Faith Ryder
significant event (Rough Draft)
Moving out of the house for the first time is like starting your life over, only when you move out of college you are dumped with an overload of responsibilities. Living on your own is a whole new lifestyle, usually experienced by high school seniors going into their freshman year in college. For me, it was a huge change. The transition between living at home with rules and regulations to living on your own with absolutely no rules and regulations can be hard, but is almost always rewarding.
I remember when my older brother mike left for college; I was 10 years old. It seemed like he was getting all the attention and I decided it was defiantly not fair. He was getting all the fuss in the family, everyone was getting presents for him and mom and dad were making the biggest deal out of him graduating high school. He used to tease me every night as mom forced me to brush my teeth. He would tell me that when he went to college, he would never brush his teeth again. I was jealous, insanely jealous.
Eight years later it was my turn to go to college. It was Christmas break of my senior year that I had decided, with the help of my parents, I was going to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. I had my heart set on moving out and living on my own. All I could think about my last semester of high school is how I was going to live without my parent’s eyes watching every little thing I did; I was ecstatic, I literally could not wait to get out of the house. Those plans were completely different by April of that same year. After my final ACT scores came in my dad suggested I apply to UAH. Surprisingly, they gave me an academic scholarship, something UA had failed to do. After talking it over with my family, I decided to attend UAH. “Follow the money” my dad kept chirping into my brain, so I did. Without even talking to my parents about housing, I automatically assumed I was living at home, In other words, I could literally run to UAH in minutes from our house. My dreams had been flushed down the toilet; I was no longer going to be the independent college student I longed to be. There would be no mini fridge or short ironing board, my dreams and visions had left; and with that, my anticipations for college ran away.
I graduated high school with a different mindset of all my friends. Everyone was going away and living independently. Me? I was going to be attending University At Home. Then one day during the summer, I received a pamphlet about living on campus at UAH. My mom asked me if I was living on campus, and I said I had assumed I was living at home. She surprised me by saying, “you should move out your first year, live the college experience.” That is when everything changed. I was no longer going to be held back by a stupid curfew or being my sisters chauffer; I was going to be living on my own, even if it was only ten minutes away, it was still on my own. Anticipation began to build inside me once again and came running back with open arms.
Move in day finally came around and I remember not sleeping a wink the night before. After setting up the entire day, I remember sitting in my new dorm room with my mom and looking at everything: my TV, computer, printer, new bedspread, lamp, pictures, and mini fridge. I had everything I had even needed to comfortably live on my own. But after my mom left, I remember sitting there feeling alone. It was just me and my dorm room, what was I supposed to do now? Was this how college life was going to be? Was I going to become a robot, leaving and going to class day after day? These questions quickly disappeared as I contemplated on what I was going to be doing that night.
College went on and the first month or so was a blast! UAH had been everything it had promised to be. Long nights, little sleep, and freedom all became routine for me. I was living on my own with no restrictions. Making a taco bell run at two in the morning and consuming my body weight in food were things I would never be allowed to do at home. However, to every good thing there is a downside. Money was literally flying out of my wallet. Before college I had always kept a steady budget but was never tempted to spend it like I was in college. When you first start living on your own your money seems to yell spend me! Spend me! And for the first couple months, you do. And not only do you spend your money, you spend it on stupid little things like an unreal amount of food, an outrageous amount of new clothes, and
Faith Ryder
significant event (Rough Draft)
Moving out of the house for the first time is like starting your life over, only when you move out of college you are dumped with an overload of responsibilities. Living on your own is a whole new lifestyle, usually experienced by high school seniors going into their freshman year in college. For me, it was a huge change. The transition between living at home with rules and regulations to living on your own with absolutely no rules and regulations can be hard, but is almost always rewarding.
I remember when my older brother mike left for college; I was 10 years old. It seemed like he was getting all the attention and I decided it was defiantly not fair. He was getting all the fuss in the family, everyone was getting presents for him and mom and dad were making the biggest deal out of him graduating high school. He used to tease me every night as mom forced me to brush my teeth. He would tell me that when he went to college, he would never brush his teeth again. I was jealous, insanely jealous.
Eight years later it was my turn to go to college. It was Christmas break of my senior year that I had decided, with the help of my parents, I was going to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. I had my heart set on moving out and living on my own. All I could think about my last semester of high school is how I was going to live without my parent’s eyes watching every little thing I did; I was ecstatic, I literally could not wait to get out of the house. Those plans were completely different by April of that same year. After my final ACT scores came in my dad suggested I apply to UAH. Surprisingly, they gave me an academic scholarship, something UA had failed to do. After talking it over with my family, I decided to attend UAH. “Follow the money” my dad kept chirping into my brain, so I did. Without even talking to my parents about housing, I automatically assumed I was living at home, In other words, I could literally run to UAH in minutes from our house. My dreams had been flushed down the toilet; I was no longer going to be the independent college student I longed to be. There would be no mini fridge or short ironing board, my dreams and visions had left; and with that, my anticipations for college ran away.
I graduated high school with a different mindset of all my friends. Everyone was going away and living independently. Me? I was going to be attending University At Home. Then one day during the summer, I received a pamphlet about living on campus at UAH. My mom asked me if I was living on campus, and I said I had assumed I was living at home. She surprised me by saying, “you should move out your first year, live the college experience.” That is when everything changed. I was no longer going to be held back by a stupid curfew or being my sisters chauffer; I was going to be living on my own, even if it was only ten minutes away, it was still on my own. Anticipation began to build inside me once again and came running back with open arms.
Move in day finally came around and I remember not sleeping a wink the night before. After setting up the entire day, I remember sitting in my new dorm room with my mom and looking at everything: my TV, computer, printer, new bedspread, lamp, pictures, and mini fridge. I had everything I had even needed to comfortably live on my own. But after my mom left, I remember sitting there feeling alone. It was just me and my dorm room, what was I supposed to do now? Was this how college life was going to be? Was I going to become a robot, leaving and going to class day after day? These questions quickly disappeared as I contemplated on what I was going to be doing that night.
College went on and the first month or so was a blast! UAH had been everything it had promised to be. Long nights, little sleep, and freedom all became routine for me. I was living on my own with no restrictions. Making a taco bell run at two in the morning and consuming my body weight in food were things I would never be allowed to do at home. However, to every good thing there is a downside. Money was literally flying out of my wallet. Before college I had always kept a steady budget but was never tempted to spend it like I was in college. When you first start living on your own your money seems to yell spend me! Spend me! And for the first couple months, you do. And not only do you spend your money, you spend it on stupid little things like an unreal amount of food, an outrageous amount of new clothes, and
