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California is different. I am not referring to the increase in humidity and water and decrease in altitude and mountains kind of different either; it is like another world. Before I left for college, I went through the process of bracing myself for a culture shock because going anywhere far away from Fowler is going to do that to you, whether you attend a college in northern Colorado or western Texas. I did not realize that the culture was going to affect different aspects of my life than I had anticipated.
The first thing I noticed, of course, was the lack of monetary funds, privacy and home cooked meals. Our cafeteria really does serve great food, and I am sorry to report it has taken its assumed freshman toll on me. Sharing a bathroom is a big change, too. My brother and I had to share a bathroom and it got difficult and messy then, but 50 girls all sharing one bathroom gets horribly messy and busy. Still this was the least of my troubles.
The biggest change that I did not account for when readying myself for college was making friends. In Fowler, one gets the dirty work of having to make friends done at the age of four in preschool. The people one meets there are friends for life, going through all of school together and ending up becoming good friends through several similar extra-curricular activities. Being in school with the same people who have comparable lifestyles for 15 plus years makes it easy for someone to not have to put forth much effort in acquiring a “posse.”
Going to a university in California helps you remember that it takes effort to find and make friends and takes even more time and effort to make those relationships thrive. I often find myself eating alone or going to a sporting event with no companion due to the fact that I have not asked anyone, but rather assumed that my roommates, who are my closest friends here, would automatically be interested in the same things as I. I have discovered that not everyone loves sports or theater, most of them have not heard about FFA and 4-H, and their definition of a small town is 10,000 people.
Sometimes I get caught up in identifying myself by how many friends I have or finding a person who is like me, but that is unrealistic. Visiting home for the Thanksgiving break made me realize that it is acceptable to have the aspect of your life where everyone understands you and automatically loves you at home, and another aspect where you have to do things the hard way and make friends and educate yourself about other ideas, cultures, and ways of life. Life transitions are never easy, but they are almost always infinitely worth it.
California is different. I am not referring to the increase in humidity and water and decrease in altitude and mountains kind of different either; it is like another world. Before I left for college, I went through the process of bracing myself for a culture shock because going anywhere far away from Fowler is going to do that to you, whether you attend a college in northern Colorado or western Texas. I did not realize that the culture was going to affect different aspects of my life than I had anticipated.
The first thing I noticed, of course, was the lack of monetary funds, privacy and home cooked meals. Our cafeteria really does serve great food, and I am sorry to report it has taken its assumed freshman toll on me. Sharing a bathroom is a big change, too. My brother and I had to share a bathroom and it got difficult and messy then, but 50 girls all sharing one bathroom gets horribly messy and busy. Still this was the least of my troubles.
The biggest change that I did not account for when readying myself for college was making friends. In Fowler, one gets the dirty work of having to make friends done at the age of four in preschool. The people one meets there are friends for life, going through all of school together and ending up becoming good friends through several similar extra-curricular activities. Being in school with the same people who have comparable lifestyles for 15 plus years makes it easy for someone to not have to put forth much effort in acquiring a “posse.”
Going to a university in California helps you remember that it takes effort to find and make friends and takes even more time and effort to make those relationships thrive. I often find myself eating alone or going to a sporting event with no companion due to the fact that I have not asked anyone, but rather assumed that my roommates, who are my closest friends here, would automatically be interested in the same things as I. I have discovered that not everyone loves sports or theater, most of them have not heard about FFA and 4-H, and their definition of a small town is 10,000 people.
Sometimes I get caught up in identifying myself by how many friends I have or finding a person who is like me, but that is unrealistic. Visiting home for the Thanksgiving break made me realize that it is acceptable to have the aspect of your life where everyone understands you and automatically loves you at home, and another aspect where you have to do things the hard way and make friends and educate yourself about other ideas, cultures, and ways of life. Life transitions are never easy, but they are almost always infinitely worth it.
