As a transfer student, I have had a lot of different experiences just in the past year.

I am a freshman and I spent my first semester at Penn State University Park, and now I am at Susquehanna University,a small liberal arts school for the spring semester.

The transition from my small town high school to a very large campus like Penn State was enough to completely change my perspective on life.

That one semester of college changed a lot about me. There were many things I didn’t like about Penn State, and it had a negative effect on my mental health. I decided a smaller school would hopefully be a better fit for me and turn things around.

I quickly realized that coming to a different school in the middle of the year would present its own challenges. Friend groups had already formed, clubs had already started; I felt behind on everything. I was excited about being in much smaller classes, and then I realized that everyone knows each other because they had class together the previous semester.

The very first day of chemistry lab I felt like an idiot because I had no clue what was going on; labs were very different at PSU. Five weeks in and I am starting to get the hang of it.

There are many things I’ve realized that I really enjoy here, one of them being how much easier it is to get involved.

My schedule is much nicer this semester than last because the school is smaller, and this gives me more time to join things and meet people. Unfortunately, a lot of people already know each other from last semester, but it just takes some time to blend in to the routine with everyone else.

I think that the past year has been a major growing point in my life. I’ve been exposed to so much more than I would have imagined, and I’ve been in a lot of situations that I really would rather not have been in. I went an entire semester barely speaking to my roommate, and that was definitely not how I pictured it would go.

I had the same idea that I’m sure most girls have before going to college; you and your roommate will instantly become BFF's and do everything together and college would be the best time of your life.

That was the plan.

Unfortunately, I was not having that experience. I spent more time with myself than I ever have before, and I started to be okay with being alone. I think this skill is something important to learn, but it would have been nice if it didn’t hit me so abruptly. Overall, this has shaped me into a different person than I was as a senior in high school. I am curious to see what the next few years have in store for me.