Re: For those of you who went away to college...
agreed. for the first 2 years I went home every weekend but as I got more involved and busy, I tended to go home less. Senior year I was going home 1-2x a month, if that. But it wasn't because I was having oh so much fun. Only "thirsty thursdays" is the real day anyone goes out. Campus was dead on the weekends so you won't miss much. you'd be surprised how many people go home on weekends.
Re: For those of you who went away to college...
strong username to thread content correlation, i moved away for college too, about hour and a half away, 2 hours by bus, but i dont live in pakistan though (and yeah i'm sindhi if it matters)
Re: For those of you who went away to college...
i went to college in a different state, best 4 years of my life, in fact i couldn't move back home after college because i would have missed my independence!
Re: For those of you who went away to college...
The first few weeks/months are the hardest b/c both you and your parents will need to get used to the change and the new "daily routine".
Once you move, once classes start you'll make new friends, and will also get busy with classes. Definitely try to find clubs/organizations that interest you. When you're busy studying and surrounded by new friends/experiences, you won't have time to sit around and miss your parents. In the beginning your parents will also have a hard time...they will call you constantly and will expect you to visit every weekend. As time goes by, that will become less frequent...BUT it also depends on how strong you are at creating an independant identity.
Example: When I first moved out, my mom used to call me every single night (literally!). Once I had a "life" at my new location, had friends to hang out with etc......there were times I could not answer her phone call every single night (or rather, when I was out with friends, I CHOOSE not to answer it). Slowly this turned into us talking every other day...and then it came down to 1x/week. Was my mom a bit emotional over it in the beginning since she couldn't get a hold of me every single night? Absolutely! Did my mom "get over it" after a little while and get used to our "new routine" of talking every Sunday? Yes. I live 4 hours from my parents. In the beginning, I used to visit them 1x/month. After a few months, the drive became annoying and my weekends also "filled up" with activities. I would just simply tell my parents that I can't visit b/c I have such and such plans or need to work on school stuff etc. After the 1st semester, it slowly changed to me visiting them once every 2-3 months. Again...were they happy about the fact at that time? No. But with time and me standing strong on my ground that I needed to focus on building my own life....they came around.
If you want to visit your parents every single weekend then that's fine. But as I said....once you start making friends and get busy with school/other activities.....you can slowly pull away (if you choose). It's not easy but your parents WILL learn to adapt to the change.
For me living away is a blast! It taught me how to have self-control. There is a difference b/t coming home by 11 p.m b/c your parents told you to...and coming home at 11 b/c YOU realize that you need to get in bed by a certain time...lol. It was nice having control over my daily life 100%....from when/what to eat, when/where I could go out, who I could hang out with and when etc. It also taught me responsibility and time management. It gave me a chance to explore my own values/beliefs separate from my parents....gave me an opportunity to realize what I believe in and how I want to live my life.