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I chose "leaving home" and "finances/money" as the most difficult challenges for me during my transition to college. My life revolved around my family before I started college. My mom's a single mother and I had to help her take care of my five younger siblings so it was kind of hard to avoid them on the daily. We're a really close family and it was very difficult for me at the beginning of the school year to adjust: to not wake up and see them running around or to not being able to eat my mom's food. When I went home for Thanksgiving break, it felt like I was a guest in the house. Things changed - my room didn't feel like my room, the daily routines were different, and for some odd reason, I didn't feel like I belonged. Of course I know my family missed me and they didn't shun me but I think I'm struggling to get to used to coming home after living away from home for months at a time.

It's also difficult to manage your finances while you're in college. Nobody warns you not to buy that sweater onliine - you learn how to manage your money the hard way. Like when you find out you have like, twenty bucks in the bank. And I know I am not the only one who has to deal with this. My friends and I have to check each other when we spend and we often joke about being in the "danger zone" with our bank accounts (when you have less than $100 in the bank). If I'm broke and need something, I can't really call my mom to lend me some cash, which is okay. My mom never readily whipped out cash for me in high school anyways so I understood the value of her hard-earned money, but it is a wake up call. I have to be accountable for my actions and learn how to restrain myself from buying ridiculous things. And I'm learning to pick up on extra shifts at work if I need the extra money. There's something really nice about getting paid from a hard week's' worth of work.