It was on a trip to San Diego in my second week of college that I felt myself starting to become the person I was going to be one day.

We were going 80 down PCH in a blue Jeep Wrangler. It was one of those moments where everything becomes meta and you feel like you're in a coming-of-age movie. 'Tik Tok' was blasting on the stereo and my new friends and I were screaming the lyrics. It was the kind of thing where your happiness makes your heart feel like it's going to burst. It was in that moment when my hair was whipping ferociously from the wind, my friends' laughter rang in my ears, and the sun was setting behind the palm trees that I felt that first twinge of newfound freedom. This was the beginning of the rest of my life.

The first few weeks of being a freshman in college are surreal. You have these little moments here and there where you feel as if you need to ask your parents for permission and then remember. You almost say no to hanging out with friends because it's late and then you remember. You almost don't go on a weekend trip to San Diego and then realize that there really isn't anything stopping you. These experiences, I think, are what shape you. The awareness that you chose something all on your own.

As I was in that car that evening, I started to become hyper-aware of my independence. I felt a strange kind of alone. It wasn't sad and it wasn't even lonely. It was the kind of alone where I knew I had no more training wheels. I was out here really doing it. I was really facing the world now and it hadn't hit me until that moment during a 2010 Ke$ha hit. And I was with people I had just met but grown to love in only a couple weeks.I knew that I wanted to feel this euphoric forever. I know that that's unrealistic, that life has its share of bad times along with the good. But I wanted to live in moments like that again. Even though I know I'm going to face my trials and tribulations along the way, I hope my final destination is happiness. I hope I always choose the road that makes me as happy as this one is.

I'm 18 years old and almost 3000 miles away from home. I have my moments when I miss my parents and my hometown. But I wouldn't trade this for the world. College has been an adventure so far and it's only been a month. I think no one is ever truly ready for this step. No amount of summer camps, or AP courses ever prepare you for the culture shock that is college. But I think that's part of the experience. If things weren't hard they wouldn't be important.