Life Away From Home

For the first eighteen years of my life I grew up in the small town of Hannibal, outside of Oswego, NY. I didn't exactly fit in with the rest of the "country folk" that made up my town with their tractor pulls, mud bogs and country music. I knew from the start that I did not want to stay at home for college, and somehow in the search for colleges, I found Schenectady County Community College. I liked the choice of housing across the campus and I had already decided that community college was the best option in order to save money. I think it was the best choice for me in order to save money and test the waters while still getting the away from home experience.
For my first year at college, I stayed in the College Suites right across campus and that was quite an interesting experience. Although it was the main reason why I picked this college, I later found out that looks can be very deceiving but I stuck it out for two semesters. The first semester was hard, I had to get over the shock of not knowing where anything was or not having a familiar face anywhere near me. I definitely experienced homesickness and some stress eating which I luckily got over once I started making friends. Making friends wasn't really as hard as I thought it would be since the people in my building were going through similar things with being away from home. Since moving away, I have made friends from all over New York and have had opportunities to see places I never would've if I just stayed home like my high school friends did.
Since I was the only person in my circle of friends growing up to move away for college, I previously prepared myself for how different it would be when I left. Now over a year later, I don't really speak to the people I did in high school which people may think of as a bad thing but I prefer to see the positive. Yes I have distanced myself from my life in Oswego, however I have made a life here that I am proud of. I've over come obstacles from homesickness to crazy psychotic roommates but it has been worth it to be out on my own and  meet people that I've become so close to.
The person that has really been my best friend from day one is my roommate, Mary. We were assigned roommates at the College Suites with two other girls and through multiple incidents with the other two, Mary and I have been able to survive our crazy college adventure together. This semester we decided to get away from school associated housing and we are renting an apartment in downtown Albany in the heart of the college ghetto which has been crazy so far. We are a lot alike and very laid back, but still take school seriously which is why we get along so well. We have made a lot of memories from our road trips to each others hometowns, going to Boston for a Lady Gaga concert, the Drake vs Lil Wayne concert, Turning Stone Casino, etc. There has been so many things that have happened in the past year that we've become best friends, which is definitely not always the case with roommates but when you have a good roommate it makes college a lot more fun. There's also the benefit of hanging out with their friends and meeting your own friends. That's whats probably been the best thing about moving away, is that now I live in an area with such a variety of different people and personalities, I have been able to make a wider variety of friends than in my little hometown.