At the end of the Summer of senior year of high school, many kids face the major change in their lives-- living on their own in college. This is the first time many kids are given complete independence. Their own choice in how to spend their time, what to wear, what to eat, what to think. People think of this as a time to reinvent yourself. Really though, it's a time to find who you really are.

Your adolescence shapes you into who you are. If this time is altered by whatever force, bullying, societal pressures or extremely strict parenting, who you really are can be suppressed, and a facade personality will emerge. This personality, for most, is the one that is shown all throughout high school. The lie that is put up to impress others and make friends becomes a reality.

When people go to college, they are in a group of people that they have never been exposed to before. They don't feel a need to keep up with the lies they created and let their true personality emerge. This, for many reasons, is why the friends you make in college are the friends you keep for life. You are able to be yourself around new people, and if it takes longer to make friends then so be it, but you are in an environment where you are not forced to be in the same place with the same people. You are finally, truly free to act and feel as your heart naturally desires.

This is why when you return home for the first time, and get to interact with family and friends, they are quick to shout out the classic phrase "college has changed you!". Do not let this discourage you. They changed you. They are the ones who subconsciously pressured you into being something you were not, but thought you were. You hid yourself in fear of how they would treat you knowing the real you. Do not let them make you think college has changed you for the worse. Do not them make you think you are any less of a person because of how you wild you act, how you think on political stand points, how you dress, or your new interests. College has not changed you, they have. Now you have all the liberty to explore your true self.