Leaving home

The first time I left home for college was for the 2011 summer semester here at BYU (there’s a funny story about that). The few days before I left were a series of procrastinating packing and one day of rushing to get everything ready. My family didn’t have a big farewell meeting for me or anything; I just said my goodbyes to everyone amidst the bustle of life and left with my mom for Provo.

When we got to Provo we first went and bought all of my books, which was quite hectic. After that we lugged all of my stuff into my dorm in F. Smith hall. After lunch my mom said told me to call home every Sunday, study for my classes (which I kind of did), and to have fun (which I definitely did). After she left I decided to do what any bored person would do, browse Youtube! None of my roommates were there yet, so I just lounged around for the first day, doing absolutely nothing.

The next day was new student orientation, which I think was a little too much like EFY. We were split into our little groups, were given a tour of the campus, and were finally told that we could leave. I don’t like tutorials for anything, and college was no different. I was just glad to be done for the day. I found that my roommates had arrived when I returned. It seemed to me like every kind of person was one of my roommates. The jock, the normal kid, the cook, the gamer, and the student were taken, so I wasn’t quite sure how I fit into the apartment.

            A new student orientation party was being put on Saturday night, which me and my roommates went to. There was a blow up obstacle course (my favorite part of the party), dancing outside, and a comedy act inside. After going through the obstacle course a few times we migrated to the comedy act. It was quite funny, even though I can’t remember what the jokes were. Anyway, we went back outside to see how the dance was going, and found that everyone was just standing around. It was just as bad as a stake dance, or a junior high school dance. My roommates and I decided that we would be exemplary college kids and try to invigorate the masses by dancing. Nope. It didn’t work, and to compile how much we failed, it started raining. We left for home after that and stayed up, finding out more about each other.

            That first experience is what made me realize that college isn’t about school, it’s about the social connections people make, and that has still been my philosophy (even though I have learned to study).