Hindsight Is Cool
The newest trend coming into Sophmore year of college seems to be “trash the hometown.” I get the sense that everyone is too eager to move on, head out, climb up, and leave behind. “Yeah, college feels more like home” still rings false to my ears. Not everyone thinks they have outgrown the place in which they grew up, that they are too good for it, but comments with those sentiments seem to burst forth with startling frequency. “I know college is where I really belong.”
How?
Ninety-nine percent of the people who say things to that effect have been at college precisely nine months; far less time than they have lived in their hometown. Just because there are so many restrictions lifted on their lives at college doesn’t automatically make the situation better. How many people can honestly argue that sharing a closet-sized room with a stranger trumps coming home to a big soft bed in a big roommate-less room? How many are willing to say that caf food is piles better than home cooking? (Though, there may be piles of it.) Have you ever heard anyone say “Gee, I sure am glad I’m at college, so I can do my laundry. I hated not being able to wash my clothes at home.” Seriously.
Look, I’ll give you this: college is a time of life-changing decisions, lifetime friendships, and never-ending piles of fun. However, nothing necessitates the declaration that living in such a homogenous group (twenty-somethings paying for an education) trumps the significantly more diverse real world. There are things to be learned from both places; do not abandon one for the other.