Challenges & Experiences at NCC

Probably my biggest challenge so far being at North Central College, is "being away from home". The reason I put that into quotations is because my hometown is actually Naperville, where my college is located. Even though I'm going to college in my hometown, the homesickness is real for me. I think some reasons include the fact that I can see all the places I would go with my friends from high school, but they have all left me to go to out-of-town colleges of their own. Also, even though I am close to home I don't get to see my family like I used to. My Dad wants me to feel like I'm at a college that's far away, so he doesn't want me to go home every weekend. He does this so I can experience living on my own, which even though it sucks at times, I'm honestly kind of grateful for it. I like new experiences so I'm glad I get to live on campus "away from home".

Some new experiences I am being forced into is making friends with complete strangers. I guess I hadn't thought about it before but for all my high school friends, I had a link to the person before I met them. Really the last time I made friends with strangers was probably kindergarten. Of course, that is not completely true, as there are some exceptions, but it's never been to the extent it has been for the last few weeks. I'm honestly really grateful for this experience though because I do want to work on my social skills, I want to reach the level where I can talk to anyone no problem.