The
College Life
It's 6:30 a.m.,
the alarm goes off, some mainstream Top 40s song I don't know, but it awakes me
from my slumber; I roll out of bed grudgingly and force my half awaken body to
trudge to the bathroom. Only three weeks into my first semester as a college student
and I have already developed a routine, have already become set in my ways in
an environment that is still so new. I gaze out the window of my dorm room, and
that's when the epiphany hits: here I am, finally in college, the place I have
devoted my entire existence to reach. The realization fills me with a sense of
astonishment. It does not occur to me that I have only been here for less than
a month, but rather I feel as though I have been here my whole life. Here I am,
at the University of Colorado at Boulder; here I am, beginning my
new life.
So
easily have I acclimated to the college life that my days in California seems
so remote, a vague memory of a distant past. Still, though, I cannot help but
reminisce of the stretches of endless beach, and the crashing of waves, as I
gaze at the majestic Flatirons that set the backdrop for this breathtaking
campus. Colorado is unlike California; Boulder is so very different from my
hometown, and still I have yet to experience that homesickness that infects
almost all incoming freshman. Maybe it is the fact that I had bid my farewells
to California long before setting foot on a plane for Colorado that has allowed
me to seamlessly immerse myself into the college culture.
As
I walk between classes, I realize that this is not the reason. I look out at
Farrand Field, and I see a game of volleyball at play; I see groups of friends
walking to the C4C; I see a community of students all united under one
commonality. I feel a part of something far greater than myself.
That is the beauty of the college life, a sense of connection shared amongst
your fellow peers. Not once have I found myself alone, nor have I
found myself with nothing to do. Almost instantly I have made close friends,
friends I now consider family. What's more, I have bonded with people who are
akin to myself, people with the same vivacity, same desire to explore the
world. I have found my niche on this campus, and though I may have had to
relinquish things that were once so much a part of my life, new ones quickly
fill the void. The CU community has welcomed me, not only with the warm embrace
of my fellow peers, but also with the sense of unity given to me through Army
ROTC. The ROTC program has provided me with a purpose, one that has made the
adjustment to campus life all the more effortless. As I walk between classes, I
do not feel like an outsider, I feel at home.
Here I am, in a world entirely different from what I
knew before. I am still learning the secrets of college, still discovering
something different with every new day. To believe that only a mere three weeks
ago I was saying goodbye to my parents as they left me on my own, on my own for
the first time, strikes me as surreal. Three weeks ago seem like a
lifetime, and in that lifetime I have created a new existence for myself. It's
6:30 a.m., the alarm goes off; I roll out of bed and think to myself, "Welcome
to the college life."
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