Home

I surprised myself today. I went down to St. Mary's to register for classes and I expected to walk around the campus in a half-awake stupor, looking awkwardly at the kids that I'd be spending the next four years of my life with. My day was the complete opposite. I met a lot of people from all over Maryland and the East Coast, and I was pleasantly surprised to see how much I had in common with complete strangers. It was weird having to go back to square one to meet people and start conversing...I am so used to being around all my current friends, and not having to work at forming relationships because they already existed. Hopefully I can get to know everyone even better in the coming months. Walking along the St. Mary's River on the way to see my new dorm really helped put things in perspective. I looked out across the shoreline and I didn't feel afraid anymore. All that was left was excitement for this new journey that I am about to embark on, one that will come with its fair share of challenges and triumphes, but I'm finally ready to be independent. St. Mary's felt like home, and I didn't want to retreat back to the bustle of this area. I was at peace walking along the river, stopping to say hi to random people simply because I could, because that's what you do when you see a stranger on campus. I quickly learned that just a small smile in passing can actually be an invitation to find out where someone is from, what their major is, what high school they went to. It was all so easy. I've never had that before. Of course, there are so many things back at home that I will miss dearly, but at some point I have to be able to set those things aside for a little while and find out about myself in a whole new arena. There are still a few things that I'm a little worried about, like how I am going to balance my schedule with having fun, and whether or not my relationships back home are going to suffer because of the distance...but those are things that I can't control right now. Things that are out of my control should be in the back of my mind right now. I just can't wait until I get to go home again.