In elementary, you build your dreams; in high school, you nurture it; in college, you fulfill it. This is perhaps why a lot of people say that college is the make or break period of a person’s life. This is the point where you don’t just imagine what you will become in the future but actually do something to reach it.
This period, however, is not just a period wherein you struggle to reach your dreams. This is also the period where you start to become independent, live on your own and away from your family, learn the value of budgeting, and start deciding for yourself. In short, this is the point where people expect you to be mature and responsible.
Being the only state university in the province and the “state university of preference in the Visayas and Mindanao”, Negros Oriental State University is a home to thousands of students, most of whom are from nearby towns and provinces. Some of these students come from as far away as Mindanao and even Luzon .
So, how is life away from home? Let’s find out.
As the cliché goes, there is no place like home. But what if you don’t have a choice but to study in a place far away from home?
Studying in a far away place leaves you with no choice but to step out of your comfort zone. While the prospect of not having the things you used to have— such as eating warm and delicious mouth-watering meals three times a day prepared by no less than Nanay— is certainly threatening, but it could also be exciting.
For those living in boarding houses, living far from home teaches you to be more responsible with yourself. Without Nanay to cook your meals, wash your clothes, and clean-up after you, you learn to do these things on your own. Without Tatay to watch after you and guide you, you have to learn to fend for yourself and be alert for your safety.
Living alone gives you a taste of independence; it lets you experience what it would be like when you are finally on your own. At this point in your life, you start deciding on your own; this is the point where you learn, not just to discern right from wrong, but most importantly to choose the right from wrong.
For Lester Van Clifford Ebol, a third year BS Computer Science student, living far from home is difficult because there are a lot of things to deal with. However, according to Lester, compared to time management and budgeting money, the adjustment period is the worst part.
A native of Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Norte, Lester said that living alone taught him to become independent and to decide for himself. And if there is one thing he has so far learned from college, it would be the need to set priorities and learn how to value the small things in life.
Also from Zamboanga del Norte, Angie Monica Buhian a senior AB Mass Communication student shared that living far from home is nice but difficult. Just like Lester, Angie said that studying in Dumaguete taught her to be independent and decide on her own. Hailing from Dipolog City, Angie said that the hardest part is when she gets sick because she doesn’t have any relative here in the city and she’s far away from home.
Among the things she learned, Angie learned to save money when she started studying here. According to her, it is very important for her to save money because being far from home, there is nobody here that could help her if she runs out of money.
Homesickness is probably the major enemy of anybody living far from home. Like others, Lester also experiences homesickness which he battles by hanging out with his friends.
Like Lester, most students have never been far from home before and being left alone in a strange place leave them homesick and miserable. Homesickness is common not only to freshmen students but even to those who have been studying far from home for a long time could not escape from this illness.
There are, of course, a lot of things you can do to overcome homesickness. With the advancement of technology nowadays, you can already keep in touch with your loved ones as easily as blinking your eyes. Make use of the many technologies that we have today like cell phones and emails to connect with your loved ones as it is the closest to being home as you can get.
Getting to know new people and joining organizations wouldn’t hurt either. There are a lot of organizations in the university which students can join to help them gain new friends and adapt to university life.
Being homesick is a normal thing but this should not stop you from achieving your dreams. Overcoming homesickness is one way of growing up; another way of teaching yourself to become independent.
Living far from home gives you the freedom to do whatever you want without your parents knowing it. With no parents to watch their every move, students are sometimes tempted to do things that they did not have the freedom to do before.
With no guardians to ask them where they came from and who they are with, some students tend to stay out until the wee hours of the morning, partying with friends and getting carried away with having fun. Though some students could overcome the pull of these temptations, there are those who never recover from it and eventually ruin their future.
As Angie puts it, “in college it is up to you to discipline yourself and be careful with your studies. If you don’t take it seriously you will have to suffer….”
Submitting to these temptations is a matter of choice. You can choose to submit to it and let it carry you to destruction or you can choose to resist it and secure your future. Whatever your choice is, just remember that you will be the one to suffer the consequences of your choices.
College is an environment where only the fittest survives. Meaning, only those who are strong enough to face its challenges can get past it and reach their goals. It’s like a maze where every turn leads you to either the end of the maze or another dead end. It’s full of challenges and surprises littering along the way.
College teaches us not only the things that we need to learn in our chosen professions but also how to survive in the world that awaits us. Here, we get to know ourselves well, discover many things about us, and learn how to deal with people. Here we are taught not only to become professionals but also people who could overcome pressures and survive challenges.
Truly, college is the make or break period of our lives. This is the point where we finally step out of our comfort zones and slowly discover the world beyond it. This is the time wherein the boy becomes a man and the girl becomes a woman. And by overcoming university life’s challenges, we can proudly say that we are, finally, kids no more.
No comments:
Post a Comment