When I say I graduated from a tiny school, I mean I graduated with 23 other people. Some people you meet will say that and then say that they graduated with 150 other people. That's not tiny! And then I decided to go to a university with almost 50,000 people?? I must be crazy right?
Wrong. it was the best decision I ever made.
If you've read My Story on Medium, you know how school went for me. And when I got out of there, I couldn't think of anything better to do than go to a giant school where I knew absolutely no one.
Was I scared?? Hell yeah! But I had been at the same school for thir. teen. years. And it was time to change things up a bit. I was tired of everyone knowing me and knowing all of my business (I say as I sit here writing about all of my business LOL). So, I graduated, packed my stuff, and built a life that I love in Lubbock, Texas.
I eased myself into it by going to freshman camps prior to move in, and met some of my closest friends, people I still talk to almost 3 years later! That gave me the boost I needed for when I moved in because then I already had people I knew and could go do stuff with. But eventually I got involved in things like cheer outside of school and joined the pre-physical therapy club where I could meet people with the same interests as me! I even got a job as a barista just a month into school. That has probably been my favorite thing about starting my life here.
It's this small business that, when I applied, hadn't even opened yet! I have been a part of it since it opened (minus a couple months in between) when I was just a freshman in college and it is my second home here in Lubbock. To say that I worked opening night and am still here is unbelievable. With only seven people working here, we are able to actually get to know each other and enjoy spending time with each other. I love being a part of the decision making and watching it grow over the past couple of years has been so much fun. Even on days that I don't work, I still go up there just to see who's working and do my school work. How many of us can say that about where we work??
When you go to college, it's very intimidating, especially if you don't already know anyone. You're jumping into this big ocean full of so many people that you don't even know where to start. But you don't have to know everyone and be friends with everyone, like my small school back home. Going to those camps, joining organizations, getting a job etc. introduced me to smaller groups of people that have the same interests as me and that I am still friends with today.
And there's something about going from being in high school to college that makes everyone nice and friendly and not like they're all trying to be more popular than you?? Everyone is pretty much in the same boat as you, they just want to make friends.
The one thing I'm not going to tell you is to make friends out of your classmates, not because you shouldn't but because I haven't convinced myself to do it yet LOL.
This is for all you high schoolers going to college scared out of your minds that you won't be ok ;)
<3
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