The time I left home - Part 2

Blogtember Day 6: Describe a distinct moment when your life took a turn.

A Distinct Moment? So I know my Personality Profile from yesterday said I had a good memory, and I like to think that I do, but there are just some moments that aren't as clear. Maybe its because I don't want to remember them? Maybe they were embarrassing, (I hate being embarrassed)? Or sad? Or maybe I do have a bad memory?

So I wont be talking about a distinct moment but rather a distinct year. This year was life changing because it was a time where my whole life changed. Everything I knew was left 400 miles away, and the unknown was laid before me.

I feel like I've talked about my first year of college a lot and I probably have. Questions like "Did you like Berkeley?", "How is Berkeley?" "Was it hard?" "Do you miss home?" "Where you homesick?" have been thrown at me throughout my 4.5 years are Berkeley. And somehow I answered it with the same response. 

I wrote about The Day I Left Home at my other blog, Fab5Adventures. If you want to read about the day I actually left my hometown read it here.

I'm not sure what I expect college to be like. I do know that it wasn't going to be a walk in the park, and it was going to be hard. I didn't expect to be homesick, yes I'm a homebody, yes I love being around my family, and yes I was going to a college that was 400 miles away, a 6 hour drive from my hometown. I know some of you have gone to school much further, and are living away farther away from your family now, and are thinking 400 miles that's nothing. That's what I thought when I accepted my school offer, Oh I'll be fine. I'll make new friends. I have some friends going from my High School. I'll be living the college life that I'll be too busy thinking about home. 

But boy was I wrong. I'm not exaggerating when I say this, I called home everyday and cried everyday because I wanted to be home. I didn't make many friends like I thought I would (I should've known I'm a shy so it's that much harder for me to go up to someone). I did keep myself as busy as possible though, I spent a lot of time at the library, and my grades were good, an A, and couple of Bs. Join an organization club (which later would become my life) and tried to go their weekly meetings. But I just couldn't find myself at Berkeley. I was so homesick and so set that Berkely wasn't for me, that I thought about just dropping it and going back home. I looked at various ways that I could somehow transfer to a college back home. 

My parents were always behind me telling me to "Keep pushing" "Just finish the semester" "you can do it!" and thanks to them and my amazing friends I was able to stick it out. I finished one semester, then finished another, and just like that the first year was done. Freshman year was not like I expected it to be, I didn't make too many friends, I was homesick, but the few friends I did make helped me through that year. I had fun!

My first year friends!! The first Club Party we went to!! Waiting in line for the party bus to take us there

I look back at it now, and I'm proud of myself. The best decision I have made was to stick it out in Berkeley, because I had the best times and meet my now best friends. The first year was hell, but well worth it at the end. I tried to tell all the new freshman in my organization, Hermanas Unidas, about my experience to give them some motivation that they could do it too.