Entry into College Life: Welcome to freedom!
It’s been a long journey. All of you have got through school – some with flying colours, others not so much – but still, the time for uniforms is over. You even managed to do the runaround and manage admission despite the confusing maze of colleges and courses. Finally, it’s the time to fulfill that craving for independence, the seemingly no-holds barred existence with late nights, eating what you want, when you want, wearing anything that suits your fancy and discovering things about yourself that you never could do under the eagle-eye glare of your parents.
If that sounds utopian, well, it is. Living on your own can be some of that but it comes with a lot of responsibilities. Else you will find that things unravel quite fast and before you know it, you are making frantic calls home pleading for forgiveness and some assistance in getting your ‘independent’ life back on track. And over the course of taking responsibility for yourself, you realise that a lot that your parents kept harping about stands true. We explore some of the problems you are likely to encounter as you set up your home away from home and get started with college.
I want my mommy!
Homesickness may just be the first thing you might encounter. Even if this is not the first time that you are staying away from home, you may start missing home as the daily grind of college-to-hostel-to-college takes its toll. And it’s not necessarily a problem that goes away with time.
“This is the basic problem which I think is felt by most people. I know for a fact that all my outstation friends feel a bit of nostalgia. I just try to roam around Kamla Nagar, go to my friend’s house or I go with them for a movie. I think it really helps,” says Shweta Singla, a third-year B Com student, who studies at Sri Ram College of Commerce. While distraction works for Singla, one way to temporarily cure this affliction is to call your family members and have long chats. Of course, that may have the exact opposite effect and you end missing home even more. Thus, the only way to cure these blues is to actually go home.
