The Life Changing Decision to Move From Philadelphia to East Lansing (PDF)
Any kind of moving is difficult, but when moving involves leaving family and friends behind, to live a plane ride away is terrifying, yet exciting. Moving from Philadelphia to East Lansing was a bigger change than expected. The most notable changes are the weather, meeting new people, and daily life. The cold in Michigan is definitely something that takes awhile to get used to.
The temperature difference in the winter is not terribly high. The average temperature in East Lansing during the month of January being 30 degrees and the average temperature in Philadelphia being 41 degrees. However, the amount of snowfall and the wind chills drastically differ. The average amount of snowfall in East Lansing during the month of January is around 18 inches and the average amount of snowfall in Philadelphia is around 11 inches (“Average Weather”). The change in weather from what I am used to and the inexperience living in it usually has me underestimating the coldness, making for a very long walk to class. This even determines when I have to wake up in the morning, I have to spend much more time preparing for the long walks through the treacherous terrain of East Lansing than I would back home. Clearly, this is an annoying change that takes some time to get used to, but coming to East Lansing not knowing a single person was intimidating.
Meeting new people is not something that is scary to me, but moving ten hours away from home by yourself is always going to seem a little overwhelming. Studies have shown that the people you meet in your first six weeks of college are most likely to be your closest friends for the next four years. Even though I am still great friends with my friends from back home, I have made a completely new circle of friends that I plan on being friends with for at least the next four years. Friends mold and shape you as a person. The type of friends you have determines the type of person you are. Therefore, now that I have new friends I am sure that I have changed at least a little. I also joined a fraternity which is an awesome experience and a great way to meet people. This decision that has lead me to meet so many people has changed my views on many cultures. For example, the Arabic community in Michigan is much larger than in Philadelphia. In Philadelphia, I knew one or two arabic people and was not friends with them. Since the community of Arabs was so small, many people stereotyped them and not many people socialized with that community. Now, some of my best friends at Michigan State are Arabic and this has drastically changed my views on that community of people. Meeting new people seems hard at first, but adjusting to the change in my daily life was the hardest change to get used to.
Waking up in a queen size bed, taking a shower in my own bathroom, having home-made breakfast, and driving my car to school are just some of the luxuries I had to give up by moving to East Lansing. I now sleep in a twin bed, share a bathroom with three other people, have a mediocre breakfast, and walk to class. Most people take these things for granted but now I realize how convenient and nice it is to be able to have these comforts. It is not all bad though, the nightlife is much better to say the least, I never find myself bored, and classes start much later than high school. I find myself much more active and never sitting still, which is a great change that I want to also make when I go back home in the summer. Studying is also a huge change to my daily life, as it is to every freshman in college. In high school, studying did not take up nearly as much of my day as it does now. I try to use any free time I have to study and do homework because the classes in college are much more difficult. My daily life has changed dramatically, but all three of my notable changes have transformed me as a person.
Moving from Philadelphia to East Lansing has changed my life considerably, mostly for the better. The only part that has changed for the worse is the weather, much colder in East Lansing than Philadelphia. My social skills have improved significantly because I have met so many new people. My daily life is nowhere near the same as it was in Philadelphia, some aspects I miss and some I do not. Clearly, the move from Philadelphia to East Lansing is an important life experience.
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