High school wasn’t the best of times for me. I struggled with a lot of things starting at the very beginning of my freshman year. I had a hard time realizing who I was, finding who I fit in with, and what I wanted to do. I was lost in high school. I was only really sure of one thing, and that was that I needed to get away for college.

I grew up in a town where I went to school with some of the same kids since kindergarten, and then the rest since middle school. Everyone followed a routine and everyone seems to have their place. Even now going home from my first semester, people are falling back into those routines and I feel left out. I went to college halfway across the country for a reason. I needed to get away from where I grew up. I love Princeton but I knew that I needed to be anywhere but there.

In high school I tried to fit and be what other people wanted me to be. When I started college I got a fresh start. I am one of three people from my high school to ever attend my university, of which I am the first girl. I was given the freshest of fresh starts this past fall. Nobody had preconceived notions about me, nobody knew who I was or what others thought of me. They only had the information that I was going to give them. I found people who care about me and not what other people say about me. People who are there for me when I'm homesick and miss my mom, and who understand my weird quirks and love me because of them.

I made time for myself as well. All of the things I’ve loved to do my whole life, like reading and writing, where things that I was not open with during high school. I didn’t want to be known as a “book nerd” or an “English freak.” Now, I’m actually really happy that my friends know that I love English and that writing essays makes me happy and that I love getting new books. Everyday I set time aside to make sure that I read part of a book or write about something.

College is where I found the me that I love. I’ve come to terms with the things I love, which are activities that I try to do on a daily basis. I found people that I love and make me feel valued and special, which is something that some of my “friends” in high school never made me feel. I don’t care about what people think of me anymore, and for the first time in a while, I’m actually happy with the things in my life and who I am.