Edit desk: Far from home

When applying to colleges during my senior year of high school, my biggest criteria was that I did not want to stay in Colorado. It is not that I do not love where I am from—Boulder is my favorite place in the world and I will talk about it for hours if given the chance. I just did not want to stay there for this chapter in my life. 

This was a common theme between me and my home friends; none of us wanted to stay in Colorado and none of us did. We all decided to go to school halfway across the country. 

While traveling far for school was the norm in Colorado, I quickly realized that was not the case at Lehigh. When I arrived at school my freshman year, I was shocked at how many people lived only an hour away and how many people knew each other before coming to college. I was one of four people from my high school that went to Lehigh in the past five years. 

I came to a school where it seemed like everyone knew each other and I knew no one. 

“Why did you decide to go so far away for college?” became the question I constantly received multiple times a day. It made me question my decision.

I never knew how to answer that question because I honestly had no answer. I just had always wanted to go to school on the East Coast.

For me, it was normal to travel far for the sake of college. However, that didn’t change how terrifying it was.

When I was applying to colleges I was determined to go as far away from home as possible. Yet, when it came to actually moving into my dorm during my freshman year, I thought that I would not last a week. 

Before my freshman year, I believed that moving far away from home was going to be the hardest thing I had ever done. I thought that my life was going to be so different. I was afraid that I was not going to be able to see my family as much as I wanted and that it was going to be impossible for me to go home when I needed a break. 

I was convinced that things were going to be more difficult because I was far from home.

Little did I know, my life was not going to change much at all. I was still able to see my family as much as I wanted during my freshman year and I never even thought about being far from home. 

Going to school on the East Coast has made me so much more independence and has allowed me to meet so many different people that I never would have met if I stayed in Colorado.

In the end, moving far away from home was one of the best decisions I ever made. While traveling back home for breaks might be a little more difficult than jumping in a car and driving a few hours, there aren’t many differences.

I see my family as much as I want to, and while it may be a hassle to find a ride to the Newark Liberty International Airport, it is definitely worth it.