Ely:
Two months ago, I truly became independent.
I packed my life into four suitcases and headed across the country to a city I knew nobody in. I moved into a dorm with a girl I’d only met once in real life, and I started studying two majors I’d only recently discovered my passion for.
It feels like a lifetime and a split second at the same time. As someone who’s been dreaming of becoming independent and being in college since I was little, it was absolutely surreal to have this experience that once seemed so far away.
Growing up, I always figured out life on my own. I navigated through school, learned to find jobs and even completed my college applications by myself. College wasn’t supposed to be much different than the way I’d been living — I would just be in a new city and making new friends.
I’ve never been so relieved to be proved wrong.
Not only am I discovering new places and people around me, but I’m also discovering more about who I am as an individual. I’m still trying to find my footing as an adult in a city full of history and culture that I’d never seen before.
There are many things I’ve already learned to love here. Between the lectures that never bore me to the gorgeous sunset view of the T coming down Commonwealth Avenue, I know deep down I am in the right place.
There are the caveats of everyday college life that I don’t look forward to, of course, such as waking up for my 8 a.m. class, having to go up and down five flights of stairs to do my laundry and sharing a bathroom with half my floor.
But I’m learning about me, the people around me and the world. I’ve had realizations and revelations about anything and everything as I navigate this new chapter of my life.
Luckily, I’m not the only one figuring it out.
Ava:
I am figuring it out, too.
I am a sophomore transfer student — it feels strange to be so young yet almost halfway through college. I transferred from Pennsylvania State University, a Big 10 school in the middle of Pennsylvania. And while it is a fun school for some, Boston was calling my name.
Like Ely, I have always been an independent person. As the oldest child, you are expected to figure things out on your own. You are the sibling who tries and fails to ensure your siblings try but don’t fail. I grew up fast.
Heading into college, I thought life would be a breeze.
But, shocker, it was not. My sense of identity felt lost. I struggled, realizing my community at home grounded and shaped me.
Something else I realized: The university I was attending contributed to the struggle. Penn State was not the right environment for me.
Coming to terms with transferring was certainly a challenge. Trusting my gut in such a big decision was scary. Yet, I persisted. And now, I am in the city I love, still trying to pave my path. Since then, I have been through many phases of losing and discovering a new version myself — but hey, that’s college.
I do not feel like the same girl I was when I graduated high school, and that was merely two years ago. It is crazy how fluid humans are.
So, as I figure it out, I am going to capture my ups, downs, experiences, feelings and everything in between in this column. And that will be done alongside my friend, Ely.
Us:
Through our shared love for writing and journalism that emerged from our conversations at our internship, we’ve realized that we share many thoughts and musings about this new city and the environment around us.
We have our differences, of course. From our vastly contrasting majors to our upbringings on opposite sides of the continental United States, it’s perfectly coincidental for us to have found each other. At the center of it all, we’re both just two girls new to the city and the college experience here, with the desire to figure out what it all means together.
Welcome to Thought Daughters, where we’ll document our thoughts and feelings about growing up in real time. As a freshman and a transfer, we’re both learning to exist as new versions of ourselves. We’re figuring out friendship, independence, identity and how to make this city and university feel like home.
Here we will write honestly about happiness, emptiness, relationships, the in-betweens and what it means to become yourself when everything around you feels temporary.
We hope you join us and enjoy this adventure.
Xoxo, Ava and Ely