Travel Diary: Welcome to New York!

2,685 miles are now between me and my hometown and, honestly, moving in to college is a lot different than I thought it would be.

Over the past four days, I've felt probably every emotion I could feel. I didn't even know it was possible to go through so many emotions at one time, but there I was -  excited, terrified, panicked, hopeful, sad, happy, etc., etc. The world felt like it was moving so fast (which, it was! Moving everything into a small dorm room with two other people in only an evening means everything is fast-paced).

All in all, it's hard to accurately describe the roller coaster that is starting college.


I'm not going to lie or sugarcoat: the last four days have been hard. Yes, they've had awesome moments galore, but that doesn't mean that they weren't riddled with moments that sucked. The first example of this I can think of was having to say goodbye to my dad and sister at the airport. Of course, most can imagine the difficulties of this, especially if you are as close to your parents or siblings as I am to mine. But no blog post could've prepared me for what it would be like to cry in the airport security line, so I'm not here to try and warn you. Just know that saying goodbye is hard, and you have to let yourself feel the emotions you're feeling. Don't try to put on a tough face if you feel the opposite. Naturally, saying goodbye to my mom was even harder, since I was in New York already when she left.

But enough of the sad, depressing stuff, because so many wonderful things have also happened in the last four days: I've made friends with my two great roommates, tried so many delicious foods, and saw a phenomenal showing of Kinky Boots - in the center only ten rows away, no less! The amount of new people I've met and friends I've made is insane, and I'm surprising myself at how willing I am to talk to whoever to try and make friends. NYU has given me the best welcome and the orientations for Tisch Drama have made me ecstatic to start training for what I hope to be doing the rest of my life.

What can I (and possibly you) take away from my experiences this week? That there are good and bad elements in every situation - and while it's sometimes easier to pick out the bad parts and focus on them, you can't do that if you want to be happy in life. Otherwise, you'll make yourself miserable. I think that another important lesson from this time is to let yourself feel emotions. The only thing that will happen if you bottle emotions up is an explosion of emotion over something you might not usually explode over. Additionally, it's okay to let other people carry some of your emotional burdens. Trust me, crying while your best friend or mom is hugging you is ten times better than crying alone in your room, or in the car, or anywhere where you are alone.

So thank you, NYU, for teaching me my first lesson of the year. I look forward to learning so much more.

Lots of love,