I have spent that past five years of my life, four actually in school, in Idaho and invested in the NNU community. This is one of many things that the University does really well. It knows what it means to be a community. Through these past few years I have become close friends with many, and most of my professors became mentors and close friends. I know that no matter where life takes me or what happens these people will always be there are me and are cheering me on. This is encouraging. NNU creates an atmosphere like no other.
However, while this is one of the many great things the University offers, it may also be it's greatest down fall. After graduating I moved, I traveled a lot at the beginning of summer and am now back at home in Oregon. This has now become one of the most difficult things. I am in the midst of transitioning from being a student in school to one who is not. After only knowing what life is like in an institution this can be a big shift. On top of this I have my other two siblings getting married, and my families house has recently been rebuilt after a fire back in February. Needless to say, home for me isn't really home anymore. Most of my friends from Oregon have also moved on, and it is at times difficult to find where one fits in at their home church once more.
I have experienced what good community is, and what it looks like. But I was never shown how to find, and grow that community outside of college. I have noticed that many NNU graduates stay in the Nampa area, and within that there are a number of them that not only continue to live there but continue to attend school events, such as chapel, time out, Mr. NNU, etc. This in and of itself is not completely bad, but when that is still the only since of community one has the school as done a disservice to those students.
While I transition through this part of my life, and at times find myself down and on the verge of depression, all I can think about is how my close friends, my tight community is hundreds of miles away.
I love my Alma Mater, I am blessed to have made such great friends, and to have learned from such great minds. I know I am prepared to go into my field of study. The only thing I was not prepared for was the emotional distress that is caused by leaving one close community and not knowing how to find it again in the real world.
