Breaking out of your bubble

As college application deadlines start to approach, I find myself wondering about what my life will be like at this exact time next year. Like most other seniors the main thing I keep thinking about is, where will I be? Will I still be on the West Coast or will I have packed up my things and headed out to the East Coast?

Although the thought of going to college is exciting, I get nervous when I think about living on my own in an entirely new place. I have never moved, so for me, the thought of moving is both exciting and scary. Many people in my town like to say we are from “the bubble” because a lot of us have spent our entire lives here and feel like we have almost been shielded off from the rest of the world. I know many seniors are probably in the same boat as me and have lived in the same place their entire life.

While researching different schools and going on tours I realized that there is so much out there in the world. I always told myself that I would want to stay in California for college because California is what I know. I always considered going out-of-state, but I always thought the farthest I would let myself go is Washington because it is out-of-state, but not too far from California. However, as I started looking into different colleges I realized that maybe California is not where I really want to be. Out of 14 colleges on my list, only three are in California. A majority of my schools are located on the East Coast and five of them are in the same city, Boston.  

I realized that in order to have some of the experiences that I am looking for in college, I can’t just stay in “my bubble” because that will get me nowhere. My word of advice to all other seniors out there is consider going to a place with new scenery where you can really start fresh. When you think about it, college is the time where you can experiment with where you are living. Maybe you want to go to the east coast or the south, but are not sure if you see yourself living there forever, college is the time to give it a shot. Say you go to college on the East Coast, but then realize it is not your cup of tea so you transfer, at least you know now that the East Coast is not the place for you. However, if you wait until after college to live in a new place, chances are it will be for a job and then it is harder to get out if you realize that place is not suited for you. If you are like me, and are eager for the taste of a new lifestyle, but not committed to having it forever, try it out for college because that is only four years of your life. Maybe you find that four years in this new place is enough and you want to go back to your roots. Once you have given this new lifestyle a chance at least you can have the satisfaction of knowing you at least tried it out rather than just wonder about what it  could have been like.

I know that I am ready to try something new despite how scary it may seem, but I know that if I don’t give it a shot now I do not know when I ever will. I may not have any experience in having a new life in college, but I hope that I may have helped persuade a few people to give the thought of a new experience a shot.