Life in Pictures: Nostalgia in the First Year of College
February 19, 2023
Author: Skylar Wallison
Editor: Caroline Grin
In one’s first year of college, it is easy to spend countless hours reminiscing on old memories from childhood and home. I, for one, have always been a nostalgic person: forever scrolling through my camera roll, looking at pictures from my senior year or of my family.
As the oldest child, leaving home was a foreign experience for everyone in my immediate and extended family. Throughout my life, I craved independence but shied away from all change or newness. By the end of my senior year, I had spent 13 years with the same 65 girls in my single-sex school in New York City. As one can imagine, these 13 years meant that every one of us knew each other inside and out. We knew the names of everyone’s parents, their childhood dogs, and even who was and was not a natural blonde...
As I began my freshman year at the University of Michigan, I could not grasp the concept that the size of my world had ballooned in a few short months. While I quickly adapted to my life in Ann Arbor, I often found myself more nostalgic than ever. I recalled memories of our high school traditions: our sabertooth tiger mascot (a peculiar choice of mascot but one we all loved), pasta Mondays in our cafeteria, and even the copious amounts of busy work I had to do. College meant one thing to me: I have to be an adult now. I suddenly found myself having to navigate a bigger pond.
While now there are 5,935 more fish in my class, I have discovered that being nostalgic and reminiscing does not mean I am “failing” college. My camera roll — pictures of prom, lacrosse games, dance performances, or my summer trip to Europe with my best friends — has reminded me that while that chapter has closed, new doors will open in college just as they did in high school. Now, memories of game days, cramming for Art History tests, and walking to class through the snow, fill my camera roll. While the faces and places in my pictures have altered completely, I have finally learned that nostalgia does not go hand in hand with homesickness or general sadness. I believe that nostalgia has grounded me into cherishing new memories (ultimately with the goal of making equally special ones). Reminiscing has allowed me to make new memories with new people and always keep my childhood in my back pocket, still growing my camera roll.
Image:Sydney Newman
