Going Far Away For College

I’m very close with my whole extended family, but I’ve also wanted to go far away for college as long as I can remember. Is that normal? I don’t want to regret it but I’ve always wanted the experience of living somewhere new while I can. For people who don’t get homesick often, is going far away harder than it may initially seem?

Lots of people want to go to school far away from home. I grew up in Ohio and went to college in Alaska. I loved Alaska and never regretted going there. That said, lots of people would go there for a semester or two, and then transfer out. It’s totally up to each individual as to how they respond to leaving home.

My DD said “I’ll probably end up living here again, but college is a safe and simple way to go away for a while and see other places.” The good news is she went to another time zone and had a great time, bad news is we haven’t seen her since graduation. The same thing happened to my youngest brother thirty years ago.

Seriously, with the state of social media these days it’s really easy to stay in touch with the folks at home. As long as you’re not anticipating wild bouts of homesickness take a shot. Lots of schools like a little geographical diversity so it could work in your favor.