Every year, many seniors are faced with the daunting activity of leaving behind all we know, being thrown out into the world with little to no experience of how to survive on our own. The transition from high school to college is one of the biggest changes any of us will ever face. Documenting my journey will hopefully ease the stress and anxiety underclassmen have about facing the future.
At FSU, where I will be attending in the fall, all freshmen planning on living in dorms must pick a roommate or randomly be placed with one. Of course, random placement is always an option, but the pressure of a relationship to be formed between someone you meet upon entrance sounds a little much for me to personally handle. Because I moved from overseas, I am extremely limited in the realm of friendship; not that I am complaining, the friends I do have are amazing. However, this means my chance of rooming with a friend I know from school is zero. The only place I could look was online.
As soon as I received my acceptance, I messaged the FSU class of 2025 page with proof of acceptance and some pictures of myself to be posted along with the other incoming freshmen. The hope was to meet someone I clicked with that way. I was put into a GroupMe chat, followed by several Snapchat group chats. As a result, I was introduced to so many new people. Of course this was a good thing, but it was overwhelming with all these new active groups. I couldn’t put down my phone without being bombarded with notifications. My phone was practically one continuous vibration. I think this was the moment it really set in that I was going off to college and these people would be the next four years of my life.
The amount of introduction videos I sent and opened in hopes of meeting someone I felt a connection with was absolutely ridiculous. I talked to so many people, but overall, couldn’t find someone who matched my sense of humor or who I felt would be a good fit to live with me for the next year. If you think about it, it’s kind of strange that we pick someone on the internet we’ve never met in person and just trust that we could become good enough friends to live together for a year.
Currently, I have my future roommate and we have even coordinated themes for our dorm room and both contributed equal amounts into purchasing things for it. It’s stressful being put under such an extreme time crunch. Deadlines for finding a roommate are May 1st, and I only received acceptance in March. This gave me under two months to find someone I both feel connected to and could see myself living with. You can’t truly develop a deep connection to someone in such a short amount of time, especially without ever meeting them in person.
Finding a roommate is stressful, and who knows if the one I found will turn out to be a good match. I have a little over a month until I graduate, and that’s terrifying. The pressure placed on children to be successful is a heavyweight to bear. Living on my own for the first time, being far away from my parents for the first time, the freedom and the possibilities are both endless and scary. Nonetheless, I’m extremely excited to start my journey into the unknown.