Now, I'm going to be as kind as possible. You weren't the nicest place to live. You were falling apart –– your toilet only worked when I stopped the draining myself, your shower head leaked, an outlet blew up, under our kitchen sink was flooding –– but I am still glad that I had the chance to call you mine.

1. You made me more responsible.

Before you, I had things that I paid for –– like gas and food –– but I never had monthly bills. I never had something I HAD to pay every month. I never had anything that was my sole responsibility. Because of you, I not only had to budget for food and gas, I had to save for rent, internet, water, and electric. Sometimes coming up for the money was difficult, and yes, I did live paycheck to paycheck at some point, but you were totally worth it.

2. I could make you whatever I wanted

For the first time in my life, I could decorate and organize my entire living space exactly how I wanted it. I didn't have to consider where someone else wanted the silverware to go or where someone else wanted the couch; I could put anything, anywhere I wanted.

I could hang up posters, decorate the entire place with quote boards, hang up lights and no one could tell me not to. The place didn't always have to be perfectly clean, and if I was in a hurry, I could leave my clothes all over the place in the morning and no one else would ever know. Honestly, I'm pretty strange when it comes to how I organize my living space. Being able to put everything my way was a great change for once.

3. You provided a safe haven

When I wanted to be alone, I knew I could go home, crawl into bed, silence my phone and no one would be able to bother me. I could watch whatever I wanted on Netflix. You made me feel comfortable in a rather unfamiliar place. You were my home away from home, and I believe everyone needs that sense of security and belonging, especially in college.

4. You made me better at parking my car

This one is a little strange, but you made me a better navigator when it came to my car. Before I lived here, I had no idea how to parallel park, which inevitably left me struggling to find parking anywhere. Your driveway was long, skinny, and 9 times out of 10, half blocked by a car trying to fit into a space that was too small.

Your driveway was said to fit 5 cars, but in reality, it was able to squeeze 4.5 in on a good day. Keeping all of that in mind, in the beginning, my car suffered a little. Let's just say my dad isn't very happy with the scraped up corners of my bumpers. Don't worry, I got better, except it may have been a little too late... Sorry, dad!

5. You taught me a lot

Before you, I didn't really know how to do a lot of the adult things an apartment entailed. I branched out of my comfort zone a little bit and figured out how to set up accounts with a bunch of different companies.

I have a lot of respect for people who do this stuff all by themselves because I had a lot of questions along the way. Not only did I learn a lot about adulting because of you, but you made me realize where I wanted to be in life. I came to a lot of realizations in the short time I lived here, and I have a feeling if I'd never had you as a first apartment, I wouldn't be where I am now.

6. You were MINE

I think the most important thing I'm thankful for is you were mine, totally and completely mine. You were the first thing I was ever responsible for on my own, and you were the first thing I ever got to make every decision about. You were my first, and a person never forgets their first apartment. You may have been old, falling apart and a little damaged, but you were mine, and that's all that matters.

Thank you for being my first "own" apartment. I hope someday another lost college student learns as much about themselves from you as I have.