Some people view being tied down in college as a bad thing. However, from my personal experience, it has been the polar opposite.
During my freshman year, I became engulfed in the freshman culture of going out every night and not breaking a sweat if I missed a class or two the next morning. As a result, I did terribly my first semester. After getting good grades throughout my entire academic career leading up to college, I received my first D in a class.
Everything changed when I met Marc, my current boyfriend of two and a half years. Besides my first semester, we've been dating throughout my entire collegiate career. Although some view a relationship as a hindrance to one's college experience, I believe otherwise.
In fact, if I hadn't met Marc, I'm not sure if I would have accomplished any of the things I have throughout these past two and a half years. From the moment we began dating, we have both proved to ourselves that we were capable of success. We have pushed each other again and again to go out of our comfort zones and set goals that we would have never imagined before.
We've spent countless nights studying and motivating each other to never give up, even when times are hard and everything seems to be out of reach. We've lifted each other up after failures and celebrated the milestones we've both hit along the way.
The most important thing Marc has taught me is to have confidence in myself. I've always been insecure when it comes to my ability to excel in journalism, which is my field of study. However, by watching Marc chase his dreams of becoming a successful computer scientist and not letting anything get in his way, I've learned to do the same for myself. He is always there to give me words of encouragement in moments of doubt and to lead by example, even if he doesn't know it.
We have both accomplished so much in the past year, and it is all because of the support system we have within each other. Marc landed a great job as a software engineer in Fort Lauderdale and graduates in a few days while I landed two journalism internships and was promoted to Editor-in-Chief of Odyssey at UCF.
Sometimes I think about what I would be doing if I had never met him, and I'm glad I'll never have to face that reality. I honestly don't know if I would still be studying journalism at all if it weren't for him, let alone be an Editor-in-Chief of a huge publication.
I know that relationships aren't for everyone, especially in college. But for me, my relationship led me to success, and I'm excited to see what else we will both achieve moving forward - hand in hand.
