September 18, 2017 marks the end of my first month as a college student. One month since I packed almost everything I owned into my parents’ Subaru, hugged my friends of 14 years goodbye and moved 400 miles away from the only home I’d ever known. Coming to Dickinson was not an easy decision for me. I grew up in a small suburb about 10 minutes outside of Boston. When the college process began most of my friends didn’t even look at schools outside of Massachusetts, let alone New England. Boston is the kind of city someone can live in all of their life and not need to leave. But I always knew I wanted out, at least for college.

At first the idea of going to school in a new part of the country thrilled me. I spent hours imagining myself walking around Carlisle and being able to call this new place home. In theory it all seemed so perfect, but when it came down to it I was completely terrified. As the May 1st deadline crept up, questions spun around my head incessantly.

Would I like this new place? Would I miss the hussle and bussle of a major city? Will I be able to keep up with the school work?  Would I make any friends? I had to decide whether I would play it safe and go to school in Boston or take a chance and come to Dickinson, a place I had only visited once in a completely new part of the country far away from my friends and family.

The fact that I’m writing this piece means you can probably guess which school I chose. At the very last minute I knew what I had to do. If I wanted to grow as a person I had to take a chance and come to Dickinson.

Even though I know I made the right decision, transitions still suck. It can be hard to navigate a new environment, especially at the breakneck speed of freshman orientation. Honestly, I still get overwhelmed sometimes and a little nostalgic for the familiar comforts of my life back in Boston. In times like those I think a lot about an Abraham Lincoln quote my mom constantly repeats. Lincoln said “whatever you are, be a good one.” No matter how stressful the decision to come to Dickinson was for me, I am here. As of one month ago I am officially a Dickinsonian, so I might as well be a good one!  With that in mind, I tried to make the most of my first month here. I’ve done things I would never have had the courage to do in high school, like write a piece for publication or ask a stranger to get lunch. Things have started to slow down recently and I’ve been able to get some perspective.

Dickinson is far from perfect but as every day goes by I begin  to feel more and more connected to this school and to the people I’ve met here. I’ve found my favorite study spot, figured out which shower has the best water pressure, navigated the perfect dash from class in Denny to Kaufman and met a group of people I love hanging out with. With the majority of my Dickinson experience still ahead of me, I know I have a lot to learn. I can already tell this place is going to challenge me and I will certainly succeed and fail plenty of times before my four years come to an end. Until then, I’m taking it one day at a time. One month down, forty seven to go.