Letters from a Freshman:

This month, my first here at SUNY Potsdam, has been so revealing and such a personal experience. All you reading this that are beyond freshman year know the empty feeling, even if you refuse to admit it, and the broken feeling of suddenly being away from the family that was the norm for so long. Now I reflect, thinking of my little dog looking at me from the driveway as my mother pulled the family van out of the driveway, one month ago, the last time I have seen my house.
I think about the phone calls, and think about the times my mother and father both told me that the most important part of college was academic. Sure, to a length, it may be true, but who are they kidding. As a student, academics have taken a step back to this thing they call life.
But look at what happens here, not just to me, but often collectively. Family is suddenly out of reach, mother is no longer here to take care of laundry, gas money is strictly my responsibility and suddenly I am hit with the realization that I am officially independent. Is this what the colonials went through after the Revolution, experience a period of searching, a period of wonder, of realization?