"Expected the unexpected."

It's a phrase everybody hears at least 100 times in their life, whether from a movie, their family, friends, or a funny video of someone getting kicked in the groin. I believe this phrase hold something true and memorable for everyone. "Expected the unexpected." Someone dies. "Expect the unexpected." Someone gets into a car crash. "Expect the unexpected." Someone gets pregnant. "Expect the unexpected." Someone moves away. It's a phrase that says so little, yet so much in only three words: you never know what's going to happen.

Expect the unexpected to me means my whole future changed within 12 hours. My senior high school plans washed down the drain in less than a full day. My world was quite literally, flipped upside down.

I remember all of these college visits to different campuses around the state. Deciding if I liked public or private institutions, big or small, inclusive or exclusive. I remember visiting the one I decided to attend. It was cold, late January, and not quite sticky snow yet. The tour was god awful and my coat never left my body. Yet, I fell in love. This was my college. I found my future home. "Expect the unexpected."

Fast forward five months to graduation day. Pictures are being taken, people are crying, and saying goodbye for what could be the very last time. I look around to the people I disliked, the ones I never quite got to know, and the ones that I loved dearly and wished we had a future in each other's lives. Five years ago, I didn't know any of these people. I was the new girl with a purple streak in my hair and a shy personality, and I was leaving all these people to go two hours away to a new town, new people, and a new life. "Expect the unexpected."

Two months later, 17 days after my open house celebrating my accomplishments and my future ones to come, expect the unexpected rang true for me. I started out that Monday morning all too excited to get my college tuition fully paid off (with loans of course) and be ready to leave in a month. My money was spent, supplies were bought, roommate was picked, orientation was over, everything was set. I was ready to start my new life. "Expect the unexpected."

12 hours later tears were shed, words were said, and an application to attend a school ten minutes away from my house was sent. Things changed, plans had to be altered, and dreams were let down. "Expect the unexpected." Within 12 hours, my entire future I had prepared and developed for myself was being shattered, I felt lost and mournful. "Expect the unexpected" soon turned into "Life isn't fair."

Four months ago, I attended my second college orientation of the summer, at a school I never had considered during my final year in high school. My world seemed so turned around and funky. I remember countess nights of hopeless self-pity and many shed tears, after months of hopeful daydreams and mental plans. Soon I attended my first class and wondered "Why did this happen to me, what did I do wrong?" Things didn't seem like they would ever look up at all. "Expect the unexpected."

Four months later, I remember every heart-wrenching moment those 12 hours caused me and how heart broken, I felt for so long. But I also found out "Expect the unexpected" doesn't have to be a dreadful thing. Here I sit, writing my third "Odyssey" article. Here I sit, wondering when I will get information on my application status as a volunteer for a company. Here I sit, remembering to send an email to the company I became a student ambassador for. Here I sit, mentally planning for a project I got approved for, for a national chartered organization I joined three months ago. Here I sit, applying for scholarships for fall 2017 at a college I never even considered going to my senior year of high school. "Expect the unexpected."

Even though life may "not be fair" or go the way we want it to, I've learned that "make the most out of every situation" goes hand in hand with "expect the unexpected." Nothing gets down sitting around and hoping life will change, because all it does it change, constantly. You have to change with it. Dive into the possibilities. Do what you want to do when you can do it because you never know what will happen next.