Opinion | Moving cross-country to live in the dorms during a pandemic

Billy Pruett, sophomore creative writing major

Moving across the country, whether it’s for work, school or perhaps a simple change of scenery, certainly put me in a new state of mind. Throw a global pandemic into the mix and it elevates my already major mental adjustment significantly. 

I transferred to Chapman University this spring semester from Boston, Massachusetts. I moved into the Glass Residence Hall late January. As someone who is more familiar with traveling and staying in new places than the average person, I can confidently say this experience has been the most confusingly random three weeks of my 19 years on this Earth. My days have ranged from utter boredom to hectic nights of chaos. It has become increasingly difficult to know how each day will turn out, but I am beginning to enjoy the unpredictability that my life is turning into.  

I have been drinking an unhealthy amount of coffee and reading an unnatural amount of literature as I distract myself from the realization that a six-hour flight away from home doesn’t sound too cumbersome. I wait out my homesickness until eventually, I meet a new person and find myself conversing with a group of people I didn’t know existed a couple hours beforehand. It's a compelling contrast.

I thrive on security. I have always had a stable support system and routine I follow religiously. The idea of waking up every day and not knowing how things will turn out has been uncomfortable. The discomfort continues to live in me, but as the days pass, I find myself becoming more accustomed to this different lifestyle, and I can feel myself slowly extend past my previously established boundaries.

My academic career that began at Keene State College in New Hampshire was pre-COVID-19 times. The opportunity to meet new people back then did not come with the underlying fear that a stranger may infect me with a deadly virus, so that factor has contributed to my frustration adjusting to Chapman campus life. 

 When I was a freshman, people invited me over before asking if I had taken my weekly COVID-19 test. What a time to be alive.

Moving to a new place will always come with its challenges. There will always be a reason to tell yourself that none of it was worth it. But I happen to believe in perseverance. The more time one spends reminding themselves of all the negatives that can exist when they are in an uncomfortable limbo, the less they will grow at all. Arrested development may occur. My point is simple and arguably cliche: struggles and hardships will always exist in your life and sometimes they will be more evident than others. Perseverance through these times is the only way to level yourself up to the next chapter of your long and ever-changing life.