Getting worried about leaving home for college? So was mellybee. Now, as a sophomore at the University of Illiniois at Urbana-Champaign, she reflects about her experience and shares some of her advice to incoming freshman this Fall.
August 20, 2013. The day I left the comfort of my home to move into a foreign building, that might have cockroaches, strange people, and uncomfortable beds. Why was I leaving? Where was I going? I had air conditioning and WIFI at home… I wouldn’t in my dorm.
Though I was nervous, my roommate and I chose the most social dorm, and the best location. We were luckily able to live in the “Six-Pack”, which is the collection of dorms with an amazing dining hall. When I first moved in, I didn’t know anybody in my dorm except for my roommate, who I had only met a few times prior. We found each other on Facebook, but she was from my hometown and we did have a few mutual friends.
I’ll never forget going to our room for the first time to see her parents and her sweating harder than I’ve ever seen anyone sweat before. It was over 80 degrees outside, and we had no air conditioning in our dorm, so the move-in process was a struggle. Thankfully, our residence hall held social events for people to get to know each other, and it was through those events that I met a few of my best friends, and the people I clung on to when venturing to the dining hall, so I wouldn’t have to eat alone.
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