Before coming to college, I did not consider myself a conservative or a liberal. I did not identify with a specific political party and was in an ambiguous stage of "I don't know what I believe in." However that all changed when I got to college.

It all really started in my sociology class where I was exposed to all the types of inequalities that exist in the United States and in the world in general. I knew there was inequality and that there were more barriers to social mobility for some people than to others, but it was all a very vague concept to me.

In this class, I was assigned to read excerpts of people living under the poverty line with titles such as $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America and I was to read The Communist Manifesto. I also read about how racism, gender norms, and social class are all socially constructed concepts yet have real effects.

I will not lie, it was kind of disappointing and depressing reading all this material. Not only this, but I soon saw myself analyzing interactions between people, I analyzed how some people had more power than others and how some people could climb up the social ladder quicker and easier than others.

I learned that not everyone has an equal start, that some people just have to work harder to get somewhere in life. Consequently, I learned that life isn't fair and that as much as we don't want to believe it, that inequality exists, whether that means social, racial, economic, or gender inequality, it's all very real.

After learning all of this and seeing the world through a different lens, I found myself on twitter liking and agreeing with more liberal ideas.

Although I found myself more inclined to liberal politicians and policies, that did not mean I hated conservatives. I did have conservative friends, and I respected their positions, I acknowledged their views but also shared my opinions. Even as a newly found liberal, I was able to cordially have conversations with conservatives as well.

On my first night of coming home from college, my liberal side became very evident. I remember having a conversation with my mother about everything I had learned in college. This is pretty much how it went:

Mother:

Hows college, are you liking it so far, what have you learned?

Me:

Mom, this world is so messed up and you don't even know it.

Mother:

How so?

Me:

There are many people living below the poverty line with barely enough to eat, neighborhood segregation still exists, a gender pay gap also still continues to exist, and the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.

Mother:

I paid money for you to reiterate things I already knew, just be quiet and eat your dinner.

Me:

We need a president that will address these issues, we don't need Oprah or Hillary, we need a new face, someone like our state governor, Kate Brown.

Mother:

But she's not even running for president.

Me:

I didn't literally mean her, I simply used her as an example.

Mother:

You really need to stop overthinking these things, and just eat your dinner.

Me:

I can't eat my dinner when there are children in Chicago starving. You see mother, College has made me a liberal and I'm not even mad about it.

Mother:

I'm just mad that you haven't eaten your dinner.

That was how the conversation went. I am now a liberal because of college and I'm not even mad about.

However, I do not want to confuse people into thinking that conservatives do not care about these issues when that is not always the case. I do not want these issues to feel like they are solely for liberals. Anyone can have these views, or similar views and not be a full-on liberal.

Whether or not I will be a liberal ten years from now does not matter, because at the moment I am a liberal and that's all that matters.