By Émilie Douillard
Hey future gaiters, welcome to Bishop’s!
Let’s start from the beginning.
Moving day was probably the day I was dreading the most. Leaving my room, my family, and my home was stressful, but trust me on this, it’s the start of an adventure. If I think back to my first twenty-four hours on campus, I remember it being eventful in ways I couldn’t have imagined. I met people right away and those first-day connections have lasted: I’m still great friends with the people I met my first night here at Bishop’s.
I did, however, for some reason, miss my parents… a lot. You might think that you’re ready to be on your own and be “free” but believe me, you WILL miss your parents, and that’s ok, it’s normal. After a while, I realized how much they’ve actually done for me, and I started to appreciate it more. Yeah, as it turns out, laundry doesn’t just appear folded, waiting for you to put away every week. I have to go downstairs and run my own loads, and that takes time, let’s just say I haven’t been doing it weekly, I make do with the clothes I have left in my closet sometimes. Dust appears fast and the trash and recycling don’t just empty themselves when they are full like they used to.
Who do you call?
When in doubt, call/text your mom. I do it all the time. it’s a weird realization at first because when you live at home and your parents are in your business, you get annoyed, but now, I text my mom every day to tell her my “business.” I tell her the most useless stuff that happens in my day like what I ate or a random thought I had. Constant communication with home has helped me feel connected to my family and makes me feel like I don’t miss anything that happens over there. I personally ask my mom to send me weekly pictures and videos of my cat. Living alone is different for sure, things do fall into place over time. Missing home is normal, but from personal experience, this place becomes a home as well.
The new normal
After a few weeks, you get used to these new realities and they become part of your routine and independence. For me, these tasks are now part of my “reset day”, a day where I have no classes that I try and do the “adult stuff” like cleaning tasks and laundry. In all honesty, that day doesn’t happen weekly, sometimes I push it off because those aren’t fun things to do. They have to get done at some point though.
I like my new life here. This small campus kind of feels like another reality. By that, I mean that it becomes a home and your friends are like your chosen family. Personally, when I go back home and try to explain to people things that happen here, it sounds absurd like explaining how we just all meet at 10 p.m. to eat at Purple Pod. Even small things like leaving my dorm room open and having people just come in and hang out might sound weird to my hometown friends, but for us, here, it’s completely normal and common. I like my new life here; anything can happen and you make memories every day!
