One of my main priorities in choosing a college was getting as far away from my home state as I could. To be frank, I still don’t regret being a three-hour plane ride away from home. It was a peculiar time of transition when I realized the power of starting over somewhere new. I compiled a few of my own experiences with some aspects of being away from home that may come into play during your experience being far from home.

Moving

The moving process is something I want to note for those who do live far away, because it can be pretty hard. Packing your whole life into an airplane-friendly suitcase is drastically different from cramming ten boxes in a car to drive to your dorm. Worthmore has all the lamps/hangers/trash cans one would need, so that does lessen the burden of stuff to bring. Not only does Worthmore have a lot of value for students who live far away, but is the savior of moving out. I collected an enormous amount of stuff through the year, and I donated most of it to Worthmore when moving out.

Family

Reminding myself to call my parents was so important. I usually ended up calling on Sundays, but it was a consistent activity I did try and keep up. It was really grounding every time I called my parents or a friend from home, to remind myself of the outside world a bit. There’s so much value in giving yourself breaks from college life, even if the call is to talk about that life.

Breaks

I ended up spending Thanksgiving break (which is about a five-day break including weekends) at Swarthmore! My friends and I cooked a meal with groceries from the Co-Op and had our own Thanksgiving in the Willets basement kitchen. If you’re staying for Thanksgiving and want to cook, make sure you reserve a kitchen online. I also spent the weekend in New York City (a two-hour bus ride away) with my older sister! I stayed at Swarthmore for spring break as well, and went to the beach with some friends (that was only a three-hour bus ride away), and then went to a three-day, all-expenses-paid Atlanta Climate Change Conference sponsored by Swarthmore’s Lang Center and Sustainability program. There are a lot of opportunities to take advantage of if you do end up staying at Swarthmore over break!

I will probably always be in love with the exhilaration of discovering new places, and that makes many of the harder aspects of being away from home worth it.