smooth transition, there have been so many bumps in the road. I find that these bumps are what have helped me to the appreciate this whole idea of “growing up” so much more. Being in a new environment means being with new people, which is a huge thing to adjust to considering most of the people in our lives have been in it for years. If I have taken away one thing from this year, it is most definitely to surround yourself with the right people. Throughout this new stage, you learn so much about people and will definitely experience conflicts with individuals at some point. People may not be who they say are; it really is so important to be careful around people you don’t fully know. Although it can be so scary having to start all over again with making friends, it is also such an incredible opportunity. You will meet people who you feel like were meant to be in your life and who you know you will be close with forever. Having solid individuals like this is so important. This stage in our lives brings about a whole new wave of independence that can be extremely overwhelming. Having to make all your own decisions and manage your own time is a big adjustment. The right friends can help you through whatever you are dealing with and help you feel less alone.

If you are high-schooler (especially a senior), be so excited to embrace the unknown. Trust me, I know how scary it is, but the end result has the possibility to be more amazing than you ever could have imagined. I challenge you to step outside of your comfort zone when making your decisions and beginning your new chapter. You never know whats out there for you if you don’t take a chance.

If you are a college freshman like me, you should be so proud of yourself. No matter what kind of year you’ve had so far, you’re probably sitting on your laptop in your dorm reading this and that in itself is an accomplishment. You have somewhat adjusted to living in a dorm and so many other things that you may have never imagined yourself doing. You are almost done with your first year of a new life and have probably learned SO much about yourself. Enjoy these next few months because next year we aren’t the new kids anymore.

If you are a parent, I understand that this is a crazy time for you as well. As amazing as it is to see your son/daughter begin this exciting chapter, it is also devastating to see them outgrowing their childhood. Just remember that whatever your child goes on to do, they will never forget the influence you have had on them and will use whatever lessons you have taught them in this new chapter. Also, i think us college students appreciate our parents even more sometimes when we don’t have them nagging us everyday ;).

Thank you for reading and I hope you either related to or gained some sort of insight from this. I appreciate you all. <3

xoxo, SOCO <3