Welcome to Penn State

My name is Jillian Lynch and I am from Milford, Massachusetts. For those of you who don’t know where Milford is (obviously most of you wouldn’t), it is about an hour west of Boston.  During the process of applying to college I knew I was definitely looking for three important things; a big school with a lot of school spirit that was also quite far away from my hometown. As you know, Penn State was my choice, and it was everything I wanted. Milford is about 7 hours from Penn State in car, and in bus it’s about 9 hours. And believe me, I started to regret going so far away during those tortuous bus rides. During the summer I couldn’t wait to get to Penn State and start to live the college lifestyle; I knew only one other person from my high school going and that was enough for me. I was the first of my friends to leave for college; I was their guinea pig. If I had an easy transition, so would they, and vice versa. Well I was quite confident that I would be fine; I had a very easygoing personality and was always good at making friends, so I thought, no problem! My parents drove me up, set up my room, and then spent some time on campus with me. When they said they would be leaving soon, I think I had a little panic attack. While imagining me having a panic attack please picture that “deer in headlights” look on my face. I was going to college, but wouldn’t my parents be staying with me? Or at least maybe my mom…wasn’t she my roommate? Those are the things that I would have loved to happen, but I’m pretty sure housing wouldn’t be too fond of my mother and I rooming together (we’d cause too much trouble together anyways). So off drove my parents and off I went to my dorm room ALONE and here at my Penn State my parents left me to cry and be miserable FOR TWO WEEKS. Just kidding, I wasn’t miserable, but I did cry every day for about two weeks; I couldn’t even call or Skype my parents for that long…I would get too upset every time I tried! You might call me a baby, but jeesh I was homesick! Not everyone understands this and I get that, but if you’re stuck at college with a not so great roommate for four months (until Thanksgiving), then you might be able to imagine what I was crying about. Going home for the weekends were out of the question; the buses were not cheap and the 9 hours it took to get there and come back were already half of a weekend. Eventually it got better, the other person I knew from my high school was actually my boyfriend, and so I wasn’t completely alone. I made a lot of friends, went to all the football games, and now love college. The point of this blog is to write about my experiences in college; the good times, the bad times, and the very strange differences between Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. I’ve been given some very strange looks, and I know I’ve been given some back. But, those stories can be saved for the rest of my blog!