Most students can break up their trip home from college by sets of 40, 50, maybe even 60 miles; but what happens when those miles turn into hundreds? The trip home turns into a journey and life gets a little more complicated.
Many students choose to go to schools that are in the same state as they live, but some end up across the country. I ended up in this circumstance when I went to school at Mississippi State University and my family moved to Ohio. The distance presented numerous obstacles, but also opened my eyes to several key things.
The first, and probably most major of these obstacles is going to a school hundreds of miles from home forces you to immerse yourself in a different culture. Fortunately, we lived in Mississippi for a few years before my parents went north again but there was certainly an adjustment period. Y’all replaced you guys, shorts replaced every jacket I own and Ro-Tel became the most important part of every potluck.
Although your school may not be down South, going to school far from home is guaranteed to offer some culture shock. The upside to it is seeing your home state in a different light and maintaining a sense of awareness that keeps you from becoming too ethnocentric.
Another challenge are those weekends when the campus becomes a desert town. There is no football game, no bands are playing; it is a long weekend and everyone else has gone home. But this is not an option for someone as far as 10 hours away from home.
However, while stuck in this temporary isolation, you may discover parts of town you never knew existed. My college town is fairly small, but I discover new things every time I have a weekend like this. It took me three years to discover a restaurant with one of the best atmospheres in town and it is just down the road from my apartment.
A third obstacle is getting home for the holidays. Thanksgiving break is only several days long and you have to debate whether or not the trip home is worth it. It may just be better to wait until Christmas.
Although this may seem gloomy and you often get the pitiful “how awful” remarks from others, you learn to pull through. But you’ll treasure time with your family when you do have it and learn to make traditions of your own. I’m fortunate enough to have a sister at school with me, so we manage to maintain a sense of family when going home is not realistic.
One thing I used to take for granted was having easily accessible doctors, dentists, you name it. These were never the appointments I wanted to make, but if I had to they were down the road and knew my history. Attending a school more than 600 miles from home forced me to transfer some of these essentials to my college town. Make a list of suggestions from people who live in the area and establish some contacts before you need them. Nothing is worse than having to schedule an appointment and not having a clue where to start.
The home-cooked meal… well I guess you can always learn to cook, right?
Living so far from home makes you realize how ready people are to help you or invite you into their homes. Every one of my friends has opened their homes to me, which makes me realize that I am never alone.
I always have a home to turn to, even if it is not the one my family inhabits.
One of the best parts of this seemingly difficult situation is college becomes home. You see everything your school has to offer and you create some lifelong friendships. You find beauty in parts of campus that others spend significantly less time in and it makes all the stress worth it.
Distance from home is hard; there is no avoiding that. But instead of focusing on the obstacles, be proud of yourself. You had the courage to do something out of the ordinary, to become independent. And I promise you that will grow stronger because of it.
Kaitlin O'Dougherty, a former Post-Gazette intern, is a senior majoring in journalism and minoring in French at Mississippi State University.
First Published: October 6, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
