Three years ago, I was a high school senior, trying to make my final decision on where I would spend my next four years. I admit, I was a little bit of a brat throughout the whole process, I had my heart set on going away, and refused to even look at schools at home (and there's plenty of options on Long Island for me to choose from). But I wanted to go away. I wanted the "college experience". I was 18, an "adult" (LOL) and I wanted my freedom. And commuting was not an option under ANY circumstances.

I applied to 14 (that's right, FOURTEEN) schools, all away from home, and had finally narrowed it down to two. One was in Rhode Island, four hours away from home, and the other was only about an hour and a half away. After a very long internal (and external... I'd ask anyone who'd listen) debate, I decided to go to the school an hour and a half away. It was far enough away that I would have my freedom, but close enough to home that I could easily go home when I wanted.

So August 2013, I packed 18 years of my life into a bunch of bins, loaded up the minivan and started the next chapter of my life. My freshmen year of college was probably the best and worst year of my life. My new-found freedom led to tons of fun, but I also realized I wasn't as much of an adult as I'd thought I was. There was a whole lot I needed to learn. I did some growing up, and I loved being "on my own", to come and go as I pleased, to have my own space. I lived with two other girls, who I didn't know before I moved in, but who turned out to be extremely sweet! We had a huge room, especially in regards to college freshmen dorms, and our own bathroom. Life was good.

My sophomore year that wonderful room I had called mine freshmen year was nothing but a distant memory. I moved into the upperclassmen dorms, which had the smallest rooms I've ever seen, and communal bathrooms in the hallways. But it wasn't the small room and sharing a bathroom, that drove me over the edge.

Fall semester the heat in my room was broken. And that was fine when I moved in August, but as my grandma always says "it's cold in the mountains!" and the lack of heat quickly became an issue as winter approached. Waking up to a 60 degree room when I'm used to a toasty 72 degrees made getting out of bed in the morning that much harder. After numerous requests by both myself and my roommate, we were told that facilities was working on the issue, but they never came to our room to address the situation. Christmas Break arrived and it was time to go home before the heat was fixed. Thankfully we had heat when we returned in January.

Another issue we had come across was a leaky roof. My room was a corner room on the top floor for the building. Like winters in New York are often depicted, we got a lot of snow. As the snow on the roof began to melt, the water began to collect in our roof in the corner where the wall and the roof met, forming a nice big bubble. Not wanting to make a huge mess, again my roommate and I called facilities, hoping they would be able to get rid of the bubble and fix the leak. The man came to our room, stuck a screwdriver in the bubble, leaving a big puddle on my roommate's side of the room (Like, thanks for your help... I could have done that myself) and told to us to just leave the wall the way it was, because it needed to dry before anyone could come to replace it. And they did come to replace it, a few weeks later when we were home again for break, leaving an even bigger mess than they had the first time.

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE.

I don't want to sound dramatic, but I really think this was my breaking point. Upon moving in in August, we did the customary scope-out, as in any new place. We quickly realized there was no shower head in either one of the showers in our bathroom. My roommate informed our RA who said she'd pass the message on to facilities. Now let's forget about the fact that there was rarely any hot water...and the lack of a shower head normally would not have been an issue...but this shower produced mist, like the kind at amusement parks to keep you cold while you wait on line for a ride. A garden hose had more water pressure than that shower. After a few weeks, still no shower head.

So again we contacted facilities, mentioning that we had put in a request a few weeks prior and nothing had been done yet. They responded saying that they had run out of shower heads...I'm sorry, what?...So we waited a little longer, thinking that meant they would soon get more and fix the issue.

After what was months of waiting and still no shower head, I contacted residence life. I told them we had first placed a request for a shower head when we moved in in August, and after numerous requests, the issue has still not been addressed. They told me that someone from facilities had checked the bathroom and there was, in fact, a shower head in both showers, so we would not be getting another one. Livid, I suggested the woman come use the shower herself and then tell me it provided her with a satisfactory shower. I don't think she ever answered my email.

I sound like a brat, but I appreciate a decent shower. I like the steaming hot water, water pressure beating down on my body, feeling clean, and I wasn't getting that so obviously I was cranky. My roommate and I had enough and decided to take matters into our own hands. So we bought a $20 shower head with like 5 different settings, unscrewed the sad excuse of a shower head that was in our bathroom, leaving it in the cabinet under the sink and simply screwed on the fancy new one.

Perfect. Finally, a decent shower. Life was good again.

Life was good for about two weeks until we got an email from the RA. She knew we had purchased our own shower head and told us if we didn't remove it and replace the original one, we would be written up for destruction of school property. Again, I'm sorry... What?...

I snapped. 42,000 a year for tuition and these are the issues I have to deal with? I figured if i'm paying this much, I might as well move back home where I could have heat, and hot water, and a decent shower and good food for free. So that's what I did.

I decided dorming was no longer for me, and last May, I moved back home after my last final with no intention of ever looking back. I started my junior in September at St. John's in Queens, and I was terrified I would hate it. I am your typical resident student. I am your "class starts at 8, I'll get out of bed at 8:05" student. I am not the "wake up two hours before class starts because you need an hour to get ready and an hour to get to school" student. But the "anti-commuter" became a commuter. I really did it. I survived.

I just completed my first year at St. John's, and I have to say I don't hate commuting nearly as much as I thought I would. I'm working so that "broke college student" thing isn't as much of an issue as it was when I was away. I love living at home. I get to snuggle with my pup every night. I get to eat home cooked meals every day. No more listening to drunk people come home screaming every weekend while I'm trying to sleep. No more struggling to find the perfect time to do laundry, and while I wish I could say the struggle to take a hot shower is finally over, it's definitely a rarity compared to when I was living away.

I never thought I'd be the type of person to transfer, and I was devastated to realize that my "dream school" didn't turn out to be my dream school at all. Looking back, I probably should have listened to my dad and went to community college for two years before deciding to go away, but I'm stubborn and have to do things my way. And while I left the Mount with no intention of ever looking back. I have visited a few times since I've left, and while I write this, sitting in the library like I still go here, I can say I do miss it a little bit.

But I wouldn't change a thing. I may not be graduating next May like I'm supposed to, but moving back home might have been the best decision I've ever made. Overall, I am so much happier at home. I miss the Mount, but now going to visit is like having a little vacation every once in a while. I get to visit, have all the fun of being away without all the hassles I had living there.

Everyone who transfers does so for different reasons. So everyone asks me why I transferred, and sometimes my answer changes depending on who asks. But I was over it. I got my college experience out of my system, and it was time for me to move back home.