Throughout my senior year of high school, it has been so easy to get caught up in the concept of leaving for college. Creating Pinterest boards full of room ideas, desk organizations, and how to save money. Shopping for cute pieces to make my room unique and feel homey. Connecting with other people that are a part of your class. It's all genuinely exciting and it really gets you ready to leave. But then suddenly May turns into August and I'm wondering how I got here. How all of the time has passed by and how I'm going to handle really leaving my hometown where grown up my whole life.

I have felt the sadness. Leaving my family and my friends here will be the hardest thing for me to do, especially after a summer of incredible memories. My mom came to me the other day, and while we talked about the move to college she said, "Nobody tells you the hard parts about being a mom." And I responded with "nobody told me the hard parts about moving away to college." It is sad to think about but nice to know that I will always have my home and my family to come back to.

I have felt the excitement and I have felt the fear. I think the excitement is the easiest emotion to handle. Obviously, I'm supposed to be excited about going off to college and starting this new chapter of my life. But with that, comes a little bit of fear. The fear of being truly on my own for the first time. The fear of not knowing what it will be like when I'm pushed completely out of my comfort zone.

When you've grown up in the same place your whole life, you learn all of the back roads, the best local shops, and the coffee shops that serve the best iced lattes. This place is my home base, and being here is comfortable. I want to be able to be pushed out of this comfort and into a brand new place with a brave face, but the past few days I've really sat back and realized that I have to go soon and that it is okay to be a little scared of the unknown.

Overall, I've felt my fair share of emotions. All of the different ways I have been feeling really speak for itself that I do love my home and my family. But I don't think I could be more prepared to start building my future at FGCU.